Premier McGuinty: Go Clean and Green!  That’s the message the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) is sending the Ontario government in response to the recommendations of the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to pour more money into high-risk, high-cost nuclear power. 

This week, the OCAA launched a public outreach campaign with radio ads on 98.1 CHFI (click here to listen to the ad and for air times) and transit posters in subway stations in downtown Toronto.  We have been joined by World Wildlife Fund Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Sierra Club of Canada in calling on the Ontario government to embrace energy efficiency and clean renewable power as the most cost effective and reliable ways of meeting the province’s future electricity needs.

We need your help!  It is critical that you send a formal response to the Ontario Power Authority’s backward-looking recommendations ASAP.  The McGuinty government needs to hear that Ontarians want a new approach that protects our health and the environment, while improving our quality of life and economic competitiveness – objectives the OPA plan will not meet. 

You can send a letter to the Premier and the Ministry of Energy from our campaign website at www.gocleanandgreen.org.  And make sure your friends and family do the same!  The deadline for submissions is February 12th.  (You can also send messages directly to Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca and write2us@energy.gov.on.ca.  Make sure to include the EBR Registry Number: PO05E0001).

Want more reasons to write?  The OCAA today released its detailed critique of the OPA supply mix advice report.  Among our findings:

• The OPA is counting on new nuclear plants being built on budget and performing flawlessly over their entire lifespans – two things that have never happened in Ontario.
• The OPA is projecting a growth rate for electricity consumption that is almost twice the actual growth rate since 1990 and that reverses a 50-year trend of falling electricity growth rates in Ontario.
• The OPA has used aggressive accounting to lower its projected costs for new nuclear stations and to raise the projected cost of natural gas-fired generation.
• The OPA has skewed its proposed capital budget massively toward new supply instead of efficiency and conservation, despite the clear evidence from many other jurisdictions that improved efficiency is the fastest and the cheapest way to meet our electricity needs.  The OPA is recommending that for every $1 that is invested in energy efficiency, $7.75 should be spent on new supply.

Clearly, the OPA is headed in the wrong direction. Our report provides 12 pragmatic directives the Premier can issue right now to get Ontario moving toward a healthier, more sustainable energy future.  Click here to read our critique and recommendations.

Please pass this message on to your friends.

Jessica Fracassi
Communications & Membership Manager
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
402-625 Church St, Toronto M4Y 2G1
Phone: 416-926-1907 ext. 245
Fax: 416-926-1601
Email: contact@cleanairalliance.org
Website: www.cleanairalliance.org