Natural exit

Somewhere in Don Mills, I expect Premier Kathleen Wynne is quietly giving thanks to an old turtle. And, she is surely secretly praying that more Blanding’s turtles raise their bright yellow chins elsewhere in the province, in clear view of an environmental review tribunal.

For Kathleen Wynne would surely love to back out of the unmitigated disaster her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, created in Ontario’s energy sector. It was not her mess. But McGuinty’s misguided, arrogant and ultimately economy-wrecking Green Energy Act is tied around her neck.

She must be growing weary of explaining why her government spent the best part of a billion dollars to move two gas-generated electricity plants out of the GTA to Napanee and Sarnia (neither community actually needs the electricity the plants will crank out, so it must be shipped back to Toronto via big new transmission lines). Neither is she thrilled about continuing to justify the construction of wall of sky-scraping industrial wind turbines along Ontario’s shoreline, for no useful purpose. And the crippling cost of electricity bills in the province is now squeezing cash-strapped families and sending manufacturing jobs elsewhere. Or, as in the case of the Ring of Fire mining region, subsidizing electricity costs of manufacturers and processors, with the tab to be picked up by Ontario taxpayers.It was all so pointless.

We didn’t need the electricity. Intermittent electricity (uncontrolled generation from wind and solar) is worse than useless. And Ontario already generates plenty of clean renewable electricity from hydro generating facilities.

Had he left it alone, consumers and businesses in Ontario would be enjoying some of the lowest rates of electricity in North America. We might have used some of the resources wasted on developers and their bankers and lawyers to upgrade and modernize the grid—to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of our generating sources.

And we might have used the billions still left over to fund research into alternative energy, electricity storage and carbon sequestration, perhaps working to solve the technological problems that will soon topple McGuinty’s green energy house of cards.

But that approach was never one for McGuinty—it was too slow and boring. He imagined himself being hoisted upon the shoulders of grateful population, praised for his green courage and foresight.

And with every bit of resistance he encountered from his own experts, advisors and managers he became more emboldened, more determined to see his dreams come true.

McGuinty was always marching against the advice and experience of his own folks in the business of electricity generation in this province. Worse, he had no qualms about running rough shod over the ministries and agencies whose job it was to protect nature, life, health, the economy or even the electricity grid itself.

Many folks explained, cautioned and warned McGuinty of the consequences of the Green Energy Act. They would have explained to him that utility-scale electricity storage remains stuck in the realm of science fiction, that with out it, intermittent electricity from wind and solar plants will never contribute a meaningful amount of energy to Ontario homes. It does enrich our neighbours, however, who helpfully charge us a hefty amount to take our electricity when we generate more than we use. This happens a lot. This is because we can’t control intermittent sources. Worse, we have agreed that these private sector generators will always be able to pump their electricity into the grid—whether it is needed or not.

But McGuinty blew past these, and many more, warning signals.

Now it is all beginning to unravel. Forced to look at the energy file in recent months, mainstream media and average citizens have, at last, begun to examine the outlandish claims, empty promises and lucrative deals made in the name of green energy in this province. The more they look, the less they like what McGuinty has done to electricity in Ontario. His dream has become our very expensive nightmare.

Consider that his own Ministry of Environment approved an industrial wind project on Crown Land at Ostrander Point, and that two independent reviewers subsequently concluded it would be ruinous to a species that is already considered endangered. It is astonishing and worrying that McGuinty’s arrogance took us so far down this terrible path without greater public resistance.

But at last that resistance has been stirred. Too late for Wolfe Island. But perhaps not for Prince Edward County. Or Amherst Island.

The Blanding’s turtle buys this community, and others across the province, some time. And time is the enemy of McGuinty’s wrong headed energy policies. They never made a lick of sense to the folks entrusted to run the grid. Nor did they make any sense to folks who, by curiosity or circumstances, paused to examine his plans and methods closely.

McGuinty’s narrative only worked among folks who were hungry for an easy solution to tough global challenges.

Now he is gone and the stench of the mess he left is seeping out across the land. It will linger with us for decades to come. Premier Wynne must now work feverishly to undo the mistakes made by her predecessor, without appearing to be doing so, while retaining a green patina on her government.

The Blanding’s turtle, or more generally the protection of sensitive natural ecosystems, gives her that escape hatch.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca