Wednesday

Climate Change Network: Letter to Environment Minister re Albert Coal Plant

Action alert from Climate Change Network:

"The federal government is coming  out with new greenhouse gas regulations for coal plants that would go into  effect in 2015, and Maxim Power is trying to rush construction of a new coal  plant in Alberta in order to have it completed before then so it can be exempt  from the regulations.

On top of this, we have obtained documents revealing that  Environment Minister Kent has advised Maxim on how to do this, even though just  last year the government said it would guard against this very behaviour.

The Ontario Humanist Society, and Dr. McCabe and Mary Beaty, UofT Humanist Chaplains, have endorsed this letter to Environment Minister Peter Kent which begins:

"We are writing to urge you to launch an immediate review of the appropriateness of Maxim Power’s proposed coal-fired Milner expansion project, in light of the federal government’s future regulations on coal-fired electricity generation.

As you know, Maxim Power Corp. recently received an interim approval from Alberta’s Utilities Commission for a 500-megawatt supercritical coal plant, which would be located north of Grande Cache, Alberta. The company plans to commission the plant just before the federal regulations on coal-fired electricity take effect.

In June 2010, former Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced that the federal government would adopt regulations specifying a performance standard for greenhouse gas emissions from certain coal-fired power plants. Though the regulations would only apply beginning in July 2015, Minister Prentice assured Canadians that the government would not allow companies to avoid the regulations by rushing new plants into service. He said: “We will guard against any rush to build non-compliant coal plants in the interim”  ....

Please pass this action on to other concerned groups.

Contact: Kim Finch at kfinch@climateactionnetwork.ca (tel: 613-241-4413)

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