Ontario choking on gas plants

April 30, 2008 - Ontario's communities under attack from Ontario Power Authority's push to build belching smokestacks in their backyards - supposedly for our electricity.

Taking ENERGY discourse outside of "gas is cleaner than coal" framework.

Taking ENERGY discourse outside of the framework which says "if one community is too angry, we'll build fossil fuel plants in another"

That new gas plant is going up in King Township of North York Region -KING -(just north of Toronto, Ontario) or new high-voltage overhead transmission lines from Markham to Newmarket may not sound alarming to those not directly targeted. But alarming, it should be to all of us!

There are 12 natural gas fired plants underway in Ontario and another 6 in operation since 2006. This means that there are 18 regions in Ontario facing belching smokestacks in their backyard. That is equivalent to 6 -8 coal-fired plants. Adding the proposed gas plant in North York Region, we end up with 19 natural gas plants in Ontario. Anyone else under attack? Please let us know if you don't find yourself on the official list of gas plants. They are springing up like mushrooms everywhere. What is the collective impact of all this burning on Ontario?

If there is any issue which could connect communities with one another into one large movement across the whole province, it is the tyranny of fossil fuel burning in Ontario.

If anything could be the catalyst for the green energy development, the fossil and radioactive fuels dictatorship in Ontario could.

Multiple communities are resisting this type of dirty energy tyranny in Ontario. Communally suited mix of renewables for every building in those communities is the answer they want to see implemented.

Should anyone in Ontario be a host to a fossil fuel burning dinosaur for the sake of their own or someone else's electricity?

NO!!!

We have no right to force fossil fuel burning plants on anyone for our own electricity or for the electricity needed for new "economic growth and developments."

Fossil fuel burning for electricity and heating/cooling is outdated and environmentally destructive technology which threatens our ability to survive as a species.

This is true whether it is in our backyard or not. Wherever these belching dinosaurs are, they are a threat to our survival.

It is a well established scientific fact that burning fossil fuels has caused Global Warming.

We have gassed this Planet with fossil fuel burning to such extent that we are on the brink of extinction.

Global Warming is our daily reality. Fossil fuel burning plants in our backyard hurt people not only locally but the world over.

Consequences include not only extreme and unpredictable weather summed up in two words as "climate chaos" but everything that is emerging from such fatal instability: skyrocketing electricity prices, skyrocketing food prices, blackouts due to interrupted fossil fuel supplies, ripped transmission lines etc.

We live in the midsts of environmental and energy crises caused by fossil fuel burning called Global Warming.

Adding Greenhouse Gases to our collective atmosphere is a crime against humanity.

The basic requirement for our survival is putting immediate stoppage to fossil fuel burning!

It is in this context of Global Warming that Ontario Power Authority is forcing fossil fuel burning on many Ontario's communities. Why is OPA trying to have multiple communities in Ontario host this crime against humanity?

Temporary Profit? NOT IN OUR NA ME, OPA/ONTARIO GOVERNMENT!

Communally designed integrated renewable energy technologies (geothermal, solar, wind, biogas) harness energy which is free and limitless. If installation of such technologies is not publicly subsidized the way it SHOULD BE, they pay for themselves. They also eliminate electricity and heating bills as energy supplies are in the local renewable commons domain. This is especially true if people own such technologies. Nature friendly technologies should be people friendly technologies.

In addition, they eliminate the need for invasion and occupation of land for fuel supplies. Indeed sunshine, wind, biogas, earth's heat or cooling differ from coal or uranium BIG TIME. For example, the land of Appalachian people in the United States is literally consumed to the bare bone so that coal from their mountains can be burned in Ontario's coal-fired plants - for our energy. Ontarians should not be sucking on Appalachian coal for our energy!!! Close down coal-fired plants in Ontario - ASAP!

Energy for our electricity and heating/cooling must not come from environmentally destructive practices nor human rights abuses.

It is not only that we can, but we must go green: mix of renewable energy technologies for every building; energy efficiencies for every building.

We have developers ready to transform Ontario into a modern environmentally and people-friendly province. It is OPA, however, that is selecting fossil fuel burning developers instead . Competition process to build new energy supply is not open to all energy technology developers. There is no competition process in which those most environmentally and people friendly energy technologies could win.

OPA artificially opens competition to only one type of energy developers according to their personal personal preference and interest: fossil fuel burning developers - in the time when fossil fuel burning is rejected outright by every community - including the world's scientific and peoples' community.

And what's a community to do when the law protects OPA's undemocratic decisions?

Bill 51 prevents people from appealing construction of a plant. First, communities are not even informed or consulted. OPA will try to interject to prove how much they are doing to keep targeted communities informed. Unfortunately, this does not count as long as people feel they are not informed or consulted properly and as long as people feel they are being walked over by the OPA fossil fuel burning bulldozers.

By the time communities start scrambling on their own, OPA is deep in the process of seeking bids from fossil fuel developers, and people are up against Bill 51 - no right to appeal plant construction according to law.

