IBEW manager says agreement was no behind the scenes deal

By Norm Park - Estevan Mercury

Contrary to what appeared in an April 9 press release from the CBC, stating that a deal between a union and Bruce Power was being crafted behind the scenes, the business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 2067 said it just isn't that way at all.

"There's no closed door, conspiracy thing going on at all," said Neil Collins. "That's not how I work, that's not how the IBEW works," he said.

In fact, he said the membership of the IBEW local that represents about 1,600 workers, has been kept abreast of unfolding scenarios surrounding the possibilities of nuclear power generation in Saskatchewan since talk about it irst began in earnest.

Bruce Power is considering construction of a nuclear power plant while IBEW Local 2067 represents employees at SaskPower's coal-fired power plants.

Copies of the agreement signed by Bruce Power president Duncan Hawthorne and Collins were sent to IBEW members a couple of weeks ago.

The letter of agreement notes that if a nuclear power plant(s) does eventually get a green light to produce up to 2,200 megawatts of electrical power in Saskatchewan, the IBEW will be the integral part of the operations and maintenance of the facility while not negatively impacting any of the existing generating facilties or their IBEW employees.

The union, in the letter, also agrees to work with Bruce Power on nuclear advocacy and development of a communications protocol with regards to nuclear power.

According to Collins, the discussions and their results have been made known to the IBEW membership all along.

If approval is gained for a nuclear plant, probably located somewhere between Lloydminster and Prince Albert near the Saskatchewan River, construction could begin as early as 2017 or 2018.

"I'm just looking after the interests of the union members, the future," said Collins. "If a nuclear plant is going to be built here, who would you like to have operating it? Do you want the local guys or someone from somewhere else? If it is going to be Local 2067, then it will involve extensive and intensive training for a few years."

Collins denied that he or anyone else is undermining the coal generating plants in the SaskPower system by climbing into an agreement with the nuclear front runner company.

"Coal is in the future. There is a 300 year supply of it around Estevan. Clean coal projects will move ahead. We can be a global leader with clean coal. If we develop nuclear, I would guess that as much as 70 per cent of it might be exported. They'd probably have to do that to make the nuclear argument," said Collins.

"I see Boundary Dam and Shand being retrofitted for clean coal once it's proven. We can advance that technology with the Boundary Dam Unit 3 retrofit and there would be nothing stopping Saskatchewan from building the first greenfield clean coal power plant. So for anyone to suggest that I, or anyone in the union is talking about coal being on the way out, it's just not correct," said Collins.

When asked why there was a type of negative news tone to the information that was released to the public, Collins said he was not sure as to what was going on there.

"There are no games being played here, not on my part anyway," he said. "I'm just looking out for our members. We operate an electrical grid system already. If you're coming to Saskatchewan to make power, we have the expertise to assist you. If someone wants to operate it, maybe you'd want our guys, well trained, upgraded skills and tested.

If our union has the opportunity, I want to tell our union members they are in the mix. Heck, we've been discussing this for over two years now. I've never hidden that fact. We all knew discussions were going toward such a deal. I've talked with The Mercury and other news organizations about this," Collins added.

"I don't mind getting hammered if I make a mistake, but I haven't hidden anything here like that news story suggested. The membership knows we've been talking about this for years, including all the coal options. We've been talking with the United Mine Workers too ... long before this letter was signed. We're not selling the farm or backing away from coal fueled power generating plants," Collins said.

The IBEW business manager said that instead of looking for a conspiracy scenario, perhaps people should be looking on the bright side of resource development in the province.

"Look at all the forms of power generation we have already. We can do small or large projects, but we know that in the future there will be a huge demand. If oil and potash keep moving forward, they'll require power. It's a supply and demand world and if the supply side becomes limited then we'll have rolling brownouts and stalled building projects. That's why we'll always need the coal and we'll have to build on coal. Demands will double in no time. Electricity can be used as a commodity itself. Sell it."

Collins said that since Bruce Power is a private company, they will operate differently than a Crown corporation like SaskPower. They'll be looking at best value for the dollars invested and "I want my membership to have an opportunity to speak up if a private company comes here to make power and to sell it. I just figure that all the smart people will continue to look at all kinds of options. We're already blessed with what we have.

"I hate it when we sell ourselves short because we choose to be negative with anything that might be new or different from what we've had. We can compete with anyone on this globe. We just have to get on with it. We have the technology, the intellectual firepower, the knowledge from the past. Look at the PhD crowd we could attract here to tie into this mix, if we'd only just look at all our assets and get moving. We don't need to be constantly negative, we should be excited about the prospects. Let's ship our clean coal technology around the world, let's be cutting edge with clean coal," Collins said in conclusion.

The provincial government has just released information with regards to the panel that will be formed to conduct a series of hearings throughout the province that will ask Saskatchewan's citizens to respond to the concept of a nuclear power generating plant within its boundaries. The series will take the committee, headed by Dan Perrins, to nine centres within the next few weeks with one of those stops being Estevan.