Vigil/Info Picket Against Nuclear Power and Call for Resignations of Public Energy CEOs

Vigil/Info Picket Against Nuclear Power and Call for Resignations of Public Energy CEOs in Ontario

Burning Dinosaur
has no future

Vigil/Info Picket Against Nuclear Power and Call for Resignations of Public Energy CEOs in Ontario

VIGIL/INFO PICKET AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER AND PRIVATIZATION OF ONTARIO POWER
Ontario Power Generation building (OPG)

700 University Avenue corner of College/University Av,
Toronto, ON M5S 1VO

February 11, 2009 / 11AM-12Noon

Visit Website

We are calling for the resignations of the CEOs of Ontario Power Generation and Toronto Hydro (see below)



*Ontario - a garbage pit for lethal nuclear waste of proposed publicly-unaccountable private reactors, protected by supranational trade agreements and world trade courts, and served with green light of renewable? long-term contracts (unresponsive to either market, people or environment), and public monies by corrupt Ontario energy regulatory bodies and Ontario government?

* Ontario - a secret plutonium-tritium-depleted uranium production factory for pentagon’s weapons of mass destruction? - dished on the plate to Ontarians as “electricity” - thousands of MW of new energy supply now that we are using less energy than ever… and now that with falling energy use (efficiencies/conservation/ deflated energy-intensive industry) and $60 billion spare cash, we could champion energy/economic/industrial transformation in Ontario according to the current enviro-economic context of Global Warming and Energy Security.

*Ontario - steer away from Self-Terminating Finite Fossil/Nuclear-Fuels-based war-industry, and lead us to a **100% Publicly-Owned, Integrated/Complementary Renewable enviro-energy-economy for Peace, Sustainability and Prosperity for All.

(**energy efficient infrastructure with in-wired complementary renewable and publicly-owned energy systems [a combination of systems drawing energy from locally, infinitely and copiously available, free organic biodigester / tidal/wind/sun/geo energy sources], producing energy locally for local use.) If this is not enough to “satisfy demand,” then, what is?

Unregulated private power cannot compete against Regulated Public power, planning and oversight.
Nuclear and fossil-fuel based energy cannot compete against locally, infinitely and copiously available, free complementary renewable public systems.

Both Regulated Public Power and Complementary Renewable Energy Systems are being kept out of the energy game ballpark globally. Ontario government is under pressure to give an offering of our collective contributions, our health, our environment, our economy, our collectivity to the forces of omni-destruction.

TORONTO, Feb. 4 /CNW/ - Organization of CANDU Industries
(OCI) president Dr. Neil Alexander is urging decision-makers
to adopt a long-term perspective on Canada's global nuclear
opportunities.

"The nuclear industry is experiencing a growth in demand
that will generate trillions of dollars of investment in new nuclear
plants around the world," said Dr. Alexander.
"It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Canada to forge its
place in the burgeoning global nuclear industry."
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2009/04/c5576.html

Trillions of dollars in nuclear power and weapons will make the credit crisis look
like patty cakes. Like American Revolutionary Paul Revere, we must all be on the
midnight run to stem this flow, an Energy, Environmental, Economic Holocaust.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/paul_revere.htm

Gas and Uranium are finite sources of fuel.
From well to smokestack, they irreversibly destroy conditions for our life: water, air, soil.

Does it make sense to destroy, with coal-bed methane mining, Sacred Headwaters
watershed in northern British Columbia, so that Ontario can have energy from gas?

Does it make sense to destroy, with gas shale drilling, New York watershed, so that
Ontario can have energy from gas? Does drilling for gas in Arctic Wildlife Refuge make
sense so that Ontario can have energy from gas? Why is so much destruction necessary
for our energy? Why do we need such destruction-hungry energy?

We need no such energy.

Does it make sense to irreversibly destroy with uranium mining the whole Ottawa-Gatineau
watershed and with nuclear waste the rest of Ontario, so that Ontario can have energy from
nuclear power?

We need no such irreversibly omni-destructive energy.

No matter how many nuclear reactors and how many belching dinosaurs Ontario may build, and how much destruction it may sow with it, it will not have sufficient energy.

[Foreign] private monopolies forming in Ontario will make sure that there is never enough supply because this technique of market manipulation - a given in an opaque private energy game - ensures high electricity prices and high profit margins. Ontario officials will never stop building more power generators to make up for never-ending power shortages and they will never stop with the mantra of “our insatiable demand” to justify it all.

Ontarians will be swimming in tonnes of nuclear waste while the invisible shareholders will be receiving stable streams of income, guaranteed in 20-40-year contracts private corporations are signing with Ontario Government.

They are guaranteed profits. We are guaranteed lots of radioactive waste. “[W]e are good at [nuclear waste management] and very proud of,” quips Jim Hankinson, CEO Ontario Power Generation. Managing Unmanageable Waste is the name of the deal Ontario Government is signing.

In a deregulated energy system, we are not paying for energy. We are paying for deregulation of energy. This is such a costly barrel full of holes, and without a bottom at that, that it is unclear how we can afford it ever and especially in times of deep economic depression - and why would we?

