Rob Ferguson
Toronto Star
June 10, 2006

The prospect of more long, hot summers is forcing Ontario’s Liberal government to once again break a promise to close highly polluting, coal-fired power plants, says Energy Minister Dwight Duncan.

The admission came yesterday after what Duncan dubbed a "disappointing" report from the province’s power monitoring agency, the Independent Electricity System Operator.

It warned a "significant delay" is needed in the plan to close coal plants by 2009 because last summer’s steamy weather and unprecedented demand for power during May’s brief heat wave are signs power use will be much higher than forecast.

"This is a disappointment and a setback," Duncan said in a telephone interview from Windsor. He refused to set a new deadline for closing coal plants.

The Liberals promised in the last election campaign to close all coal plants by 2007 in an effort to clean the air and reduce the hundreds of deaths caused every year by air pollution.

The schedule was revised a year ago, with most plants closing in 2007 but the giant Nanticoke plant on Lake Erie staying open until 2009.

While two northern Ontario coal plants are still slated to close next year, the Lambton station near Sarnia will stay open past 2007 and Nanticoke past 2009, Duncan said.

It would be irresponsible to close them before more "cleaner, greener" power generation is ready to take their place and keep the lights on across the province, he added. "You cannot compromise reliability by shutting down coal plants along the time lines we had hoped for."

Opposition parties and electricity watchdogs – who have warned for years the original Liberal promise to close coal plants was unrealistic because new power sources aren’t coming on line soon enough – were quick to say I told you so.

The 20-page report from the Independent Electricity System Operator released yesterday made a similar point and urged measures to speed up new generation sources.

"The minister’s got nobody to blame but himself because the government has been ignoring the facts," said Tom Adams of Energy Probe.

Ontario’s air quality could have been improved by now if the Liberals hadn’t stuck stubbornly to their plan and had taken stronger measures to clean up emissions at coal plants, said Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory.

"They’ve wasted almost three years."

Cleaner emissions are now on the government’s priority list, said Duncan.

He defended his "aggressive" coal promise, saying he never expected such a huge change in the long-term forecast, which now calls for an additional 3,000 megawatts of power. That’s almost as much as Nanticoke, the largest coal-fired plant in North America, provides alone.

Duncan accused the agency of overestimating the availability of hydroelectric power in summertime – when droughts keep water levels low – and underestimating demand for power now that usage peaks in summer, not in the winter.

"It’s the McGuinty government looking for someone to blame for their broken promise," said New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton.