POSITION STATEMENTS | AUGUST 3, 2021
Imagine Meaford’s position on TCE’s Pump Storage Plant.
POSITION STATEMENT | AUGUST 3, 2021
Meaford is continuing to gain attention as more people want to live and work here. As Meafordites we all want to see Meaford receive good development that fits with, and provides benefits to, our entire community. To ensure this happens, we plan for the impacts that developments may have. We do this by minimizing negatives and maximizing positives.
One example of an impactful development is TCE’s Pumped Storage proposal. Aside from the project itself, this project will be an enormous undertaking that will require at least 200 additional workers to be living in Meaford through the multi-year-long construction period. TCE will need to find a housing solution for these workers and has a few options available.
During other major developments, companies have built semi-permanent residence camps and used hotels. However, TCE has continuously asserted that it intends to make investments alongside its project that will help Meaford succeed which independent and in addition to their obligations to compensate for their burden on existing infrastructure.
Below is an excerpt from TCE’s website:
Therefore, it follows that TCE should be interested in exploring the possibility of housing investments that will first serve their purpose for accommodating their workforce, and afterwards serve Meaford’s purpose to develop housing that fits with its needs and long-term objectives.
We think it’s a good idea to begin discussions with the public about what this could look like so that we can ensure Meaford maximizes the benefits from TCE coming to our community.
POSITION STATEMENT | AUGUST 3, 2021
Imagine Meaford supports the research of SAVE GEORGIAN BAY and their position of opposition to this initiative.
For an informed overview, check out this excellent article published in On The Bay Magazine.
FOR RELEASE JULY 29, 2021
Comment from Save Georgian Bay
We are disappointed and disheartened by the news today of the DND putting in place an Agreement in Principle, providing permission to TCE to proceed to the Impact Assessment Phase, for use of the base for a pump storage plant drawing water from Georgian Bay.
SAVE GEORGIAN BAY is a group of Georgian Bay community members, who have accepted a mission of studying this project and sharing information with fellow community members. SAVE GEORGIAN BAY has hosted and participated in dozens of public meetings, shared documents on the project, including producing a detailed Strategic Environmental Assessment last summer. The Strategic Environment Assessment outlines the many adverse effects such a project will have on the escarpment, species on the projected site and the fish and wildlife of Georgian Bay.
The many years of construction and the long-term effects of the plant will cause great and irrevocable harm to the environment. We find in this decision that the DND, and possibly Ontario’s government, are choosing dollars over preservation, and therefore, putting the Georgian Bay ecosystem at great risk.
SAVE GEORGIAN BAY has asked the DND and TCE to identify for the public any organization in North America proposing to, or in the process of building a new dam over the heads of as many as 1,000 nearby residents and employees of businesses. None have been identified in our research, or by DND or TCE, leading to the conclusion that no responsible corporation is building such a project over the heads of so many nearby souls.
SAVE GEORGIAN BAY encourages both TCE and the regulators, who will now be involved in the Impact Assessment Phase to closely view these environmental impacts. SGB believes there is not a way to do no harm, which was the commitment made by TCE’s project leaders. TCE and the regulators also must study how the dramatic changes in the world over the past two years are changing electrical demand.
TCE had the hypothesis they could use nighttime energy at low cost to fill the reservoir and sell that energy during the day at the high price cycle. With electric cars, which would be charged at night, growing their presence on our roads, and business electrical use being transformed by new ways to office, electrical demand is changing. It is quite possible that electrical pricing will change, making this project no longer feasible, not needed, or worse, resulting in an infrequently utilized burden on tax and rate payers for decades.
SAVE GEORGIAN BAY’s analysis concludes this project is not green. It is estimated at 70% efficient, compared to solutions which are more quickly available and 90% efficient. For this reason and others we disagree with TCE’s claims of carbon reduction from the project. The Clean Air Alliance has proposed an alternative that would provide Ontario with 2000MW of power at a cost of $80 million. TCE is proposing half that amount of capacity at a cost 50 times more, $4.3 billion.
SAVE GEORGIAN BAY will continue its mission of studying this project and sharing what we learn with the Georgian Bay community and the people of Ontario.
FOR QUESTIONS:
Tom Buck, tbuck@savegeorgianbay.ca, 248-321-3205
Bruce Rodgers, brodgers@savegeorgianbay.ca, 905-867-6966