In a private energy system, energy corporations sell to the highest bidder. Ready to compete against New York, the way Albertans compete against California for the dirtiest energy (California imports plenty of dirty coal energy and watch out for offshore oil) around produced right in your backyard?

Privatization of our public power crosses us off - externalizes us in our own home. Since 1996, there is no legal requirement to hold public referendum to sell a public utility in Ontario. Ontario Power Authority claims predetermined decisions to build fossil fuel/nuclear generators will be executed regardless of the will of municipalities and people of Ontario.

Bones dissolving in tonnes of nuclear waste wrapped in sweltering, murky bands of greenhouse gases is the vision of our future according to the current energy planning in Ontario.

* Jim Hankinson, CEO Ontario Power Generation (OPG), one of three top earners, public tax payer dollars, in Ontario, who pocketed $1.48 million in 2007, and can be contacted: jhankinson [at] opg.com, recently gave speech http://www.opg.com/news/Jim%20Hankinson%20speech%20OEN%20Dec.%208%20%202008.pdf from which it transpires that, he, thinking about Madonna, is out of sync with Ontarians - whom this public energy generator is supposed to serve.

Among other things, Jim says that community loves Portlands Energy Centre, a fossil-fuel burning dinosaur on Toronto’s waterfront, and in the midst of a bird sanctuary, which OPG built in partnership with ["Murchinson's"] TransCanada against community approval.

See: PORTLANDS power play

Residents walk out of consulting committee charging Energy Centre kept them in the dark By Andrew Cash
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=159110&archive=26,46,2007
http://www.nowtoronto.com/letters/index.cfm?content=159179



Jim is for building new and refurbishing old nuclear reactors in Ontario, saying that “OPG will have one of the cleanest generating portfolios in North America.”

Jim is partially right, as long as Ontario is competing to be the best of the worst.


Between 1995 and 1998 around 5360 MW of nuclear energy from Bruce -A and Pickering - A were out of service. It took six years to put Pickering A back into service in September 2003 - three years later than scheduled (Trebilcock/Hrab, 2005 pg.3). Nuclear is brittle and when it fails it cuts thousands of megawatts of local energy supply to Ontarians, forcing the province to import those thousands of megawatts from coal-fired plants at premium prices. Closing down Ontario’s coal-fired plants belies its “environmental” purpose as long as Ontario financially rewards other jurisdictions to mine and burn coal for our energy. This is what nuclear power promotes and relies on during its many break-downs usually during hottest months of the year…

It is shrouded in mystery how such a failure within our public system with billions of dollars in stranded debt, which Ontarians will be paying off for X-number of years to come - and which has been used as the justification for privatization of our Public Power - has earned Jim 1.45 million dollars in salary in 2007 - and it is happening once again after Ontario government dismissed the spoiled batch of OPG CEO, senior executives and board of directors post Pickering A Review Panel report in December 2003, which revealed that $4 billion and not $1billion as claimed by the OPG was needed to restart the Pickering A reactors. (Trebilcock/Hrab, 2005, p.6)

and how, after all the failures, dangers of nuclear, and Lake Ontario-full with Tritium (our drinking water) Jim is ready to do it again and against the will and health of people of Ontario.

What is all this set-up bringing to Jim and cronies of the cartel - which we collectively can clean up - and what is it bringing to Ontarians?

Unreliable, ultra expensive electricity with irreversible lethal effects on our health and environment - as a byproduct of the nuclear arms replenishment and build-up - currently a world-wide trend - killing opportunities for Complementary Renewable Energy Economy for Peace.

Pentagon interests at the heart of our energy system!?


Ontario Power has to remain public so that Ontarians have a say, participation and decision-making power within it. Our Environment and our Economy, our Health hinge on Types of Fuels we use for Energy and types of system ownership and regulation. We have to be able to make it work for us as a collectivity of present and future generations in Ontario and on Mother Earth.

Privatization cancels us right out. It is a dead end for us as a people with minds and hearts. It is a slave-like system - this privatization - it chokes off our universally available essential services leaving the vulnerable, the weak cut off from accessing such vital life-saving services.
It leaves many of those work-ready without jobs. Privatized energy economy is the last thing Ontario needs now that hundreds of thousands of people have been losing their jobs in the economic downturn.

We’d better rise up and cancel privatization out. We’d better continue in footsteps of our forebears who fiercely fought for Public Power and won.

With private energy, with gas-fired energy; with nuclear energy and with coal-fired energy - we collectively have no future. It is a system set up for few individuals to pocket all the money in the world which can be squeezed from destruction of our collective Lives - individualization of our collectivity -, and Jim is in it within our publicly controlled energy generator.

It is time for Jim and Dave O’Brien (since July ‘04 CEO Toronto Hydro) and the likes to dramatically change or leave!!! Resign.

Previously, Dave O’Brien in between his posts as Mississauga City Manager (’95-’00 & May ‘01 – Jan ‘04) and President and CEO of Mississauga’s hydro utility Enersource (six months Nov ‘00 – Apr ‘01) signed a contract giving Borealis Infrastructure, arm of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and 10% minority Enersource shareholder veto power over the City of Mississauga, its 90% majority shareholder.

