Notice of Intent to Make a Determination

Pelican Lake Bioenergy Project - Public Comments invited

October 6, 2023 - Indigenous Services Canada must determine whether the proposed Pelican Lake Bioenergy Project, to be located on Pelican Lake First Nation, is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. To help inform this determination, Indigenous Services Canada is inviting comments from the public respecting that determination.

Written comments must be submitted by November 5, 2023 to:

Indigenous Services Canada
1827 Albert Street
Regina, SK, S4P 2S9
Telephone: 306-581-3134
Email: isc-skenv@sac-isc.gc.ca

Proposed Project

The proposed Pelican Lake First Nation (PLFN) Bioenergy Project is an energy project designed to produce approximately 6.5 megawatts of power through the combustion of wood fibre. The objective of the Project is to augment the current energy supply from Saskatchewan Power Corporation (SaskPower) and provide a reliable source of renewable energy to the PLFN. The Project will use approximately 56,000 metric tonnes of fibre per year sourced from within 100 km of the Site. Fibre will be obtained primarily from hog fuel from Carrier Forest Product Ltd.'s Big River sawmill operations, which are currently being combusted in their beehive burner, and secondarily from forest slash piles. The Project will receive all the biomass hog fuel for the bioenergy facility. The proposed Project area is approximately 4.4 hectares (ha) in size; structures to be built  as part of the Project include the biomass energy plant, site trailers, administration building, scale, fire pond, project construction / laydown area, and a fuel handling and storage area. The Project site is located on undeveloped, previously forested land that was harvested in 2021. Several wetlands and watercourses occur in the area, but no other notable environmental features were identified during the field assessment.