The online newsletter of the Conservation Council of Ontario
March 3, 2004

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In This Issue...  opportunities for public comment

• The Energy Conservation Debate Heats Up

• Provincial Government Announces Greenbelt Task Force

• Public Infrastructure Consultation

• Water Conservation Legislation

• A Conservation Budget?

• Join the Movement for Conservation -- our membership drive

• Ontario Trillium Foundation Supports Conservation

There are two main alternatives being proposed for how to finance and manage an electricity conservation program across Ontario:  1) a surcharge on electricity to generate a fund that will be managed through a central agency, or 2) incentive programs for local utilities to promote conservation with their customers.

The first option comes from an Ontario Energy Board report which calls for a new central provincial agency with a mandate to set energy conservation goals, develop strategies to meet them, and coordinate province-wide public awareness and conservation programs.  http://www.oeb.gov.on.ca/documents/directive_dsm_StaffReporttotheBoard230104.pdf 

The second proposal comes from a coalition of environmental groups and utilities.  "Making Everyone a Winner" proposes that local utilities take the lead in financing electricity conservation programs and that their costs be recovered through a "lost revenue adjustment" mechanism (to recover lost revenue through lower demand) and a "shared savings mechanism" (to provide a profit incentive).  http://www.pollutionprobe.org/Reports/energywinner.pdf 

Pollution Probe, one of the authors of "Making Everyone a Winner", was quick to criticize the OEB's proposal, saying it would lead to a new government bureaucracy to design and deliver cookie-cutter province-wide conservation programs.  http://www.pollutionprobe.org/Reports/ppoeb.pdf. 

It's unfortunate that the debate is being phrased in an either/or context, when in reality, if we are serious about maximizing the potential for conservation and renewable power, we need both options -- and more.  We need to make conservation and renewable power an economically viable venture for power producers, distributors, and consumers alike.  To focus on one mechanism alone would be folly.

Ontario has arguably the most complex electricity system in all of North America, with the Ontario Energy Board, the Independent Electricity Market Operator, Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, local distributors, private sector generators, and a host of other stakeholders.  The advantage of this complexity is that there are also a lot of organizations that can contribute to a conservation strategy.  This is why it makes sense to use all the available economic tools in order to make conservation profitable, including:

• surcharges on polluting sources of electrical power, such as coal and nuclear
• surcharges on electricity demand in excess of a base consumption level (irrespective of source)
• a central fund (similar to the Toronto Atmospheric Fund) to finance conservation subsidies and long-term loans for municipal and industrial conservation projects
• subsidies or guaranteed rates for renewable power, including wind and solar
• reward programs for conservers (like the federal Energuide for Homes or the California 20 percent credit to consumers who reduce their demand by 20 percent)
• lost revenue adjustment and shared savings mechanisms for utility-driven conservation programs

Read what people are saying about our Four Point Conservation Plan
Last  August, the Conservation Council responded to the electricity blackout with a four point energy conservation plan: surcharges, subsidies, community-based outreach, and provincial standards.

We also set up an online petition to give people a chance to add their comments.  Here's a sampling of what people are saying:

• I want my tax dollars to go to conservation, not new nuclear or gas fired generation." (Steve Lapp, Sydenham)
• "Negawatts are the cheapest watts. Let us also take into account energy supplies that do not require transformation into electricity (i.e. solar water heating) and that show better returns on investments than building nuclear plants or fixing existing ones." (Frederic Pouyot, Ottawa)
• "Those who choose not to conserve should pay a higher amount." (Tricia Bird, Hamilton)
• "How about accountable and specific metering of hydro use to encourage off-peak usage?" (David Wood, Milmay)
• "Conservation will save the next generation!" (Larry Brikman, Toronto)
• "We have to start thinking Green Energy for the future of our children." (James van Kemp, Oshawa)
• "Reducing our consumption of electricity has become mandatory. I only hope the blackout has opened the eyes of Ontario residents to the truth of this statement." (Gillian Maurice, Guelph)
• "We can't just be "consumers" anymore. We have to think about what we're taking in, and how much we actually need."  (Dawna MacIvor, Peterborough)

You can read the comments, or even add your own by going to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/conserve/petition.html 

Rob MacIsaac, mayor of the City of Burlington, will chair the new Greenbelt Task Force.  Other members include Michael Bunce, Jim Faught, Mary Lou Garr, Natalie Helferty, Carol Hochu, Fraser Nelson, Rod Northey, Mark Parsons, Russ Powell, Deborah Schulte, Alan C. Veale and Donald J. P. Ziraldo.

The task force’s activities will include public meetings with residents of the Golden Horseshoe, workshops with groups representing municipal, development industry, recreational, environmental and agricultural sectors in the Golden Horseshoe, posting on the Environmental Bill of Rights Internet site and e-consultation on the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Web site.

For details see http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_16471_1.html 

Public Infrastructure Consultation
The Ontario government is taking the first steps to improve the Province’s aging public infrastructure – one of the cornerstones in the delivery of public services. PIR’s Stakeholder Outreach initiative and the Discussion Paper on Investing in Ontario’s Infrastructure will lead to a new financing and delivery plan for Ontario’s hospitals, schools, drinking water systems, public transit and roads. 

