PC, NDP and Green candidates endorse 2009 Nanticoke coal phase-out
Submitted by OCAA on Mon, 09/04/2006 - 23:00.
September 5, 2006 Parkdale-High Park By-election PC, NDP and Green candidates endorse 2009 Nanticoke coal phase-out Three of the Parkdale-High Park by-election candidates -- Cheri DiNovo of the NDP, David Hutcheon of the Progressive Conservative Party, and Frank de Jong, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario -- believe that the Government of Ontario should issue a legally binding regulation requiring the phase-out of coal burning at the Nanticoke Generating Station by 2009, according to an Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) survey released today. The Liberal candidate, Sylvia Watson said: “I support shutting down coal fired generation in Ontario as soon as possible, but believe that the reliability of our energy system should be our primary concern.” The Nanticoke Generating Station, on the north shore of Lake Erie, is the largest coal-fired power plant in North America and Canada’s #1 air polluter. In 2005 Nanticoke produced as much air pollution as 3.3 million cars. On June 13, 2006, in response to pressure from the Association of Major Power Consumers in Ontario (e.g., Imperial Oil, St. Marys Cement), Premier McGuinty broke his promise to phase-out coal burning at Nanticoke by 2009. According to Premier McGuinty, he is still committed to phasing-out Ontario’s dirty coal plants but he has refused to specify a date for the phase-out. “Premier McGuinty should direct Ontario Power Generation to convert Nanticoke’s boilers from dirty coal to cleaner-burning natural gas. This simple action will permit the phase-out of coal-burning at Nanticoke without reducing Ontario’s electricity generation capacity”, said Jack Gibbons, Chair of the OCAA. For the full responses of each of the candidates, click here. A backgrounder on Nanticoke’s pollution impact and how we can dramatically reduce its emissions is available at www.cleanairalliance.org/resource/nanticoke06.pdf -30- For More Information: Jack Gibbons, Chair, Ontario Clean Air Alliance 416-926-1907 ext. 240
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