Petition Tag - stop the gas-fired generator in north york region

Jan. 31, 2008 Ontario's Minister of Energy directed that a gas-fired generator should be built in north York Region.

In response the Ontario Power Authority launched a competitive bid process. The latter has culminated with Pristine Power being selected to build a 393MW generator at 18171 Dufferin St. in King Township. The process was flawed; and the outcome is bad.

Key faults in the process.
i) The process did not include penalties for proposing sites which violated the Greenbelt legislation; neither did it include public justification for being in the latter.

ii)It failed to use up to date electricity demand forecasts; nor did it use aggressive assumptions for conservation and use of alternative sources of supply.

The outcome is bad.
i) The site is within 1500 feet (500 meters) of Ontario's premier vegetable growing area (the Holland Marsh); it is in the Lake Simcoe watershed; it is in protected countryside of Ontario's Greenbelt.

The generator's technology is very inefficient (65% of gas is wasted as very hot air emitted through smokestack). Its emissions have toxins and fine particulate matter which contribute to premature death and will harm vegetable crops in the area. The toxic emissions will fall into water systems: the latter "feed" the vegetables and flow into Lake Simcoe.

There are better solutions: more conservation, more use of combined heat & power and renewables!

View petition