Natural gas delay concerns some Bruce County farmers

Joe Lang was looking forward to a less expensive drying bill for his family’s grain elevators next year — thanks to the impending arrival of a brand new natural gas line slated to be completed by the end of 2024. 

“It would have been more cost effective, as far as gas usage for running the crop dryers. Absolutely, we were looking forward to it,” said Lang. 

But Lang may have to wait a year, or possibly longer, for natural gas to come to his concession just outside Walkerton.

That’s because plans to extend natural gas service to more than 500 households and farms in Southern Bruce County have been put on hold by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). 

“EPCOR was ready to order the pipe for the project to get in the ground this spring. The OEB put it on hold, partly due to environmental objections, partly due to costs, but it all adds up to a big negative for Brockton,” said Municipality of Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody, calling it a “big disappointment for our residents."

Peabody said suggestions from Environmental Defence Canada, during the OEB hearings into the project, that electrically-powered heat pumps would be better for the environment — and cheaper in the long run — prompted the gas project’s delay.

According to Environmental Defence Canada, it doesn’t make sense to put natural gas pipes in the ground if heat pumps make more sense.

For Peabody, what works in towns and cities won’t always work in rural Ontario. 

“I get complaints all the time from businesses about not having enough electricity, and the whole grid would need an entire upgrade if we were to move forward with the electrification plan,” said Peabody.

“There needs to be a balance in our energy supply between electricity and natural gas. The plan that’s being pushed on us is not a balance.” 

A map of EPCOR's proposed plans for natural gas expansion in Brockton is shown here. (Source: EPCOR)For Lang Farms, and the 500 other Bruce County homes and businesses that will go without natural gas for the time being, there’s concern that the project’s delay may last longer than a year.

“Maybe the companies who were going to provide the service decide it’s not worth their while so we won’t see the service at all,” said Lang.

“That would be unfortunate. It’s hard to be competitive in the crop-drying market if other people have access to the natural gas and we don’t.”

EPCOR recently brought natural gas to thousands of residents of Bruce County. This project was expected to build on that work.