Breaking – Gas Plant Phase Out Motion Going to Council – Dec. 14

Breaking – Gas Plant Phase-Out Motion Going to Council on Dec. 14

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Thanks to your emails and phone calls, a motion supporting a gas plant phase out is going to Guelph City council on Monday December 14, 2020.

Here is the motion:

“That the city of Guelph requests that the province establish an interim cap of 2.5 Megatonnes per year on our gas plant’s greenhouse gas pollution and develop a plan to phase out all gas-fired electricity generation by 2030 to ensure Ontario meets its climate targets.“

See the complete City Council Motion and background: Gas Plant Phase Out here. (To send your message to council – scroll down the page)

Nine municipalities in Ontario – including Kitchener, Hamilton, St. Catharines and Windsor – are already ahead of us. They have asked Ontario to phase-out all of our gas-fired power plants and instead invest in energy efficiency, wind and solar energy and to begin negotiations with Quebec to purchase water power to replace power from the Pickering Nuclear Station.

 

Why is this happening now?

Unfortunately, the provincial government wants to increase the burning of natural gas to generate electricity. It wants to ramp up greenhouse gas pollution from gas-fired power plants by more than 300% by 2025 and by more than 400% by 2040 from current levels. To fuel this massive increase in climate pollution, the province recently bought 3 gas plants (for $2.8 billion).

Coal fired generation and Guelph

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Guelph City Council made three separate motions asking that the province phase-out the burning of coal for electricity generation. The provincial legislature voted unanimously for a phase out with support of Guelph and dozens of other communities. The last lump of coal was burned in an Ontario generating station in 2014. This was the single largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction action on the continent. 

Now it’s time to do it again!

Guelph takes climate change seriously. Today, the city has two aggressive climate goals: 100% renewable energy (in all city facilities and equipment) and net zero carbon for the entire city by 2050. It has also acknowledged that we are in a climate crisis. Unfortunately, this one move proposed by the province will seriously set us back in our fight against climate change

Guelph can be instrumental in reaching its climate targets while assisting the province in meeting its own 2030 target. In the process, we can help lower electricity bills by phasing-out our gas-fired power plants by 2030 and embracing lower cost and cleaner options.

The path forward is achievable, better for the environment and less costly.

You can take advantage of the action centre below to send your email. However, we encourage you to edit it with your own personal message.

Please contact us if you are planning to make a delegation to council and help us by spreading the word about our campaign with your social network.

Phase out gas plants!

 

Send a message to your Councillor and the Mayor here!

Resources:

City Council Motion and background: Gas Plant Phase Out .