Union Gas will not be extended to Belwood in the near future.
During council’s meeting on Jan. 29, Mayor Kelly Linton stated that while council passed a resolution in support of an application submitted by Union Gas, the Belwood natural gas expansion was not among those selected for funding.
“Unfortunately, this is not the outcome we were hoping for,” said Linton.
“I understand this was a highly competitive program, nonetheless, expanding access to natural gas within Centre Wellington was a key strategic priority supported by council and we had hoped our support along with Union Gas’ application would have resulted in a favourable decision.
“We will continue to work with all stakeholders in pursuing natural gas alternatives to our rural areas of Centre Wellington.”
In 2017 the province announced the Natural Gas Program Expansion Funding Program to Rural, Northern Ontario and First Nations communities and in the spring announced program details and set an application due date of July 31, 2017.
In June 2017, Centre Wellington formally supported an application submitted by a natural gas distributor or supplier to the Government of Ontario, for a grant from the provincial Natural Gas Grant Program, to expand the natural gas system to service Centre Wellington (Belwood).
At the same time, council supported making a financial contribution towards the proposed project in an amount equivalent to the property tax that would be recovered on the new natural gas infrastructure for a period of 10 years as per the natural gas grant program requirements.
Not enough funding
However, the Ministry of Infrastructure reported that Natural Gas Grant Program applications representing over $500 million in proposed funding were received for the $100 million program.
As a result, a number of projects were not able to be funded.
More information on the evaluation criteria can be found at www.infrastructureontario.ca.
