Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I spoke about some of the challenges in my riding for carbon taxes and green gas and energy and that. My questions are to the Minister of Infrastructure.
My first question: has the government considered expanding the Taltson hydro dam system, and are they looking at expanding that to the Nahendeh riding as well? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is actively considering the transmission expansion of the Taltson system into the communities of the South Slave in particular. This will be reflected in our 2030 Energy Strategy and Action Plan.
With that being said, we are looking at expanding into the Fort Providence and the Kakisa area. That is a 140 kilometre T-line expansion, and we are also looking at possibly expanding into the Whati off the snare system, which is a 65 kilometre expansion T-line section.
As for the Member's question around the Nahendeh riding, being part of the road system, the communities of Jean Marie, Fort Simpson, and Wrigley would be technically challenging at this time moving forward, given the link to the line and the system's stability concerns, but I think it is something that we are going to look at doing in the long-term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the Minister for that answer. I greatly appreciate they are potentially looking at that. My next question is: what actions has the government taken to help Nahendeh communities reduce diesel usage, especially for the smaller communities?
First of all, I want to thank the Member for giving us a heads up on this question here. There are a bunch of things we have done in his riding. In Fort Simpson, we are looking at LNG. It was a commissioned study in 2016, a liquefied natural gas vaporization study. An LNG facility in Fort Simpson is being considered as part of the Energy Strategy and Action Plan, and that is in development right now.
We have biomass wood pellet in Fort Simpson. In 2012, it's a GNWT-owned biomass central heating system for the rec centre and the elementary school. Combined heat and power in Fort Simpson; the GNWT investigated a megawatt scale of combined heat and power. I know they ended up going to a smaller pilot project. They have had to redesign the electrical system, and that is hopefully going to be installed on that part of the project this spring.
There is significant solar power in the Member's riding. There are 224 kilowatts of installed solar in six communities in his region, and in the five remaining Nahendeh region candidate communities we are looking at and have talked about a number of times in this House, a Colville Lake project and the newly installed variable speed generator, which is in Aklavik, and we will have a look at these technologies going forward if they are viable to use in his region.
Those are a lot of projects. Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Ministers for ITI and Infrastructure and Finance for that great information. It is good to hear all of that stuff.
Mr. Speaker, my third question is: it's my understanding the estimated direct costs for carbon taxes starts with $10 per tonne in 2018. That increases $10 a year until it reaches a cap of $15,000 per tonne in 2022. It is estimated that high-use households will pay $880 to $1,015 per year. Will the government ensure that the Nahendeh residents are able to choose alternative fuel sources by that time?
As the Member knows, the Minister of Finance has been working closely with the federal government to understand the full impacts of carbon tax on the Northwest Territories and the cost of living and doing business here.
In addition to that, though, the federal government tends to reflect the unique circumstances in the NWT. The Premier has had that commitment from the Prime Minister on this specific topic. Regardless of the carbon tax, our department is moving forward with our energy strategy, which will help with alternative and renewable options for people in the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I realize it was kind of a unique crossover with Finance, and I appreciate the Minister working with the Minister of Finance to get this information out there. With the challenges of no alternative fuels in the short term, how will the government mediate cost-of-living increases being imposed on residents by this carbon tax? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
One of the key messages we heard coming out of the carbon tax public engagement was the concern over the cost of living, as we have said, and doing business in the Northwest Territories. The second part to considering a carbon tax is what will we do as a government with the revenue that is generated from a carbon tax.
I support using a portion of these revenues to offset the high cost of living in the Northwest Territories, for sure. The reality of the NWT is that we have a high demand and high prices already for fuel and electricity. While we want to continue to advance alternative energy projects, we will also want to mitigate the impacts on our residents and our businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