O’Brien’s current position as a CEO of Toronto Hydro should be questioned in light of recent calls for either gradual or outright sell-out of Toronto Hydro. This is against the will of people of Toronto and Dave O’Brien with questionable involvement in secret privatization of Enersource, Mississauga hydro utility, should step down until his role in Enersource scandal is cleared. Among others, Mr. O’Brien sits on the board of directors of OMERS, which together with TransCanada, Cameco Corp, Power Workers Union and Society of Energy Professionals shares interest in privatized Bruce Nuclear Power Consortium. Senior Vice President Borealis Infrastructure Inc. of OMERS, John J. McManus sits on the Leadership Board of Directors of Enersource as well as on the Board of Directors of Bruce Power. President and CEO of OMERS also sits on Leadership Board of Directors of Enersource.

http://corporate.torontohydro.com/investorrelations/david_obrien.html

http://www.enersource.com/Corp/History.aspx

OMERS collects pension contributions from Ontario Municipal Employees and invests this collective contribution into privatization of public assets and fossil fuel/nuclear energy. All major unions in Ontario are OMERS contributors.

http://www.borealisinfrastructure.com/RTEViewer.aspx?cpid=22

http://www.borealisinfrastructure.com/RTEViewer.aspx?cpid=21

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/577662 (Monitoring pension investments, Kate Chung, Toronto Star January 27, 2009)
http://www.omers.com/Employers/Tools/List_of_unions_associations.htm


Ontario Energy/Economy/Environment/Health need leaders fiercely interested in re-building 100% PUBLIC COMPLEMENTARY RENEWABLE ENERGY/INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEM FOR PEACE AND FOR LIFE EVERYWHERE - in Ontario.

Jim should know this: jhankinson [at] opg.com

He should also know that vague statements he so casually throws around signify OPG’s failure in the public eye. People of Ontario want Ontario Power Generation and they want it on their terms, which Jim should come to know and follow.

Some of Jim’s vague statements can be found on page 5 of his speech
http://www.opg.com/news/Jim%20Hankinson%20speech%20OEN%20Dec.%208%20%202008.pdf

? “these long-term funds will be there when they are needed.” (reactor decommissioning funds which “declined in 2008 due to market volatility”)?

? “we are doing the right thing with nuclear waste” ?

? “ensuring that future generations are not burdened with the financial costs of its management and storage” [maybe only burdened with environmental / health / economic costs]

? “the safe management of nuclear waste … we are good at and very proud of”

Looking smug:
http://www.ctv.ca/mar/photo.html?pname=http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20070330/460_cfto_top_earners_070330.jpg&win_width=655.0&description=Former%20Hydro%20One%20CEO%20Tom%20Parkinson,%20Ontario%20Power%20Generation%20CEO%20Jim%20Hankinson%20and%20CEO%20of%20the%20Independent%20Electricity%20System%20Operator,%20Jim%20Hankinson,%20were%20among%20the%20top%20earners.



Vigil/Info Picket against Nuclear Power and Privatization of Ontario Power Wed February 11, 2009, Toronto, ON

Ontario Power Generation building (OPG)
700 University Avenue corner of College/University Av,
Toronto, ON M5S 1VO

VIGIL / INFO PICKET

Say No to Ontario Power Authority Disempowerment

Say No to Nuclear Power, Gas and Coal plants

Say No to $40 Billion for Nukes

Say No to privatization of Ontario Power

——————————-

Say Yes to Green Jobs, Social Safety Net, Anti-Poverty Programs, Ending Child Poverty etc.

Say Yes to 100% Public Power

Say Yes to 100% Energy Efficient Infrastructure (old and new)

Say Yes to 100% Renewable Energy

Vigil-Info picket
STOP PRIVATIZATION of Ontario Power
say no to Nuclear Power
11-12 noon / Wednesday February 11, 2008
Ontario Power Generation Bldg corner of University and College,
Toronto Across from Queen’s Park

Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance(a homeless network of transborder activists, students, academics, Aboriginal etc.)
http://www.floodiceorfire.wordpress.com

Abolition King Coal, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power and Weapons Everywhere!

The Great Struggle Continues….

This report prepared by Ivona Vujica of Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance psea4earth [at] gmail.com




Notes:

1. See beginnings of “Murchinson’s” TransCanada (pg112), a Texas oilmen, subsidized by provincial and federal governments to build private gas pipelines
Hampton, H. (2003). Public Power. Toronto:Insomniac Press

2. See deregulation in Alberta

“How can a province that is floating on a sea of energy come to have the highest electricity prices in Canada?” pg.204

“On many days, only a small transmission connection with BC Hydro kept the province from blackouts.” pg. 202
Hampton, H. (2003). Public Power. Toronto:Insomniac Press


3. See more on privatization of Enersource

Kahnert, P. (Sept. 200 8) “A Betrayal of Public Interest.”
http://www.canpension.ca/pages/archives/sept08/betrayal.html



4. Trebilcock, M. & Hrab, R. (Jan 2005). “Electricity Restructuring in Ontario.” The Energy Journal