For example, the structure of the Town of Aurora Council Public Meeting on Wednesday April 30 at 7pm features a panel of speakers - all of them in favour of fossil fuel burning - one is from Ontario Power Authority, one from Association of Power Producers (represents more than 100 energy corporations in Ontario) , one from Power Stream (electricity distribution company in the area), and one is from Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) which supported building of the Portlands gas plant on Toronto's waterfront against the wishes of the community. OCAA opposes the KING gas plant not because of the grave dangers of fossil fuel burning but because the proposed plant is not the right type of a gas plant to do it more efficiently.

Well this public meeting in Aurora is structured so that the panelists have 10 minutes each to present their views. Public is allowed to pose one question each and panelist have 2 minutes each to answer the questions coming from concerned people. This sounds like a very tightly controlled corporate event. This is not public info session or consultation.

In their independent fact finding mission regarding the proposed gas plant, a group of KING residents called King Countryside Stewardship Alliance (KCSA) contacted OPA asking questions, but either never received response or received responses which didn't answer their questions.

OPA uses other tactics as well.

In North York Region (just north of Toronto), OPA has managed to pit two communities against each other: if the gas plant is not built in King Township of NYR then high voltage transmission lines will be built over the residences and schools in Markham and Aurora of NYR and vice versa.

Residents fighting new transmission lines in Markham and Aurora called S.T.O.P (Stop Transmission Lines Over People) are supporting OPA's decision to build the gas plant in King Township because this would temporarily solve their own problem in Aurora and Markham. Not only are they siding with OPA, but they are showing open hostility towards the King Countryside Stewardship Alliance. After their March 30 community meeting trying to discuss implications of a new gas plant for their countryside green environment, KING residents of KCSA were accused by S.T.O.P. of spreading "inaccuracies" about the gas plant and that since they don't want the gas plant, "transmission [is their] preferred solution."

Nothing can be further from truth because King Countryside Stewardship Alliance rose above OPA's either/or trap saying that they do NOT support either the gas plant or transmission lines.

They are on the right track. Both communities, King Countryside Stewardship Alliance and S.T.O.P. should unite under one banner of calling for full implementation of renewable energy technologies not only as a prerequisite for new "economic growth and development" but for existing infrastructure as well. And then, S.T.O.P and KING should be uniting with other 18 communities in the same situation together with the renewable energy developers - demanding GREEN ENERGY ONLY.

Natural gas plants abuse air, water and soil. They are adding CO2 to the collective atmosphere further gassing the planet and endangering our survival. They c onsume thousands of gallons of water per minute. They discharge water full of heavy metals and toxins back into environment. All heavy metals and toxins from belching smokestacks settle on water, land and dwellings. Through water, air and food, they accumulate in our bodies and cause diseases targeting respiratory system, heart and brain. In particular, they harm development of children during gestation resulting in birth defects and brain damage. And if residents want clean water, they have to pay for privatized industrial waste treatment facilities. The cost of cleaning water that shouldn't have been polluted in the first place is prohibitive.

Gas plants need pipes for natural gas to be piped to the place of its burning and the natural gas is usually secured through armed occupation and exploitation of Aboriginal and foreign lands. Same goes for coal (coal-fired plants) or uranium (nuclear plants).

Fossil - and radioactive fuel-burning plants destroy a lot of environment and people's lives in order to produce a bit of our energy.

NO ONE NEEDS SUCH ENERGY!

Indeed, "need" for energy is the wool OPA is pulling over NYR residents' eyes. OPA is saying we are doing you a favour because you NYR residents "need" the energy. According to Ontario Clean Air Alliance, NYR has more energy than they need right now. Never take statement that we "need" energy for granted. This is not true until we prove it is true through independent review and study process of our energy needs in Ontario, and until we identify and list those that need it. Ontarians have become champions at conserving energy. They have used less energy in current years than in the past.

Following questions beg answers: Who needs energy? OPA is talking about new development. What development in particular needs energy? Let's identify the one that's so needy that a natural gas plant is forced upon communities who don't want it.

Any new development should be installing their own green energy. What kind of "development" and "growth" is that which is necessitating environmental destruction and tyranny? Ontario communities are saying NO to such fossil - and radioactive fuel dictatorship imposed by OPA.

Around 3500 MW of energy, OPA exported to the United States in 2006. This is almost the amount of energy produced by the Nanticoke, the biggest and dirtiest coal fired plant in North America located right here in Ontario.

Ontario government is saying we need coal fired plants until 2014 for our energy. This is not true.

Thousands of megawatts of our energy is exported - WE DO NOT NEED IT!!!

WHAT WE NEED IS INTEGRATED RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR NEW and EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE - NOW!!!

NO MORE NUCLEAR!
NO MORE NATURAL GAS!
NO MORE COAL!

Please write in support of GREEN ENERGY ONLY FOR OUR ONTARIO!!!

