Our Staff

LAWRENCE SOLOMON

Lawrence Solomon is one of Canada’s leading environmentalists. His book, The Conserver Solution (Doubleday), which popularized the Conserver Society concept in the late 1970s, became the manual for those interested in incorporating environmental factors into economic life.

An advisor to President Carter’s Task Force on the Global Environment (the Global 2000 Report) in the late 1970’s, he has since been at the forefront of movements to reform foreign aid, stop nuclear power expansion, save the world’s rainforests and convert free roads to toll roads. He is a columnist with National Post (Toronto) and has been a columnist for the Globe and Mail (Toronto), a syndicated columnist, a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and the editor and publisher of the award-winning The Next City magazine.

He is author or co-author of seven books, including Energy Shock (Doubleday), In the Name of Progress (Doubleday), Breaking Up Ontario Hydro’s Monopoly (Energy Probe), Power at What Cost (Doubleday), Toronto Sprawls (University of Toronto Press) and, most recently, The Deniers (Richard Vigilante Books).

Mr. Solomon is a founder and managing director of Energy Probe Research Foundation and the executive director of its Energy Probe and Urban Renaissance Institute divisions. He also helped found the World Rainforest Movement, Friends of the Earth Canada, and Lake Ontario Waterkeepers.

Mr. Solomon’s 1982 model for electricity reform was adopted in the UK in 1989, leading to the demise of nuclear and coal power in the UK and its adoption of high efficiency natural gas technologies. His model has since become the dominant model for electricity sector restructuring in the world. His recommendations in the late 1980s and early 1990s for reforms inOntario’s natural gas sector contributed to an industry restructuring that yielded both economic and environmental benefits.

His 1996 model for the satellite tolling of roads has been adopted throughout the European Union. He holds patents for toll road technology for the EU, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Brazil.

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NORM RUBIN

Norm Rubin is Energy Probe’s director of nuclear research and senior policy analyst, and a founder of Energy Probe Research Foundation in 1979. One of Canada’s best-known environmentalists, he is a member of the Ontario Energy Board’s Working Group on Electricity Demand-Side Management and Demand Reduction, the Ontario Power Authority’s Conservation Business Stakeholder Advisory Group, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s Non-Governmental Organization Regulatory Advisory Committee.

EMPLOYMENT

1991-present – Senior Research Associate, Borealis Energy Research Association
1985-1991 – Director of Nuclear Research, Energy Probe
1978-1985 – Nuclear Power Researcher, Energy Probe
1976-1978 – Lecturer, University of Toronto
1974-1976 – Visiting Lecturer, University of Toronto
1971-1974 – Instructor, Princeton University
1970-1971 – Teaching Assistant (classroom instructor), Princeton University
HEARING AND COURT EXPERIENCE: FEDERAL BODIES

Atomic Energy Control Board (appearances before the board)

