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INUVIK
Last Thursday, the territorial government released its budget plan for 2012-2013. While the budget, as presented to the legislative assembly by Minister of Finance Michael Miltenberger, toes the line in many respects, it contains a handful of items that will directly affect Inuvik in the coming year.

"It was a bit of a status quo budget, but they did identify some pressing needs in Inuvik, and as you can see from the budget address, they committed to trying to address some of the needs we have up there," said MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes Robert C. McLeod.

The Inuvik natural gas shortage earned a mention in the budget, with $200,000 in territorial funds pledged to help curb the impending energy crisis.

One hundred thousand dollars of this money is earmarked to help residents and businesses in Inuvik install wood pellet stoves and boilers, while some of this money will also be used to further study the use of wood pellets in the town.

The other half of this funding has been commissioned to study medium-and long-term energy solutions for Inuvik.

"Any time you can get some money earmarked for helping residents and businesses install wood pellet stoves and boilers is a good deal," said McLeod.

"The additional exploring of medium- to long-term options for Inuvik's natural gas shortage is something that we need right now. I mean, the Town of Inuvik is doing a good job in trying to deal with the issue and any time we can allocate any kind of funding to help do our part, I think is also a good thing."

For Inuvik Mayor Denny Rodgers, the effectiveness of this $200,000 in combating Inuvik's energy needs once the current natural gas well runs out remains to be seen.

"In the big picture, $100,000 is fairly insignificant for what we need in the long term here for a long-term energy supply," said Rodgers. "It's great that it's there. It's great that they mentioned ... that this is a significant concern. We know we're on their radar."

Inuvik's newest MLA, Alfred Moses, who represents the Boot Lake riding in the community, agrees with the mayor that this is welcome funding, but it can not adequately address Inuvik's energy needs.

"With all the meetings and the consultations with government, it is a start," said Moses. "I don't think the $100,000 is adequate, especially if you get a lot of residents that are willing to convert back (off of natural gas)."

Rodgers, who was in Yellowknife for the budget address, said that he will return to the capital city on June 5 to present the GNWT's ministers' energy committee, which is chaired by NWT Premier Bob McLeod. The presentation will include a proposal for a long-term natural gas solution for the community of Inuvik, said Rodgers.

The exact details of this plan remain unclear until after these meetings take place.

"What I'm attempting to do is ... given the amount of money the GNWT spends here, get through (to government) that we think there is a better way to invest that money rather than just spend it in operation," said Rodgers. "Because, we're not the only ones who are going to see our energy costs double this winter – it's also going to cost the GNWT.

"We think that they consume enough here that it would make sense for them to possibly look at partially funding long-term natural gas."

On this point, Robert C. McLeod and Rodgers are in agreement.

"We have a lot of infrastructure up there as a government and we would be greatly affected if we were to run out of natural gas," McLeod told Inuvik Drum.

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