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Greenpeace ACTION ALERT for Ontario: Attend Public Consultations - Say "YES" to Green Power, "NO" to Nuclear Power!

TIME FOR ACTION:

The McGuinty government's plan for Ontario's electricity future is profoundly flawed and biased towards nuclear power -- it ignores nuclear power's history of cost-over runs, poor performance, safety problems and the unsolvable problem of nuclear waste. The potential for renewable energy and conservation is deliberately under-estimated in order to rationalize the nuclear power agenda.

Please take the time to attend these meetings. Tell the government you want a green energy future for Ontario and not want to repeat Ontario's disastrous historic commitment to nuclear power.


MEETING DATES:

Monday February 13: Mississauga, Ottawa, Sarnia, Toronto
Wednesday February 15: Thunder Bay, Kingston, Oshawa, St.Catharines
Friday February 17: Kincardine, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Sudbury


TIME:

All meetings will have an "Open House": 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and a "Public Consultation" meeting, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (The one exception is the
Kincardine meeting, for which the "Open House" will be 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.).

We urge you to attend the evening session, and make both an oral and written
presentation.


MEETING LOCATIONS, PLEASE SEE:
Ontario Ministry of Energy: News Release

OUR MESSAGE:

A Disastrous Electricity Plan for Ontario

On December 9, 2005, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA - an agency of the Ontario
government) released its Supply Mix Advice Report. This 20-year plan (to 2025) would likely cost over $80 billion -- more than half of it for nuclear power. The plan assumes load growth of 0.9% 2005-2025 -- twice the actual rate of rate of growth (0.5%) 1990-2003. The OPA plan repeats all the worst mistakes of the past...

- huge over-reliance on nuclear power (building new reactors &
re-building old ones)
- huge under-estimation of the potential for conservation & demand management
- huge under-estimation of the potential for renewable energy (wind, hydro & biomass)
- huge under-estimation of the potential for Combined Heat and Power generation

No Meaningful Public Consultation

$80 billion plan to build new nuclear reactors with just 3 days of public consultation.

In May 2005, former Energy Minister Dwight Duncan promised Ontarians an "open and public debate on nuclear the future of nuclear power." Minister Duncan admitted at the time that the "..first 40 years in Ontario's nuclear experiment has had significant cost over-runs, inefficiencies and breakdowns that we cannot and should not ignore."

On December 15, 2005, Premier McGuinty promised that the government would conduct an environmental assessment on the final OPA plan.

However, the government has broken all its promises of consultation, and seems intent on ramming through the OPA plan with no meaningful public debate or consultation.

Greenpeace has asked the McGuinty government for:

(A) an extension of the Environmental Bill of Rights comment period on the Supply Mix Advice Report from 60 days (December 14 2005 - February 12, 2006) to
at least 120 days. The government has granted only a 2-week extension to February 28.

(B) A commission of inquiry modelled on the Walkerton Inquiry. Instead, the McGuinty government is only holding three days of open houses and meetings in 12 Ontario communities, with only a few weeks notice, and no meaningful opportunity to test the assumptions of the OPA plan.

(C) A joint-board environmental assessment review conducted by both the Ontario
Energy Board (OEB) and the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT). On December 15, 2005, Premier McGuinty promised that the government would conduct an environmental assessment, but the government has since backtracked on this promise, saying that the plan will only be reviewed by the OEB. The OEB only considers economic issues, and does not deal with environmental or social issues, or the broader issues of need and alternative energy strategies.

CONFIRMATION & MORE INFORMATION:

If you plan to attend and would like more information, please contact:
shawn.patrick.stensil@yto.greenpeace.org

posted by Annamarie at 11:30 PM