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Letters to the editor Oakville power plant not needed Re: What are we doing?, Oakville Beaver, March 17 In his letter, the CEO of Guelph Hydro Barry Chuddy poses an interesting question namely, the transmission infrastructure required to move the 920 megawatt of new electric capacity through and/or out of (east) Oakville into the western GTA. He conveniently forgets that the Halton Hills (Milton) 683 megawatt gas-fired TransCanada power plant at the top of Trafalgar at Hwy. 401 (less than 15 km from Oakville) is in the process of coming on stream in the next few months with the reported capacity to supply hydro to two million homes. One would think that this capacity would be sufficient to include the hydro supply for the 50,000 odd homes in Oakville. This plainly means that the proposed power plant for east Oakville, which would have capacity to service close to three million homes, is not required to supply power to east Oakville or even all of Oakville. What Chuddy also forgets is that the Dalton McGuinty government rejected a proposal for a 1,200 megawatt gas-fired power plant at the Nanticoke site, which would have saved the Nanticoke plant slated for closure and prevented the loss of 650 jobs in that community. As he should know, Nanticoke has the required transmission infrastructure to service the western part of the province including all of Halton and Peel. However, under the McGuinty plan, the mega power transmission corridor from Nanticoke will wind up mostly as scrap with a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in transmission infrastructure and result in an unnecessary direct cost to Ontario's taxpayers. The McGuinty government's indefensible choice via OPA of the most unsuitable site for a power plant in east Oakville is nothing but the result of a suspect political decision driven by neither economic need nor sound environmental considerations. PETER KRYSMANSKI, OAKVILLE 7 · Wednesday, March 24, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Claims not supported Re: What are we doing?, Oakville Beaver, March 17 I have been following with interest the debate for and against the power plant in Oakville, and note the paper is publishing both sides of the story, and ensuring facts come to light. However, the letter from Barry Chuddy seems a bit short on facts and references. For example, Chuddy does not present references to substantiate his claim that blocking the power plant "would certainly mean the lights will start going out here..." Chuddy, with his electricity industry experience, must be aware of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) website. This site is open to all and includes daily demand and supply. Anyone can verify that peak demand is running about 20,000 MW and installed capacity is about 35,000 MW. Anyone can also check the 18-month forecast on that same website and see that power demand is not growing as rapidly as was predicted a few years ago. Chuddy also states that the Town's PM 2.5 bylaw will do "virtually nothing to improve the air quality here." If, according to Town data, it reduces deaths from respiratory factors by up to eight people in Oakville annually, I do not consider this to be virtually nothing. He speculates on this bylaw causing businesses to move out -- not a fact. I could speculate that more would move out, or close, if this plant was built. Chuddy does not provide references for his other facts either. Regarding the reliability of the power supply, the Ontario Power Authority's own website includes alternatives if the southwest GTA plant is delayed or cancelled. I appreciate hearing from the silent majority, but would like to see their references before I believe their facts. PAULINE WATSON, OAKVILLE Statements leave reader confused Re: What are we doing? Oakville Beaver March 17. I'm confused about the amount of power we need in Ontario. On the one hand we have Barry Chuddy saying "...will almost certainly mean the lights will start going out here and air conditioners will likely stop working..." plus other dire consequences, if we don't build a gas-fired plant in Oakville. And on the other hand we have The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the folks who manage demand and supply in Ontario, say our coal-free supply will outstrip peak electricity demand by 27 per cent in 2014," as stated in the Toronto Star March 17. So who is right? BILL RICHARDS, OAKVILLE Speak up! You can comment on any story in today's Oakville Beaver at oakvillebeaver.com. T OM S PLACE ' IN TERNA ONAL CEN TI TRE W AREHOUSE SA E L ing t ut ces ! c i pr Large new facility not best solution Continued from page 6 The right answer, and we say this as residents not as experts, is to keep the existing hospital and build a smaller, new facility that has the potential to expand later. There are many advantages to this proposal. · We reduce the overall cost of the new facility and our tax burden. · We mitigate the likelihood of disease outbreaks as we would have two facilities. · We retain a hospital in our core that is well supported for local use. · We avoid building a huge facility that could be outdated before it is paid for. · We have the option to offer different services at either facility i.e maternity at one and specialist services at the other. · We reduce the impact to the environment/reduced facility costs/reduced traffic. Big is not always better. RON AND DOROTHY VANDENBURG, OAKVILLE TOM IS... 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