Andrew Dawson carefully chose where to build his grain elevator.
The site off Highway 511 in Lanark County, located some 80 kilometres southwest of downtown Ottawa, has its advantages.
Among them, a chance he could soon hook up to a proposed natural gas pipeline recently selected for funding by the provincial government.
"Natural gas is really a game changer for our facility," said Dawson, who co-owns RiverRun Farms with his wife Julie.
Currently, Dawson uses propane to dry damp wheat, corn and soybeans. That fuel needs to be delivered by truck, sometimes as often as once or twice per day.
Simply connecting to a gas line, he said, would save time and money.
"Just one less challenge or hurdle to make sure everything operates smoothly," he said.
The pipeline, part of a controversial provincial natural gas expansion project, is also facing local resistance.
A local environmental group rallied against the pipeline in October and critics of the provincial program say encouraging the use of natural gas further jeopardizes the country's emissions targets.
The expansion is touching dozens of small, often rural communities across the province, and the response here is part of a broader debate pitting those who value savings on energy costs against those concerned about the long-term risk of locking new communities into fossil fuels.
Pipeline to connect Perth, Lanark
The proposed pipeline would connect to an existing natural gas system in Perth and follow Highway 511 north through Balderson and into the village of Lanark.
The main goal, according to Enbridge Gas Inc., is to connect residents in Lanark and Balderson, though a company spokesperson stressed that the project is in the early stages and may change.
Other Lanark farmers who spoke to CBC said, like Dawson, they'd be tempted to switch their drying operations to natural gas but few would be close enough to the highway to take advantage of any future pipeline.
Peter McLaren, reeve of the Township of Lanark Highlands, said a huge chunk of red granite near his own farm, located about three kilometres outside town, would likely stop him from tapping into the line.
McLaren said many of the township's properties including its offices, fire halls and arena are currently powered by propane and would likely connect to the line.
He said switching all those properties to natural gas could mean "massive savings" for the township.
Province spending millions
Soon after taking office in 2018, Ontario's Progressive Conservative government created the Natural Gas Expansion Program with support from the New Democratic Party, .
Rolling out in stages, the first phase supported six projects to expand parts of the province's existing natural gas network, which is managed largely by Calgary-based energy company Enbridge.
In the second phase, another 27 projects from Enbridge and one from EPCOR Utilities received a total of about $234 million in provincial funding, paid for through a monthly surcharge on existing natural gas customers.
One of those projects plans to cut through Lanark County, extending natural gas access to rural communities along the highway north of Perth.
Michael Dodsworth, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Energy, said in an email that natural gas can "help shift communities off of more carbon intensive fuels like propane and heating oil, reducing emissions."
The ministry estimates that 10 years after the Lanark pipeline is installed, it would connect about 300 customers and save the equivalent of 73 tonnes of carbon dioxide in greenhouse gas emissions annually compared to current levels.
After receiving "significant interest" from communities in the second phase of the expansion program, Dodsworth said the government will begin a third phase.
"Phase 3 will allow us to continue building up Ontario communities and making them more attractive for job creation while reducing costs for families and business as well as emissions," he said.
Natural gas as a 'bridge fuel'
Amy Janzwood, a McGill University political science professor, said the Ontario government has used a "bridge fuel" narrative when discussing the expansion of natural gas.
She said the idea of "bridge fuels" comes from the claim that natural gas can act as a "placeholder" during the transition from dirty energy sources such as coal to clean ones such as renewables.
She said framing natural gas as a bridge is a strategy often used by both premiers and the fossil fuel industry to justify expanding the use of fossil fuels.
In Ontario, however, Janzwood said the Ford government appears to be moving away from that approach.
"Increasingly in Ontario, the rhetoric is no longer that this is temporary, but this is actually, in fact, the destination," Janzwood said. "There has been a real doubling down on natural gas."
Janzwood said the government has largely supported that doubling down by "fear mongering" about potential future blackouts.
In 2022, natural gas made up about 10 per cent of Ontario's energy supply, with most of the remainder split between nuclear and hydro power. Back in 2017, it made up just four per cent and its slice of the total has steadily increased since.
Part of that increase, Janzwood said, has been significant provincial investment in natural gas.
"This is not a small extension," she said. "This kind of project is continuing to lock us into further carbon pollution."
'Fossil fuels are dead'
Climate Network Lanark, a local environmental advocacy group, has a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions in Lanark County by 2030.
"That's ambitious," said Susan Brandum, co-founder and director of the network.
To do it, she said, the first step is stopping the expansion of infrastructure that supports fossil fuels.
"Fossil fuels are dead. They're passé," she said. "They are killing the planet and so they just have to go. It's that simple."
Scott Hortop, chairperson for Climate Network Lanark, said electric heat pumps are a climate-friendlier alternative to natural gas and are, in many cases, also cheaper for consumers.
"The broad analysis clearly favours heat pumps," he said. "There are tax dollars being spent to subsidize something that's not the better alternative."
Hortop said he understands farmers are "incredibly stressed" financially by the current business environment, but a natural gas pipeline would represent a relatively minor gain. Many other things, he said, should be done to support farmers instead.
Brandum said eliminating fossil fuels should be the priority.
"We've got to stop them heating the atmosphere," she said.
Project in planning stage
An Enbridge spokesperson said in an email that once an expansion project has funding, the company must submit an application to the Ontario Energy Board to receive a "leave to construct," which must include a third-party environmental review and public consultation.
The Lanark extension is in the "early planning stage," according to the spokesperson, and has so far included a topographical survey and a door-to-door information campaign.
Embridge said it plans to have the leave to construct submitted in 2025.
At RiverRun Farms, Dawson said he can understand some people may not be interested in tapping into the natural gas, but for him "it's very important."
Debate aside, Hortop said the region's rocky terrain could end up being the final decider.
"It won't surprise me at all if Enbridge on their own makes a decision when they get down to the nitty-gritty, that this particular application is not going to pay for itself when they look at what it's going to cost to install it," he said.
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How the natural gas pipeline debate is dividing one rural community - CBC.ca
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