Click below to access the Discussion Paper and other key documents, as well as the dates and locations of the Stakeholder Outreach sessions:

• Discussion Paper
• News Release
• Backgrounder
• Session Dates and Locations

Input on the Discussion Paper can be submitted on line at discussion.paper@pir.gov.on.ca.  If you want to register for a regional outreach session, call 1-800-239-4224 toll-free

Watershed-based Source Protection Planning
Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky has released a White Paper on Watershed-based Source Protection Planning -- the first step to developing legislation to protect the Ontario's groundwater sources and require source protection plans to be developed and implemented locally for every watershed in the province. 

A series of meetings will be held in March to consult on the White Paper with regional and local source-protection stakeholders and experts. The locations and dates are: London, March 1; Kitchener-Waterloo, March 2; Peterborough, March 4; Kingston, March 5; Ottawa, March 8; Thunder Bay, March 10; Sudbury, March 12; Toronto, March 23.

The White Paper also invites discussion on two other important government initiatives: strengthening the rules surrounding water-taking permits and requiring water bottling companies and other permit holders to pay for the water they take. Last December, the government announced a one-year moratorium on the issuing of new water-taking permits, pending a review of the province’s groundwater supplies.

The White Paper can be found at http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/programs/3585e01.pdf.  Written comments will be accepted until April 12, 2004.

If you go to the provincial government's Town Hall website for the provincial budget - www.TownHallOntario.gov.on.ca - you'll find a survey based on a consultation paper that outlines four approaches that the Liberal government is considering in developing its first budget.  Approach 4 is "Foster Conservation and Sustainability of Resources".  The approach involves charging higher costs for resources in order to foster conservation and appropriate use.

The Conservation Council's Executive Director, Chris Winter, will be participating in a stakeholders consultation meeting on March 5th on the provincial budget.  Please send him your suggestions for a Conservation Budget to cco@web.ca.  Be sure to include ideas for:

• promoting smart growth (infrastructure investments, development charges, and municipal taxation to foster compact, healthy community development)
• fostering energy conservation (surcharges on production and consumption to offset conservation and renewables)
• protecting prime farmland and natural areas (tax breaks and development charges)
• conservation of water resources (charges for water takings)
• aggregates, minerals and forestry (increased charges to foster conservation, recycling and efficiency)
• waste reduction (packaging charges to offset waste reduction)
• pollution prevention (charges for hazardous materials to offset life cycle management and alternatives)
• promoting green industry (fostering best practices and products in major economic sectors)

A key challenge with each issue is to link surcharges (or taxes) to subsidies and support programs.  With a $5.6 billion deficit, we need to identify both the revenue source as well as the subsidy or program expenditure.  That way, the cost of conservation activities is carried by consumers, not taxpayers.

Join the Movement for Conservation -- our membership drive.

If we want Ontario to be a leader in conservation -- be it energy conservation, natural areas protection, or waste reduction -- we need to build a strong conservation movement.  We need organizations with expertise and conservation-related programs, and we need individual leaders with expertise and experience in individual issues.

Help create a strong, united voice for conservation.  A strong Conservation Council will help generate support for conservation across Ontario and it will build partnerships to implement conservation solutions (such as smart growth and energy conservation).  Imagine the potential of our combined resources -- in research, policy advice, membership programs, public outreach, volunteer programs, hands-on projects, and public support services.  

In addition to hosting Ontario's new Smart Growth Network, we are helping set up a number of informal "conservation collaboratives" -- like-minded organizations that are working on common issues such as community outreach, natural areas, and energy conservation.  We're also working on a provincial Conservation Awareness campaign, and we expect to be hosting another Eco Summit later in the year.  As usual, it's an ambitious agenda, and we'd welcome your support and involvement. 

Recent additions to the Council...

Three organizations joined the Council at our last annual meeting in December:

• Friends of the Don East

• The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition

• Waste Diversion Toronto/Canada

We also welcomed eight new individual members who were elected to the Council, bringing diverse experience and resources to the conservation movement:

• Jeb Brugmann (urban sustainability, organization management)

• Bob Duncanson (groundwater resources)

• Kim Fry (social justice)

• David Israelson (public relations)

• Peter Love (energy efficiency)

• Margaret Osbourne (finance, administration and marketing)

• Mary Rowe (facilitation)

• Ravi Mark Singh (energy conservation)

For information on membership, please contact our Executive Director, Chris Winter, at cco@web.ca. 

Ontario Trillium Foundation Supports Conservation
The Conservation Council of Ontario has been awarded a three year grant of $138,600 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to assist in rebuilding the Council and Ontario's conservation movement as a whole.  The grant will help the Council to build an active membership and support our members through core services such as an annual Eco Summit, conservation awareness initiatives, the Green Ontario website (with a stronger emphasis on conservation solutions), and this newsletter.

... how about you?
There are over 2,000 subscribers to the Green On. newsletter.  If you were all to make a quick donation of $20, we'd be able to move into a real office by May and hire extra help to carry out our programs for 2004.  You can donate online through www.CanadaHelps.org and receive an instant e-mail tax receipt.  If you prefer, you can also send a cheque payable to "The Conservation Council of Ontario" to 43 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6R 2C8.