Remote communities deserve better than the diesel-spill status quo

This summer, significant diesel spills disrupted three different remote communities in Nunavut. Sanikiluaq, Pond Inlet and Ranken Inlet are just the latest to be impacted by about 1,000 spills which, it is estimated, will take place in remote communities this year alone. 

Approximately 682 million litres of diesel power about 250 remote communities scattered across Canada every year. Federal, provincial and territorial governments provide communities with $300 to $400 million in diesel subsidies annually to offset the costs of burning and transporting this fuel. Even with subsidies, remote communities still pay more for electricity and heat than consumers who are connected to provincial and territorial grids — all of this on top of the money spent cleaning up the frequent spills impacting communities every year. 

Spills that contaminate land and water, however, are just one part of the problem. When communities are forced to rely on diesel, there are other costs, too. These include public health costs related to high rates of respiratory illness; environmental costs of frequent pollution, contamination and remediation; and economic costs from an expensive and limited energy supply.  

In response, communities across B.C., Nunavut and nation-wide are arguing that one of the most effective ways to mitigate the extensive costs of diesel is to increase the supply of clean renewable energy in these communities, reduce diesel reliance and create new jobs in the process.  

Reducing reliance on diesel

Heiltsuk Nation’s clean-energy journey is one inspiring example of community leadership on diesel reduction. After a massive diesel spill that contaminated the waters near Waglisla/Bella Bella, B.C. in 2016, Heiltsuk Nation was motivated to create change. Since the spill, they’ve worked closely as a community to develop an award-winning clean-energy action plan, which has brought new clean energy infrastructure to the community, including heat pumps now saving residents an average of $1,500 a year on energy. 

But efforts like these are not easy. For communities to effectively transition off diesel, they must raise significant capital, navigate a patchwork of restrictive and complicated regulatory and legislative roadblocks, and build the local skill and capacity required to turn ideas for clean energy into tangible projects. All together, these self-directed activities make the transition to new and clean-energy sources both slow and arduous — especially if they have inadequate support from government and utilities.  

Sanikiluaq’s clean-energy journey is one example of a successful project that had to overcome far too many challenges to reduce diesel use in the community. Construction of a community-led wind project was stalled for six years while the Inuit-owned and operated Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC), alongside the community, lobbied the territorial utility to add the project to the local grid. Without a guarantee that the utility would purchase this clean energy, not only did the NNC not have a guarantee that it would be able to use the project to transition the community off diesel, it also didn't have the guarantee of a future revenue stream necessary to finance the project.  

Now that an agreement with the utility has been signed, the wind turbine is expected to reduce diesel use across the community by more than 50 per cent annually, and employ local labour during and after  construction — both incredible and hard-fought developments for the current 100 per cent diesel-reliant community.  

What do these stories tell us? 

For one, communities are tired of the diesel status quo and the economic, environmental and health burden it carries. These stories also tell us that clean energy development is a real possibility for hundreds of communities, and can inspire local leadership, develop new skills and advance self-determination.  

But communities face too many regulatory burdens and financial barriers to supply electricity to the grid. Hurdles that governments can and must remove.  

Our research at the Pembina Institute shows that change is possible: to reduce spills, create employment and bring emissions and costs down. Governments, utilities and regulators can follow the lead of communities as they design and build a new status quo. Together, these entities can mobilize necessary and targeted funding, identify and remove outdated and restrictive regulations, support community capacity-building, and design an inclusive policy that is responsive to the unique perspectives and experiences of communities. Through this collaborative effort, the pathway for clean energy development is widened, thereby enabling a new energy paradigm that starts with more affordable energy and ends with cleaner air, land and water for all. 

Lynne Couves is the director of the Pembina Institute's renewables in remote communities program, supporting the clean and equitable energy transition of remote communities in Canada.