News from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
October 15th, 2015 – Someone needs to tell our provincial government that they can’t have it both ways. They can’t pay only a couple of cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for energy efficiency initiatives while agreeing to pay close to 9 cents a kWh for power from a rebuilt Darlington Nuclear Station and still say they are putting Conservation First.
Ontario’s Darlington Nuclear plant has already been a financial nightmare with thecost of its construction ballooning from almost $4 billion in the late 1979s to $14.4 billion by the early 1990s. And Ontario energy consumers paid for this fiasco.
To really put Conservation First we have to pay for all efficiency measures that are lower cost than rebuilding old nuclear reactors. Offering just over 2 cents for efficiency while agreeing to pay almost 9 cents for nuclear power flies in the face of simple logic and official Ontario policy.
If the government is intent on letting Ontario Power Generation spend tens of billions of dollars re-building Darlington’s four aging reactors, then it should be even more ready to spend on efficiency measures that will lower our electricity bills and minimize the need for Darlington’s high-cost power.
We know there is huge untapped potential for efficiency if we are willing to pay a fair price. And we know that paying for efficiency will save us billions compared to the cost of rebuilding old reactors.
To learn more, click here to download our new report: Putting Conservation First Into Practice: The Next Two Steps.
Please click here to send a message to Premier Wynne and Energy Minister Chiarelli asking them to put Conservation First, not Nuclear First.
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA), established in 1997, is a coalition of individuals and approximately 90 organizations (health and environmental organizations, faith communities, municipalities, utilities, unions and corporations) that represent over six million Ontarians. The OCAA led the fight to phase out coal-fired electricity in Ontario, the largest single climate change action in North America. After a 17 year campaign, Ontario’s final coal plant shut down in April 2014.
For more about the Ontario Clean Air Alliance click on www.cleanairalliance.org .
Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 