We believe infrastructure deficits are a barrier to our development. I touched on the issue of hydroelectric power; for a long time we were the beneficiaries of surplus hydroelectric power generating capacity. Because some of that was originally built to supply mines that have subsequently shut down, right now we are at a stage where our growth has increased at approximately 3% a year to the point where we're consuming about 103% of the hydroelectric generating capacity that we have here in the territory, so we have to supplement that with diesel fired generators.
In that respect, if we were to have an indigenous oil and gas industry here, instead of having to ship oil 2,000 kilometres up here, it could be a source of both employment and also, quite frankly, a source of energy with a lower carbon footprint than we currently have in that we would not have to transport everything 2,000 kilometres to burn it up here. That's one potential opportunity.
And that ties in to the issue of transportation. We're at the end of a 1,500 to 2,000 kilometre supply chain for everything that we use up here. We have no rail connection, basically everything comes up the Alaska Highway by truck, so increased fuel costs obviously translate into increased costs for Yukoners for everything we consume.
So we see an opportunity for multiple benefits in being able to locally source energy that's trucked in today. That of course would also provide local employment. Another way to look at this is, perhaps oil and gas are also a bridging technology for us because we have traditionally been reliant upon hydroelectric generation. The problem here is that if we turn the shovel on the first new hydroelectric project, we're probably 10 or 15 years away from being able to light up a light bulb in here. So there's a gap in finding an electrical generation solution between now and when that next hydroelectric power plant comes online.
