Tory endorses wasting billions on ineffective pollution controls

Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory has endorsed the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA’s) proposal to spend $1.9 billion to install pollution control devices on the Nanticoke coal plant that will reduce Canada’s largest air polluter’s total emissions by only one-half of 1 percent.  This is a band-aid solution that will do nothing to control the enormous greenhouse gas emissions from Nanticoke -- and, in fact, could actually make them worse.

If Mr. Tory is serious about his recently stated commitment to reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions, then instead of endorsing the production of more hot air he should be endorsing phasing out the use of coal as quickly as possible. Similarly, if he is worried about air pollutants, he should endorse a ban on non-emergency coal-fired electricity exports to the United States and oppose the OPA’s plan to export 93% of our remaining coal-fired electricity for profit in 2010 (while continuing to allow unchecked greenhouse gas emissions to contribute to worsening air quality). 

In fact, as a promoter of “fiscally responsible” climate solutions, we would have thought Mr. Tory would understand that we can reap much greater returns by investing the OPA’s $1.9 billion scrubber budget (that’s your money, by the way) in things like energy efficiency and productivity, new renewable energy sources and super-efficient natural gas combined heat and power plants that will actually produce real economic and social benefits.  Instead, Mr. Tory seems to be moving backwards rather than forwards with his support for spending billions on a sadly outdated and inefficient “pollution-control” approach.

Please contact John Tory at John.Tory@pc.ola.org and tell him you don’t think spending billions of dollars on pollution controls that could make greenhouse gas emissions worse rather than better is a sensible and responsible use of public money.

Please pass this message on to your friends.

Thank you,
Jack Gibbons
Chair

Ontario Clean Air Alliance
402-625 Church St, Toronto, M4Y 2G1
Phone: 416-926-1907 ext. 240
Fax: 416-926-1601
Email: jack@cleanairalliance.org
Website: www.cleanairalliance.org