Fwd: [cleanair-l] Stopping coal-fired electricity imports on smog days

[Guest guest]

> " Ontario Clean Air Alliance "

> <contact

> <cleanair-l

> Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:54:04 -0400

> [cleanair-l] Stopping coal-fired

> electricity imports on smog days

>

> By paying electricity consumers in Ontario to reduce

> demand on smog-alert

> days, we can reduce air pollution, reduce the

> soaring cost of electricity on

> high-demand days and keep electricity dollars in

> Ontario instead of paying

> for high-cost imports of dirty coal-fired power from

> the Ohio Valley.

>

> The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) is planning to

> introduce a new

> demand-response program in the summer of 2006 that

> will help the province

> tap into these and other benefits by paying major

> power consumers to reduce

> demand on smog-alert days. This is an important

> step in the right

> direction, but there are some serious limitations to

> the OPA's proposed

> program:

>

>

>

> 1. The OPA is proposing that those industries or

> institutions willing to

> reduce demand on smog-alert or high-demand days be

> paid less than the rate

> for U.S. imports (potentially as much as 80% less).

> This makes little

> sense. By paying demand-response participants the

> same rate we would pay

> for imports, we will maximize demand reductions and

> eliminate the need for

> dirty power imports that generate smog that drifts

> into our airshed.

>

>

>

> 2. The OPA is also proposing to cap the amount of

> demand-response measures

> it will purchase at 250 megawatts (MW), despite the

> fact that Ontario

> imported more than 3,000 MW of coal-fired

> electricity imports on some

> smog-alert days last summer. Why put an artificial

> cap on the cleaner

> alternative? It would make far more sense for the

> OPA to purchase all

> available cost-effective demand reductions on

> smog-alert days.

>

> Those hazy and all-too-smoggy days of summer are

> coming soon, so the sooner

> we get an effective and wide-reaching

> demand-response program in place, the

> better.

>

> For more information about this issue, please see

> our new report: Stopping

> Coal-Fired Electricity Imports on Smog Days: A

> Review of the OPA's Proposed

> 250 MW Demand Response Program, available on our

> website at

> www.cleanairalliance.org

> <http://www.cleanairalliance.org/> .

>

> Please contact Ontario's Energy Minister at

> Donna.Cansfield

> and ask her to direct the OPA to: 1) pay Ontario

> consumers the same price

> for demand reductions that we are paying U.S.

> coal-fired generators for

> power imports; and 2) eliminate its arbitrary 250 MW

> cap on Made-in-Ontario

> demand reductions.

>

>

>

> Please pass this message on to your friends.

>

> Thank you.

>

> Jessica Fracassi

> Communications & Membership Manager

> Ontario Clean Air Alliance

> 402-625 Church St, Toronto M4Y 2G1

> Phone: 416-926-1907 ext. 245

> Fax: 416-926-1601

> Email: contact

> Website: www.cleanairalliance.org

>

> _____

>

> The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is a coalition of

> health, environmental and

> consumer organizations, faith communities, unions,

> utilities, municipalities

> and individuals working for cleaner air through a

> coal phase-out and the

> shift to a renewable electricity future. Our

> partner organizations

> represent more than six million Ontarians.

>