[cdn-nucl-l] John Foster on Ontario Hydro's development

["Jerry Cuttler" <jerrycuttler@home.com>]

FYI

----- Original Message -----
From: Brown, Morgan <brownmj@aecl.ca>
To: Distribution
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 9:16 AM
Subject: John Foster's letter in G&M


> Globe and Mail Dec 5 2000
> Hydro's great expansion
> J.S. FOSTER
>
> Tuesday, December 5, 2000
> Toronto -- It is unfortunate that the author of the obituary of Douglas
> Gordon (Hydro Boss Came Under Fire For Big Expansion -- Dec. 2) evidently
> had to rely on newspaper files for much of the account. Press reports
> necessarily deal with the cut and thrust of the day.
> Now, the development itself is before us, and we can evaluate the results.
> Mr. Gordon presided over the final stage of the great expanson of Hydro
that
> began at the end of the Second World War. The resulting system is one of
the
> most reliable and economic in the world. Two of the main components in
that
> final stage of expansion were the Bruce "B" and Darlington power stations.
> Today, those two plants supply one-third of all the electricity used in
> Ontario; and, being nuclear, they do this without producing greenhouse
> gases.
>
>
> Hydro boss came under fire for big expansion
> DONN DOWNEY
>
> Saturday, December 2, 2000
> TORONTO -- Douglas Gordon, the first president of Ontario Hydro, who came
> under fire after the utility announced plans to double its generating
> capacity, died of cancer on Tuesday at North York General Hospital in
> Toronto. He was 80.
> He was general manager of Ontario Hydro in 1974 when the Ontario Energy
> Board held public hearings on a proposed $15-billion Hydro expansion over
> the next eight years.
> Critics at the hearing, including Pollution Probe and the Sierra Club of
> Ontario, noted that Hydro had virtually ignored the possible effects on
the
> environment.
> Mr. Gordon countered, saying Hydro was only responding to consumer demand.
> "You almost have to get laws to make people cut back," he said. In the
> meantime, "we have to plan on what we think will take place," anticipating

> that Ontario consumers would continue to double their demand for
electricity
> every 10 years.
> (In 1978, however, Mr. Gordon revised his estimate, noting that the demand
> for power was growing more slowly. He attributed the reduced growth to a
> combination of a soft economy, big increases in electricity rates and the
> success of conservation efforts.)
> The spokesman for the Sierra Club said Hydro was generating power to sell
to
> the United States. In the process, Hydro was polluting the atmosphere by
> burning coal.
> Mr. Gordon did not deny it. "Our neighbours are desperately in need of
this
> power. . . . It pays to be a good neighbour."
> Mr. Gordon had been general manager of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission
> since 1970. In 1974, the publicly owned commission became a Crown
> corporation and the name was changed to Ontario Hydro. Mr. Gordon was
> appointed its first president. He retired as president in 1980 at the age
of
> 60.
> Douglas James Gordon was born on July 30, 1920, in Brockville, Ont. He
> graduated as an electrical engineer from Queen's University in 1943 and
> served in the Royal Canadian Navy for the remainder of the Second World
War.
> He joined Ontario Hydro in 1945.
> His sister Patricia is the only immediate survivor.
> -***
> CORRECTION
> Douglas Gordon also leaves his wife, Yvonne. Incomplete information
appeared
> in his obituary on Saturday.
> (Tuesday, December 5, 2000, Page R10)
>