1997 – Renewal of the Operating Licence of Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
1990 – Radiation Standards and Health Studies
1980 – Proposed Amendments to the Operating Licence of Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station
Federal Environmental Assessment Review Process
1990-1997 – Nuclear Fuel Waste Management and Disposal Concept Environmental Assessment Review
Federal Standing Committee on Natural Resources
1996 – Bill C-23 to Amend the Atomic Energy Control Act
Federal Standing Committee on Energy, Mines and Resources
1992 – Environmental Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Nuclear Industry
1998 – Economics of Nuclear Power in Canada
Federal Standing Committee on Environment and Forestry
1987 – High-Level Nuclear Wastes
Federal Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development
1994 – Review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
1986-1987 – Working Group on Conservation and Renewable Energy (member)
Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
2000 – Nuclear Energy Issues, Reactor Safety
1999 – Nuclear Energy Issues, General
Special and Ad Hoc Federal Bodies
1999-2000 – Environmental Choice Program, Electricity Guideline (low impact electricity generation, “Green Power”), Guideline Review Committee (member)
1990-1994 – Sitting Task Force on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal (invited speaker in many host and candidate communities)
1987-1988 – Energy Options: A Canadian Dialogue (invited speaker at several workshops and meetings)
1987 – Sitting Process Task Force on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal (invited participant at several workshops and meetings)
HEARING AND COURT EXPERIENCE: PROVINCIAL BODIES
Ontario Energy Board: Hearings
1997 – EBRO 495: Consumers Gas Rate Hearing
1994 – HR 22: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1994 – EBRO 487: Consumers Gas Rate Hearing
1992 – HR 21: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1991-1993 – EBO 169: Integrated Resource Planning for Natural Gas Distribution Companies
1991 – HR 20: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1990 – HR 19: Part 1: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1982 – HR 11: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1982 – Consumers Gas Rate Structure
1981 – HR 10: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
1980 – HR 9: Ontario Hydro’s Rates and Rate Structures
Ontario Energy Board: Associated Committees
2001-2002 – Enbridge Consumers Gas Shared Savings Mechanism Audit Subcommittee (member)
1995-present – Union Gas Demand-Side Management Consultative Group (member)
1994-present – Enbridge Consumers Gas Demand-Side Management Consultative Group (member)
1994-1995 – Collaborative on Externalities for Natural Gas Integrated Resource Planning in Ontario
Environmental Assessment Board
1990-1993 – Environmental Assessment Hearing of Ontario Hydro’s Demand/Supply Plan
Consolidated Hearing Board
1982-1986 – Environmental Assessment of Ontario Hydro’s Southwest Transmission System Expansion, Plan Stage
1982-1984 – Environmental Assessment of Ontario Hydro’s Eastern Transmission System Expansion, Plan Stage
Ontario Advisory Committee on Environmental Standards
1994 – Ontario Drinking Water Objective for Tritium
Ontario Select Committee on Hydro Affairs
1980 – Mining and Refining of Uranium Ore
1979 – The Safety of Ontario Hydro’s Nuclear Reactors
Ontario Select Committee on Energy
1989 – Ontario Hydro
1988 – Ontario Hydro
1986 – Ontario Hydro
1985 – Ontario Hydro
Ontario Standing Committee on General Government
1989 – Countdown Acid Rain
Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General
1989-present – Technical Advisory Committee on Nuclear Emergency Plan (member)
Ontario Round Table on Environment and Economy
1991 – Sectoral Task Force on Energy and Minerals (member)
Ontario Ministry of Energy
1987 – Ontario Nuclear Safety Review
HEARINGS AND COMMITTEE EXPERIENCE: MUNICIPAL BODIES
City of Toronto Council
1984-1992 – Electrical Supply Committee (member)
1982-1984 – Joint Electrical Energy Planning Study
1981 – Municipal Council: Pickering A Generating Station
1980-1981 – Municipal Council: Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
1980 – Municipal Council: Citing of Nuclear Power Plants
In addition to the above interventions and submissions, I have participated on hundreds of occasions in consultations and meetings with members of Parliament and government bureaucrats at the provincial and federal levels, and made tens of written submissions to regulatory commissions and government committees
COURT EXPERIENCE
1987-1996 – Constitutional Challenge of Nuclear Liability Act
1987 – Challenge of Tritium Removal Facility under EAA
1986 – Allegation of Bias in AECB Decision
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
  • “Canada’s nuclear nabobs try to turn green”, The National Post, May 20, 2000
  • Risk Methodology and Criteria for a Nuclear Waste Disposal Facility, Evidence submitted to the federal Environmental Assessment of AECL’s Concept for Disposal of Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste, March 1996
  • Risks of a Nuclear Fuel Waste Disposal Facility, Evidence submitted to the federal Environmental Assessment of AECL’s Concept for Disposal of Canada’s Nuclear Fuel Waste, August 1995
  • How Many Cancers? Energy Probe’s Written Submissions to the Advisory Committee on Environmental Standards on Proposed Limits for Tritium in Drinking Water, February-April 1994
  • Environmental Unacceptability and Environmental Regulation of Nuclear Power, Evidence submitted to the Ontario Environmental Assessment Board Hearing into Ontario Hydro’s Demand/Supply Plan, January 1993
  • Investment Risks and Costs of Nuclear Plants and Other Megaprojects, Evidence submitted to the Ontario Environmental Assessment Board Hearing into Ontario Hydro’s Demand/Supply Plan, December 1992
  • Statistical Confidence of Observed Childhood Leukemia Excesses Around Ontario’s Nuclear Facilities, Energy Probe 1991
  • Electricity: Can It Ever Really Be Clean? Invited, published paper, Canadian Electrical Association’s Demand-Side Management Conference, Winnipeg, May 1990
  • “Probability Times Consequence: Rational and Scientific, or Just Imprudent?” in Energy Alternatives: Benefits and Risks, H.D. Sharma, ed., (University of Waterloo Press 1990)
  • “Profit an ally in environmental power struggle”, Globe & Mail, December 1, 1989
  • Canada and Ontario’s International Standing in Energy and Electricity Efficiency, and the Relationship Between Low Electricity Prices and the Generation of Wealth, Energy Probe 1989
  • The Role of Ontario Hydro’s Coal-Fired Exports in Acid-Gas Production, and Acid-Gas Control, Energy Probe 1989
  • Too Cheap To Be True: Uncovering the Real Cost of Nuclear Electricity, Energy Probe 1989
  • “Tritium: Canadian Content for the Bomb”, in The Name of the Chamber Was Peace, Science for Peace, ed (University of Toronto Press, 1988)
  • “Don’tmake it unlikely, take it away”, in TRANSPO/88,vol. 11, no. 2, (Transport Canada 1988)
  • Risks, Nuclear Safety, and the Ontario Nuclear Safety Review, Energy Proe 1987
  • The Hazards of Old Reactors, co-author: Tom Slee, Energy Probe 1987
  • “Tritium Exports: Building the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal”, in Science and Technology Dimensions, vo. 2, no. 2, April 1987
  • The Mismanagement of Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Program, Invited Brief to the Federal Standing Committee on Environment and Forestry, February 3, 1987
  • “What Canadians Should Learn from Chernobyl”, in CAIRS Radiation Safety Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 2, (Canadian Institute for Radiation Safety 1986)
  • “Canadian, Soviet reactors share flaws, researcher says” Ottawa Citizen, May 10, 1986
  • From Hydro to the H-bomb”, The Hamilton Spectator, February 13, 1986
  • Tritium, Bombs, and Ontario Hydro, Energy Probe 1985
  • “Tories have pledged a full inquiry into nuclear industry”, Toronto Star, September 16, 1984
  • Canada’s Domestic Nuclear Energy Industry: Is the Status Quo Morally Acceptable? Energy Probe 1984
  • Canada’s International Nuclear Trade: The Economics and the Weapons Connection, Energy Probe 1984
  • “Public seeks control over atomic board”, Winnipeg Free Press, December 22, 1983
  • “CANDU design flaws in spotlight following Pickering leak”, Toronto Star, August 13
  • “Doubts about CANDU safety”, Toronto Star, July 18, 1983
  • “Hydrogen seen as a future energy source”, Winnipeg Free Press, May 4, 1983
  • “Costs cloud future of fusion energy”, The Ottawa Citizen, February 5, 1983
  • The Privilege of Participation: A brief to the Atomic Energy Control Board, co-author: David I. Poch, Energy Probe 1982
  • “Atomic energy board’s future darkened by record in the past”, Toronto Star, May 24, 1982
  • “Rational Anti-Nuke Puts Energy Problem in Perspective”, Canadian Consulting Engineer, April 1981
  • The Propaganda Papers: Energy Probe’s Final Argument to the Ontario Energy Board, documenting the need to restrict Ontario Hydro’s public relations activities, Energy Probe 1980
  • What Keeps Us From Freezing in the Dark: A Breakdown of Canada’s Secondary Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, 1977, Energy Probe 1980
  • The Perils of Probabilities… A Brief to the Atomic Energy Control Board, Energy Probe 1979
  • Feature articles on CANDU Reactor Exports, Diagnostic X-Rays, CO2, and CANDU Reactor Licensing Standards in The Probe Post (Pollution Probe Foundation, 1978-1979)
  • News articles and reviews, ibid, 1978-1981
PUBLIC AND BROADCAST SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Public speaking engagements, perhaps 500 of them, before energy and environmental symposia, scholarly meetings, Ontario Science Centre, business associations, church groups, libraries, university and school groups, etc.
Broadcast appearances on virtually all national and local (Toronto) television news, current-affairs, and science programmes, including:
  • CBC and CTV National News
  • Canada AM
  • Mid-Day
  • The Fifth Estate
  • Venture
  • The Nature of Things
  • The Great Debate
  • Science Cafe
  • Hosted ten episodes of TVOntario’s Fragile Nature, 1990-1991

