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Ontario Promises to Close Coal Plants By 2014, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Posted on: Monday, 18 June 2007, 18:11 CDT

By CHINTA PUXLEY

TORONTO (CP) - Ontario will be bound by law to close its coal plants by 2014 to help meet greenhouse gas reduction targets under a proposed Liberal plan critics say is just another election promise that falls well short of action taken in other provinces.

The Liberal government's latest plan to close the province's coal-fired plants, unveiled Monday by Premier Dalton McGuinty, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1990s levels - falling just short of the 2012 Kyoto target.

The plant closures will be put into a regulation as early as this week, McGuinty said, forcing any subsequent government to change the law if they want to keep them open.

The Liberals promised to close coal plants by 2007 in the last election and have since pushed that date back several times.

"We will close our coal-fired plants down in 2014 without compromising reliability," said McGuinty, refuting questions about his government's credibility on phasing out coal.

"There is only one place in the world that is phasing out coal-fired generation. We're doing that right here in Ontario."

In a speech to the Shared Air Summit in Toronto on Monday, McGuinty said if his government is re-elected Oct. 10, it will reduce Ontario's greenhouse gases to 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Closing coal plants will take Ontario halfway towards meeting the Liberal targets, McGuinty said. The rest of the reduction will come from transit initiatives, improved energy efficiency and technology that helps fight climate change, he added.

"Our plan is much more aggressive than the federal government's plan," said McGuinty, adding that Ontario's approach is even more aggressive than measures taken by California, which has lead the way in setting strict vehicle emission standards.

"Over time, we'll move far beyond Kyoto."

The Liberal plan was immediately criticized by a heckler who interrupted McGuinty's speech and later by environmentalists who say it ignores the province's biggest source of harmful emissions - cars and trucks - and simply renews a previously broken election promise to mothball coal plants.

"The premier said today that there's 'no excuse not to lead'," said Dave Martin, energy coordinator with Greenpeace. "The simple fact is that Ontario still isn't leading."

Both Quebec and Manitoba have put plans in place to meet Kyoto targets, he said, adding there is no reason Ontario can't do the same.

Quebec, Nova Scotia and British Columbia are also poised to impose strict vehicle emission standards - a crucial element missing from the Liberal plan, said Keith Stewart, manager of the climate change program at the World Wildlife Fund.

Just over one-quarter of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions come not from Ontario's coal plants but rather from its cars and trucks, Stewart said.

"Moving on transportation is a key part," said Stewart, adding the Liberal's recently unveiled $11.5 billion, Toronto-area transit plan is a good start.

"We've seen some of the elements there but we still haven't seen the full package of what we need to get those emissions down quickly."

With a fall election fast approaching and environment a top priority with voters, opposition parties accused the Liberals of throwing together a green plan that has little credibility given the party's track record.

"The centrepiece of (McGuinty's) plan is a coal phase-out and he's broken the coal promise three times before," said New Democrat Peter Tabuns. "He's had four years to act and we're getting action at the end of the day."

The plan amounts to nothing but a series of campaign promises that fall short of Kyoto targets being met around the world, Tabuns said.

Conservative Laurie Scott said her party is promising to put scrubbers on the coal plants, rather than shut them down, and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 10 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The Liberal plan is unrealistic, just like the party's previous promise to shut down the coal plants by 2007, she said.

"Can we believe them?" Scott said. "I don't think the general public is going to be fooled again."

Glenn MacIntosh, founder of the group ecosanity.org, interrupted McGuinty's speech saying people have heard enough talk. It's time to close the coal plants now, not seven years from now, he said.

"It's almost past the time for climate change," said MacIntosh, as he was led out by security. "If we don't deal with it right now, aggressively . . . then it may be too late."

Source: Canadian Press

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