Submit your comments to the "forum discussing" Energy in Aurora and Northern York Region - April 30, 2008 http://www.town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=1960&lang=en-CA

Say to them that:

BUILDING OF FOSSIL FUEL BURNING PLANTS SHOULD BE OUTRIGHT PROHIBITED BECAUSE FOSSIL FUEL BURNING HAS CREATED UNPRECEDENTED ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CRISES LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY THREATENING OUR VERY SURVIVAL.

BEING THE ROOT CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING AND DEADLY CLIMATE CHAOS, FOSSIL FUEL BURNING IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

IT IS OUTDATED and ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE WAY OF PRODUCING ENERGY

PEOPLE OF ONTARIO REJECT OUTRIGHT FOSSIL FUEL BURNING PLANTS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. IT IS PEOPLE'S DECISIONS TO HAVE GREEN ENERGY ONLY THAT MUST BE RESPECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT IS FORCING ON ONTARIANS and THE REST OF THIS WORLD FOSSIL FUEL BURNING AGAINST THEIR COLLECTIVE WILL AND IS SO CREATING FOSSIL FUEL ENERGY DICTATORSHIP IN ONTARIO THROUGH SELF INTERESTED, ONE-SIDED DECISION MAKING AND UNJUST, AND TYRANNICAL LAWS - ABSOLUTELY IGNORING PEOPLE' S WILL -

PEOPLE ARE UNITING TO FIGHT FOR ENERGY WHICH DOES NOT COME FROM ARMED OCCUPATION OF ABORIGINAL AND FOREIGN LANDS TO SECURE FOSSIL AND RADIOACTIVE FUEL SUPPLIES

COMMUNALLY SUITED MIX OF GREEN ENERGIES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AND IMPLEMENTED AS AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY CRISES CREATED BY FOSSIL FUEL BURNING

TRANSFER ALL THE PUBLIC BILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM SUBSIDIZING FOSSIL AND RADIOACTIVE BURNING PLANTS INTO GREEN ENERGY ONLY FULL PUBLIC SUBSIDIES FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR EVERYONE IN ONTARIO WITHOUT DELAY - NOW!

FOSSIL AND RADIOACTIVE FUELS CARTEL/MONOPOLY/TYRANNY/DICTATORSHIP IN ONTARIO MUST BE DISMANTLED WITHOUT DELAY.

OPA HAS TO REINVENT ITSELF FOR THE ERA OF GREEN ENERGY ONLY.

ONTARIO COMMUNITIES UNDER ATTACK. WHAT DO WE DO?

STAND UP, FIGHT BACK!!!

REFERENCES:

"I don't think they're straight with us at all." King Township residents fight gas plant plan National Post March 31, 2008 http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/Story.html?id=411343

"Well, let's see who is misleading whom," King residents raise concern over a letter sent by OPA to Mayor Black The King Sentinel Township April 16, 2008 http://www.kingsentinel.com/news/2008/0416/news/005.html

"They are either lying or incompetent, or both!" A History of the MHA's Involvement With The Proposed Natural Gas Power Plant http://www.marklandwood.org/Eastern_History.htm

Monstrous toxin-spewing invader, say the residents of Milton http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2006/10/30/power-to-the-people/

Fight against Bill 51, which eliminates the right of appeal on power plant construction IS NOT OVER http://www.thehaltonherald.ca/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=156

"if they took money to allow these people to pollute, then shame on them" If a community is only w orth the planning put into it, what's Halton Hills worth? The Halton Herald December 19, 2006 http://www.thehaltonherald.ca/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=171

"..proposed energy centre just doesn't make sense ... Air studies done in downtown Toronto show pollution levels near hazardous thresholds.." Fletcher and Tabuns derail Portlands Energy Centre 06 21, 2006 http://www.readingt.readingcities.com/index.php/toronto/comments/fletcher_and_tabuns_derail_portland_energy_centre/

OPA's lists of natural gas plants (two websites):
http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/Page.asp?PageID=924&SiteNodeID=236 http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/Page.asp?PageID=924&SiteNodeID=174

Aurora Council Public Meeting Agenda http://www.town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index.aspx?ArticleID=1957&lang=en-CA

Richard Johnson of S.T.O.P.: "...transmission is [KCSA's] preferred solution..." http://www.aurorapowerupdate.com/Home/readmore/tabid/359/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Ontario Clean Air Alliance. Too big, too costly and too polluting http://www.cleanairalliance.org/nyr

Abolition of Coal-Fired Plants Everywhere - No Nukes! http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/28427

do some googling: Global Warming, CO2 Emissions, Planetary Survival Reports are so scary that I'll let you find them on your own.

Google: Abolition Coal

Ivona Vujica
OTTAWA - ONTARIO
613 421 6126
ivujica@gmail.com

CC: RENEWABLE ENERGIES ASSOCIATIONS
ONTARIO'S RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPERS

OPA, OPG, STOP, KCSA, OCAA, PSEA .....

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW OFFICES

GREEN NGOs

EVERYONE

For more information contact:

Ivona Vujica
Green Energy Only
Email: ivujica@gmail.com
URL: http://floodiceorfire.wordpress.com/

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