From May 2004 to September 2005 a concerned citizen’s group called S.T.O.P. (Stop Transmission lines Over People) joined forces with the Towns of Aurora and Markham in raising concerns over what thousands of people felt was a flawed planning and environmental assessment process conducted by Hydro One. As a result of our efforts the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) conducted a Working Group review of all possible alternatives which included participation from all of the impacted municipalities. The final Working Group recommendations were conditionally supported by S.T.O.P. and various stakeholders including the Town of Aurora.
The OPA procurement process is now under way in order to find an acceptable local generation solution to meet Northern York Region's needs. This represents a significant opportunity for Aurora to increase tax revenues, improve our power reliability and potentially underground transmission lines through our community while at the same time addressing socio-economic and environmental concerns. This current process requires public input and support in order to be successful.
If an acceptable solution and host community are not found in Northern York Region, an unwanted solution could well be imposed upon us. The good news is that there are many potential benefits too our community that can be derived from a well designed, located and operated gas fired peaking plant. The recommended solution was arrived at after a great deal of effort, expense and consideration and now is the time to ensure that this plan is delivered with an appreciation for the history of this issue.
The current options before us include local generation as proposed, OR to revert to a transmission solution that was clearly unwanted in 2005 and clearly remains unwanted. Aurora's official position is to "adamantly oppose" an overhead transmission solution and to explore undergrounding, as was stated numerous times, including in the Town of Aurora's 2005 response to the OPA recommendations. Now is the time for us to work towards a solution.
Two letters of special interest are attached to the left of this webpage. Please see the OPA letter dated April 2nd as well as the APPrO letter dated April 15 for more details.
Groups such as the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) and "Mega What?" have made misleading and factually incorrect statements that the OPA and APPrO have gone to great lengths in an effort to correct. Even after being corrected, these groups have not changed their position misleading and alarming statements accordingly. Misinformation and distortions have been stated related to smoke stack sizes, noise, emissions, cost, viable alternatives, the number of transmission facilities serving Northern York Region, the impact of conservation efforts, the need for supply diversity and the need for large amounts of water in a typical peaking plant design likely to be used in areas where water supply is an issue.
OCAA's current position with regards to the proposed peaker does not hold up to closer scrutiny and their past statements in full support of the larger Portlands Energy Centre and other gas fired facilities, however only a full understanding of these issues will clarify what the OCAA is really saying. OCAA's ultimate goal appears to be to kill the OPA's master power plan for Ontario and they appear willing to say and do what ever it takes in order to accomplish that goal, even if their position is not supported by the specific facts facing NYR or the history of the planning and consultation process to date.
Once you have done your homework you can judge for yourself who is being straight with the facts and this site ids intended to provide you with information not likely to be shared by "Mega WHAT ?" or the OCAA.
The OCAA has stated that a 30 MW combined heat and power (gas fired) power plant will meet our power supply needs however what they don't tell you is that their solution will also require either a clearly unwanted transmission solution or potentially hundreds of smaller back up systems (likely gas fired) that will provide the full 375 MW needed in the event that our primary of source of power gets knocked out. The OCAA has not openly explained why they supported the much larger 550 MW Portlands Power pant that operates for longer (approximately 40% of the time / or 4 to 8 times longer than what is proposed in NYR) and is located to a larger population in the Toronto Beaches and yet the OCAA now calls a smaller 350 to 400 MW power plant that runs for 10% of the time "too dirty". You might also want to ask why OCAA proposed to convert the 4,000 MW Nanticoke coal power plant to gas. The answer... because gas is a cleaner source of power and OCAA knows it. They will argue that CHP plants are more efficient than peaking plants however they neglect to tell you that there are many types of power plants that are designed to address specific engineering needs. After an extensive consultation and planning process that has spanned years, the peaking plant solution proposed by the OPA is the best technical and most responsible solution to meet our current power supply reliability needs in Northern York Region.
While any given potential power plant may differ slightly in its design, location and operation the total emissions for the type of power plant proposed for NYR is estimated to be in the range of two residential gas furnaces, after dispersion, at the point of impingement while the Portlands Power Plant located in the Toronto Beaches is equal to approximately 13 residential furnaces, which incidentally met with the OCAA's full support, and yet OCAA now calls the peaking plant proposed for Northern York Region "too dirty". Why ? Don't ask me, ask Jack Gibbons.
Total emissions during the operational time of approximately 900 hours per year will be less than a 1% increase over current emissions so if we are so concerned about the health impacts related to emissions then we may want to concentrate as much or more on the 99% than the 1%. We need to be realistic in addressing these issues and clarifying the facts and viable alternatives is a good start.
As a result of the recently passed Bill 51 municipalities lost rights they formerly had under the planning act related to private power supply projects. Regardless of the objections of any given community an unwanted solution could well be imposed if we do not work constructively and proactively towards a considerate and reasonable solution. I have always fought for socio-economic and environmental concerns to be addressed as early as possible in the planning process and if our respective communities in Northern York Region do not become well informed and address our long term power supply needs proactively in a spirit of co-operation then the OPA and OEB will have no option but to implement a solution that they feel is in our collective best interests.
No matter what may happen with regards to the proposed power plant, Aurora will face issues related to transformers, transmission and power reliability in the future therefore now is the time to address these matters to the best of our ability while taking into consideration the history of these matters as well as long term considerations. Only good input can result in good output so lets hope that the decision makers and our elected representatives do their homework before they take a stance.
The draft request for proposal (RFP) was issued by the OPA on June 6th, 2008 and proponents will be holding information sessions throughout this summer and fall in order to educate the public and seek public input. Final proposals will be submitted to the OPA by the end of October and solution will be identified by year end, at which time the formal environmental assessment process will commence. Links to proponent websites can be found above and further details can be found at the town as well as on the OPA website.
Please visit this site frequently for further updates.