http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=F44D7E6D-F271-49 2D-B389-03557A47355F Thermal warning: Not in our backyard Belated public outcry surprises activist. Scarred by industrial past, Beauharnois digs in against proposed natural-gas-burning plant RENE BRUEMMER The Gazette, Sunday, February 08, 2004 During the Second World War, Beauharnois was one of the most polluted cities in eastern North America. Industrial giants Alcan, Union Carbide and Chromasco all had plants there, spewing PCBs into the St. Lawrence and pollutants into the air. "People couldn't hang their laundry on some days," Beauharnois Mayor Daniel Charlebois said yesterday. "It was extreme pollution, visible pollution. The houses turned black." With memories of those days etched into their collective consciousness, residents rose up against Hydro-Québec's proposal to build a massive natural- gas-burning electric plant in their back yard. "We had the title of most polluted city in (North) America," local activist André Desrochers said. "We didn't want to add to that the title of first city to break the Kyoto accord." On Friday, the small community of 12,000, about 10 kilometres south of Montreal's westernmost point scored a partial victory. Three weeks after the government had approved the Suroît thermal electric plant, Jean Charest's Liberals caved to a public backlash and announced the plant was on hold pending a 60-day review by the provincial energy board. The board will determine whether, as Hydro-Québec maintains, the plant is necessary to meet the province's burgeoning electricity needs. The seeds of revolt were planted years ago when the project was first proposed, but it took years of grassroots organizing for those seeds to bear fruit. Beauharnois is scarred by its industrial past, Desrochers said. Illness rates are higher. In its school board, 20 per cent of children suffer physical or learning disabilities, compared with the provincial average of 12 per cent. Its location, however, makes it ideal for a thermal plant. Beauharnois already has a major electricity substation and it is situated close to a natural gas pipeline. The proposed site has already been transformed by the digging of waterways, so there would be little ecological damage, and there are no residents for almost a two-kilometre radius. Hydro-Québec offered $3 million to the town for its cultural, athletic and recreational budget as an incentive, and said the three-year construction phase would produce 600 jobs. The plant would create about 20 permanent positions. Additional money would be provided to upgrade their emergency services, which would be necessary if a $550-million natural gas-burning facility was built nearby. In response to an initial lack of public outcry, the municipality of Beauharnois and regional administrators agreed. Then Desrochers and others got busy. After two weeks of hearings, a public environmental commission that Desrochers spoke at ruled against the plant. Desrochers published an open letter in several newspapers. It was picked up by ecological groups on the Internet and a protest group sprang up, Coalition Québec vers/vert Kyoto, to rally against the plant. Three weeks after Charest okayed the plant on Jan. 13, about 5,000 people waving mock windmills marched through the streets of frigid downtown Montreal to protest the decision. "We couldn't believe it," Desrochers said. "(The coalition) called and said: 'We're bringing buses in from Trois Rivières, from Valleyfield. Can you put us up? We weren't expecting anything that big." Desrochers was so concerned a riot might break out, he called police to warn them, but experienced organizers with the coalition had already taken care of logistics, and the march to Hydro-Québec's main offices was peaceful. Last Tuesday, armed with 2,000 signatures he collected, Desrochers and 400 supporters attended a municipal council meeting. Estimating that at least 80 per cent of his constituents are against the project, Charlebois decided against rezoning the property to allow for a plant. Three days later, the Liberal government called for a review. By yesterday, an online petition protesting against the plant had collected 30,000 signatures. Organizers presented 15,000 of them to Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair at the Liberal convention in Quebec City in the afternoon. rbruemmer@thegazette.canwest.com ====================================== http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=12DE5873-A4D3-43 33-8DBD-863150694DEB Quebecers don't believe they face energy shortage: Mulcair Environment minister explains decision to have energy board study Suroît project KEVIN DOUGHERTY The Gazette, Sunday, February 08, 2004 The provincial government has asked the Régie de l'énergie to re-examine Hydro-Québec's plan to build 800-megawatt Suroît thermal generator, because Quebecers don't believe they face an energy shortage, Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair said yesterday. "It was quite clear to us that the public had not bought into Hydro-Québec's explanation," Mulcair explained during a break from the weekend meeting of the Quebec Liberal Party's general council. Before the convention, delegates served notice they were ready to challenge the go-ahead for the $550-million natural gas-fired plant, which would increase Quebec's annual emissions of greenhouse gases by 2.6 per cent, according to Greenpeace. Instead yesterday, they adopted an emergency resolution supporting the government's decision to order the 60-day review of the project and suggest alternatives. But outside the hotel where the delegates met, a small band of protesters, skeptical about the review, picketed, along with members of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, who demonstrated peacefully against the Charest government's policies. On Friday night, when the Liberal gathering began, there was a violent clash at a protest led by the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, leaving two police officers injured. There were three arrests. Mulcair noted that in neighbouring Ontario, natural gas was seen as the green solution to replace coal-fired generators, which are more polluting. As environment minister, he signed the environmental clearance for Suroît in January after hearing arguments from Hydro-Québec that the province faced an energy shortage by 2007-2008 because of unexpectedly high demand. Building a new hydroelectric dam would take a minimum of eight years. "So we had to find the least damaging solution, which of course in natural gas," Mulcair said. "The public didn't buy into it," he added. "We made yesterday a public announcement that we were referring the whole thing to the energy board and frankly as minister of the environment and as a member of a government that listens to the population, I'm quite pleased with how things turned out." The Régie is an autonomous body, whose members were named by the previous Parti Québécois government, Mulcair pointed out. And it's mandates calls for the Régie to look at alternate forms of energy such as solar and wind, as well as energy efficiency programs to avoid new construction. Natural Resources Minister Sam Hamad, who has been an enthusiastic booster of Suroît, shared Mulcair's views. "I hear the people," he said. "The people do not believe it. So, OK, we will do the demonstration. If (the Régie) comes to the opposite conclusion, that's alright. My responsibility is to backtrack and start again with more information." kdougherty@thegazette.canwest.com
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