PEC committee walkout / transmission line woes

The Portlands Energy Centre Community Liaison Committee effectively fell apart because the PEC representatives never allowed it to have any impact on the things they promised to do.

I was going to write about this at length, but instead, I’ll direct you to the NOW magazine article that covers it reasonably accurately.  Other good links are the Eye magazine article and the Beach-Riverdale Mirror article.

As you finish off the NOW article, be a little annoyed with the last word from Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.  Jack has done so much to promote the necessity of closing down coal plants, but seems to be the Province’s reliable apologist for any investment in natural gas infrastructure, no matter how inane. As I pointed out in a letter to NOW, his extensive connections to the natural gas industry throw his objectivity into question.

Recently, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance has been fighting the East Toronto Transmission Line (the site seems exaggerated for shock value — I do not believe the line is likely to go down Pape Avenue, for example).  The local citizen’s group rallying around this issue is called Transforming Toronto and is worth getting involved with.  Investment in major new electricity projects would create a corresponding incentive to encourage electricity use.  It needs to be fought.  Investments in conservation, efficiency and renewables need to be pursued instead.  Of course, the exactly same thing should be said about the Portlands Energy Centre, which is even more expensive, would deliver less electricity to Toronto and is a greenhouse gas emitter and local air polluter.  Pity that Mr. Gibbons can’t seem to recognize this.