From Ontario to BC

Today I woke up in my hometown. I had travelled all the way from Toronto to Princeton, British Columbia in the heart of the Similkameen Valley to be a part of a major celebration. Dr.David Suzuki was coming to speak at a gymnasium in a local school.

Why was he in Princeton, a tiny BC town of 3,000 people in the southern interior of the province? Well, as it turns out, Dr. Suzuki was in town to speak to citizens who worked so hard to stop the development of coal power in BC.

In the fall of 2004, news broke of a local mining company’s plans to burn pulverized coal at a former mine facility roughly 10 km out of town. It was the lowest grade of coal power. The bottom of the barrel. Mercury, particulate matter, and enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions would have been the result.

As early as 2005, local citizens started raising their concerns about coal-fired power generation and coalbed methane projects in the Similkameen Valley, followed by repeated calls from the Green Party of BC and the Green Party of Canada to halt development.

Finally, after long two years, a victory has been won and a turning point has been forged into our country’s history. In the 2007 Speech from the Throne, the BC government announced a new climate change strategy which effectively killed coal-fired power in the Similkameen Valley.

On February 14, the Victoria Times Colonist wrote, “The speech appeared to spell the death knell for coal-fired electricity projects by saying that, effective immediately, BC will become the first jurisdiction in North America to require 100 per cent carbon sequestration for any coal-fired project.”

Soon, I will travel back to Toronto to continue working with others in the Green Party to put an end to coal power in Ontario. The victory in the tiny town of Princeton meant the end of coal power in BC, and has huge implications for citizens of Ontario and Canada. No longer can Dalton McGuinty justify his two broken promises to shut down coal in Ontario by pointing out that BC is developing new coal power plants.

Currently, Ontario gets approximately 19% of its electricity from coal power, and is home to the largest coal-fired power plant in North American and Canada’s number one air pollutor. The Nanticoke Generating Station, on the north shore of Lake Erie, provides up to 15% of the province’s electricity needs and is Canada’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and airborne mercury emissions.

The province’s health and environmental costs associated with Ontario’s coal plants exceeds $3.3 billion per year. The phase-out of Ontario’s coal plants would have provided the province with 50-80% of the total greenhouse gas emission reductions Ontario needs to achieve compliance with its Kyoto Protocol target.

In addition, mercury is an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal, and is also a highly potent neurotoxin that persists in the environment and can cause neurological damage to humans, especially in children and fetuses. The Ontario government’s mercury emission standards demand up to 85% capture, but even low levels of mercury can be dangerous. A June 2003 study by researchers at John Hopkins University in Maryland, found that even low levels of mercury regarded as safe could impair brain function and memory in adults.

Coal produces low-cost electricity at the price of intolerable social and environmental costs, which are passed onto the environment and the public at large. A 2002 article by the Economist rated coal as ‘Environmental Enemy Number One’, and suggested that, “The most crucial step is start pricing energy properly. At the moment done to human health and environment from burning fossil fuels is not reflected in the price of those fuels, especially.”

A green tax shift would internalize the social and environmental costs of coal power, making it more expensive, while at the same time, making renewable energies, such as wind power, much more viable and profitable with full-cost accounting. The closure of Ontario’s coal-fired generating stations could provide up to half of the province’s greenhouse gas reductions under the Kyoto Protocol, and could be the single largest step in helping Canada to meet its Kyoto targets.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG, formerly Ontario Hydro) runs four coal-fired generating stations: Nanticoke (Lake Erie), Lambton (near Sarnia), Thunder Bay, and Atikokan. According to the Ontario Medical Association, air pollution is “a public health crisis” in Ontario. A report prepared for the Ministry of Energy revealed that each year emissions from coal plants kill 657 Ontarians. Together, the four coal plants produce 20% of Ontario’s total carbon dioxide emissions, 27% of smog-forming sulphur dioxide, and 9% of Ontario’s airborne mercury emissions. Over 98% of the fish consumption advisories for Ontario’s inland lakes are due to mercury poisoning.

By building new high-efficiency, combined-cycle natural gas power plants to displace the output of our dirty coal plants will dramatically reduce or eliminate all of their toxic emissions. Carbon dixoide emissions would be reduced by 72%. Smog-causing nitrogen oxide emissions would be reduced by 80%. Smog-causing sulphur dioxide emissions would be reduced by 99.5%. Mercury, lead and cancer-cuasing emissions would be reduced by 100%.

To embark on a long-term phase out of fossil fuels, the Green Party of Ontario would:

• Eliminate subsidies for fossil fuel use.
• Introduce a carbon tax offset with reductions in income tax
• Convert all coal-fired power plants to natural gas-fired plants by 2009.

Converting Ontario’s coal-fired power plants to natural gas would require a capital cost of approximately $700 million. However, the government’s current strategy to phase out coal is scheduled to cost $1.91 billion. For the typical residential customer’s electricity bill, this would translate into an increase of 34 - 53 cents per month, which is a very small price to pay for cleaner air and a legitimate response to the threat of global warming. In return, the province could eliminate $1.7 billion per year in health, environmental, and economic costs with elimination of coal power.

The end of coal power in BC has huge implications for Ontario and Canada. No longer can Dalton McGuinty justify his two broken promises to shut down coal in Ontario by pointing to BC’s short-lived adventure in coal power. It’s time take a giant steps towards reducing our ecological footprint by ending the era of coal power in Ontario. Let’s choose the future.