Page - August 30, 2007
With the impacts of coal pollution on health and the environment mounting cumulatively, it is critical that coal-fired plants be shut down as early as possible.
A recent study
suggests that, under the government's current energy plan, it will
be impossible to meet the new 2014 deadline for closing Ontario's
coal plants. In fact, Nanticoke may well keep burning into 2017.
This is because the government's strategy to phase out coal depends
on it being replaced by nuclear power, which is not dependable.
This summer, coal emissions increased dramatically because reactors
at Pickering and Bruce broke down.
New nuclear power is a Trojan horse in the fight against
dangerous climate change because it undermines the real solutions.
To stop global warming, coal must be phased out in the near term
and greenhouse gas emissions reduced dramatically within the next
10 years. A nuclear station takes 10 to 15 years to build, making
it too little and far too late to address the climate crisis facing
the planet.