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Author Archives: energyprbe
Fish pay price for Cornwall dam
The giant Moses-Saunders hydro dam across the St. Lawrence River is destroying fish habitat and indirectly tainting the fish, says a major study by the University of Ottawa.
The river is cleaner than it used to be, and cleaner than most people who live near it realize, the University of Ottawa study found.
But the Moses-Saunders dam at Cornwall, and a second hydro dam downstream at Beauharnois, are now the biggest sources of damage to the river and the living things in it.
Ontario enters new world of hydro competition
Jim Wilson, Ontario’s Energy Minister, is announcing today the ground rules for a new era in electricity, one that will increasingly see free markets replace Ontario Hydro’s monopoly over the province’s electricity system.
Ontario Hydro nuclear continues slide
Earlier this week, Ontario Hydro’s "Nuclear Report Card" reported nuclear production 6.4% ahead of target for 1998. In fact, actual nuclear production for the year fell 3.4% short of Hydro’s official "Nuclear Asset Optimization Plan", as it was presented to the Ontario Parliamentary Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Nuclear Affairs in October 1997.
Hydro revises target for nuclear division
Performance sliding: Production shortfall means $60M hit to bottom line Ontario Hydro appears to have moved the goal posts for its troubled nuclear division by lowering its 1998 nuclear production target.
The adjustmen allows Hydro to say that it has met and exceede its target.
Based on its original target, Hydro had a production shortfall of 3.4% or an estimated $60-million in lost production. Instead, Hydro lowered its target by about 10% and is now saying its 1998 production was ahead of target by 6.4%.
Ontario Hydro's smog-causing emissions up 30% in ‘98
Ontario Hydro’s emissions of nitrogen oxide from its coal and oil-fired units jumped by 30% in 1998, from 43 kilotonnes in 1997 to 56 kilotonnes, based on preliminary data from Ontario Hydro.
Ontario Hydro’s emissions of sulphur dioxide also increased by 15% in 1998 from 124 kilotonnes in 1997 to 143 kilotonnes.
Nitrogen oxide emissions are rising against a backdrop of the utility’s commitment to decrease nitrogen oxide emissions to 38 kilotonnes in the year 2000.
Hydro creates more smog
Ontario Hydro spewed more smog causing gases in 1998 despite promising to slash emissions by 2000. With eight of its 20 nuclear reactors shut down, and the rest requiring more down time than planned, Hydro stepped up its use of coal, which creates air pollution. In 1997, Hydro’s coal fired stations produced 43,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide fumes. Last year that total jumped to 56,000 tonnes. “We were breathing a lot more pollution,” said Tom Adams of Energy Probe. Continue reading
Power play: Why did Mike Harris take a pass on his biggest privatization candidate-Ontario Hydro
When Mike Harris strode to the apex of Ontario political power that summer of 1995, the agenda, as it was, was crystal clear. Centrally directed economies: bad. Turbo capitalism: good. The ideology was textbook – an affectless pursuit of deficit-slashing and ledger-balancing; the reduction of the high cost of government not just by paring services, but by swapping public debt for private equity.
Power Play
Why did Mike Harris take a pass on his biggest privatization candidate – Ontario Hydro, the country’s largest electrical utility?
Energy Probe's first NP article on municipal distribution rate increases
Ontario’s municipal electric utilities – Toronto Hydro, Ottawa Hydro and other local distribution companies that deliver power to city consumers – will be allowed to raise their rates to the average customer by about one-third next year under a proposed Ontario Energy Board staff plan.
Energy Probe 