Radio engagements too numerous to list individually, including:

  • As It Happens
  • Sunday Morning
  • The House
  • Commentary
  • Morningside
  • Ideas
  • Quirks and Quarks
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
In 1986-1987 I served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Ontario Environment Network, and in 1988-1991 on the Board of Directors of the Independent Power Producers Society of Ontario, and in 1991 on the Energy and Minerals Task Force of the Ontario Round Table. I also represented Energy Probe on the eleven-member task force of national organizations that drafted Greenprint for Canad: A Federal Agenda for the Environment, and have served for three years on the National Board of Directors of Science for Peace. I am currently a member of the Canadian-Environment Caucus, the Steering Committee of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout, the Technical Advisory Committee on Ontario’s Nuclear Emergency Plan and the Boards of Advisors of the Waterloo Institute for Risk Research and the McMaster Institute for Energy Studies
EDUCATION
1970 – Master of Fine Arts in Music History, Princeton University
1968 – Master of Fine Arts in Musicology, Boston University
1966 – Bachelor of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Major: Humanities and Science; minor: Physics)
ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS
1970-1971 – Harold W. Dodds Fellow, Princeton University
1969-1970 – Charles Grosvenor Osgood Fellow, Princeton University
1968-1969 – Princeton University Fellow
OTHER DISTINCTIONS
1992-present – Who’s Who in Canada
1990 – Described by Toronto Life magazine as Canada’s leading environmental activist on the energy issue