Isn’t it lovely when we all play nice?
Here’s the latest report on the Portlands Energy Centre’s Community Liaison Committee:
Energy centre’s regrouped citizen committee has distinctly different vibe
Everyone played nicely at Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Portlands Energy Centre’s newly reconstituted community liaison committee.This week’s gathering is the first official one since more than half of the committee’s members rescinded their membership last May.
The regrouped committee now has about 10 new members including a representative from the provincial Ministry of the Environment, who could not attend the meeting but did send her regrets.
They all played nicely because community opposition was eviscerated and new participants were handpicked.
| — Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu on 2008 Mar 7 in Ecology & sustainability, News, Portlands development |
I have heard that there was a promise from the government after the Portland’s “debacle” that future natural gas plants in residential areas would be permitted full environmental assessments – do you know if there is any substance to this?
I haven’t heard this Pauline. The Government of Ontario website still links to the 2001 EA regulations for electricity projects:
ontario.ca/en/information_bundle/mineral/stel02_038204
If you click on the MOE summary, natural gas generation is still a category B process, which requires only an environmental screening rather than a full EA:
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/gp/4021e.pdf
All this was done to accommodate public private partnerships, which combine the worst of both worlds – the profit motive and shield from public scrutiny of the private sector with guaranteed public sector funding for risk insurance.