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Environment groups slam Ontario energy sources

By ALLISON LAWLOR
Globe and Mail Update

Ontario's electricity woes will only get worse if
aging nuclear and coal plants are not phased out and
replaced with efficiency programs and renewable
energy, a new report by a coalition of leading
environmental groups.

The province, already struggling to produce enough
power, will lose about 35 per cent of its electricity
supply over the next 16 years as the province's
nuclear-power plants reach the end of their lifespans,
says the report released Thursday by the group
Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout.

Ontario, already struggling to produce enough power,
is then presented with the option of spending billions
to replace the plants or embarking on aggressive
conservation and efficiency programs, says the report
released Thursday.

"Ontario faces even more Pickering fiascos over the
next decade if the right decisions aren't made now,"
Ralph Torrie, the report's author, said in a news
release.

Mr. Torrie was referring to the restart of the
Pickering A station, located outside of Toronto, which
is more than $1-billion over budget and three years
behind schedule.

"The sun is setting on nuclear power in Canada. We can
have a sustainable energy future by phasing out
nuclear and coal, and phasing in efficiency and
renewable energy."

Astronomical costs and poor performance of Ontario's
nuclear reactors have been at the heart of Ontario's
electricity problems, the report says. Eight of
Ontario's 20 reactors were "laid up" between 1995 and
1998, and attempts to restart them have met with
lengthy delays and massive cost overruns, the report
says.

In addition, Canada's other nuclear reactors — the
Gentilly-2 in Quebec and New Brunswick's Point Lepreau
— face similar problems by the decade's end. The
study shows out how Quebec and New Brunswick could
also phase out their nuclear and coal plants, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent from
electricity production in New Brunswick and eliminate
them altogether in Québec.

Ontario could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by
75 per cent from electricity production by 2020
through a program that phases out both coal and
nuclear plants, the report says.

"What we need is a long-term plan," Shawn-Patrick
Stensil, national co-ordinator for the Campaign for
Nuclear Phaseout, told globeandmail.com. The plan
would mean investing more in renewable energy instead
of throwing more money at nuclear power.

Mr. Stensil said the Ontario government has made
several disastrous policy moves when it comes to
electricity. Among them, he pointed out the recent
change that considers nuclear power plants as green
energy so they can take advantage of tax breaks.

Earlier this month, the Ontario government announced
what was called the most ambitious alternative-energy
plan in the country.

The program is modelled after those adopted by many
European countries and American states, including
Texas and California, where power producers who create
pollution-free energy are guaranteed a share of the
electricity market.

Ontario plans to reserve about 8 per cent of its
market for these new suppliers, both to help slake its
burgeoning demand for electricity and to fight air
pollution.

Under the plan, the government will buy 1 per cent of
the province's current electricity needs from newly
constructed alternative-energy sources, starting in
2006.

The province will then purchase an additional 1 per
cent during each of the eight years of the program,
leading to the construction of about 3,000 megawatts
of new electrical capacity, about the same as a large
nuclear-power plant, by 2015.

Mr. Stensil said the Ontario government's actions so
far haven't been strong enough.

"Anything they have done is superficial," he said.

With a report from Canadian Press