December 11th, 2016 …

December 11th, 2016

Ministry of Energy

Environmental Bill of Rights Registration # 012-8840

Via: ltep@ontario.ca

Re: I want Ontario to go 100% renewable

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to share my view that Ontario's next Long-Term Energy Plan needs to not only recognize 100% renewable as a viable option, but lay out concrete steps for achieving this objective as soon as possible.

100% renewable is not an environmentalist's fantasy; it is a future which communities, companies, and even countries around the world are already successfully striving towards. Here in Canada, both Vancouver and Victoria have made this pledge; closer to home, Oxford County, ON, has followed suit. They are already beginning to reap the social, economic and environmental benefits.

A 100% renewable Ontario begins, first and foremost, with conservation. The less energy we need, the less we will have a need for polluting and dangerous forms of energy such as nuclear and gas plants. A recent government study showed we have the potential to cost-effectively reduce electricity demand by 30% by 2035. Why have we not already begun aggressively pursuing this target?

A 100% renewable Ontario also empowers communities to become the producers of their own energy-- not just passive consumers. From rooftop solar to community geothermal installations, Ontario’s next energy plan should provide a variety of options for the province's communities, individual households, co-ops, and First Nations communities to go renewable.

Furthermore, it must be recognized that the biggest barrier to a 100% renewable Ontario is the government's unwavering and illogical affection for nuclear power. Year after year, renewables get cheaper and nuclear gets more expensive-- yet the government keeps approving life-extension and refurbishment projects that will cost Ontarians billions.

Past energy plans have contained no requirement for nuclear projects to undergo public review against alternatives. I'd like to see this change, and to see our next energy plan require full and fair comparisons of the total costs of nuclear with alternatives. The public should then be given an opportunity to provide input into what type of energy they prefer.

Finally, no criticism of nuclear power in Ontario would be complete without mention of the aging Pickering nuclear plant. Just 30 km from downtown Toronto and its millions of residents, this facility is beyond its design life and needs to be shut down to ensure public safety, in addition to the reasons outlined above.

With no real plan for dealing with a large-scale INES Level 7 nuclear disaster such as the Fukushima disaster, I don't see how the Ontario government can justify running such an old and outdated reactor a stone's throw from the most densely populated region in Canada.

Ontario’s 2013 energy plan committed to close the Pickering nuclear station between 2017 and 2020, but earlier this year the government announced they'd keep it running until 2024, effectively breaking their promise. I would like this promise honoured, as we don't need Pickering's energy anyway, almost all of it being surplus and exported at a loss.

In summary, I would like to see Ontario's next energy plan prioritize conservation and renewables, empower citizen- and community- led small-scale renewable energy projects, and recognize nuclear power's true costs and risks. Since the energy it produces is not needed by Ontarians, shutting Pickering down would be a great first step in Ontario’s long-term transition to renewable energy.

Thank you for considering my comments in this review.

Sincerely,

Fawn Edwards

Toronto, ON

[Original Comment ID: 206045]