Minister's Speech

Speaking points prepared for:

The Honourable John Gerretsen
Minister of the Environment

Induction of Niagara Plant Group OPG
Ontario’s Environmental Leaders Program

DeCew 2 Generating Station
St. Catharines
June 23, 2009,1:30 P.M.

Thank you.

I’m pleased to be here for this event along with my good friend and cabinet colleague, the Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley.

This is a good day for our environment.  We’re here to welcome Ontario Power Generation’s Niagara Plant Group as the newest member of Ontario’s Environmental Leaders program.

First off, I want to welcome the representatives of OPG and the Niagara Plant Group who are here today.

I want to particularly congratulate all the people who work at this facility and at the other six facilities that make up the Niagara Plant Group.

You — and your actions to go beyond compliance and reduce the environmental footprint at each of these facilities — are making a real difference.

It’s the kind of difference we need to tackle our environmental challenges and build a cleaner, healthier province here in Ontario.

I want to take this opportunity to recognize the other members of the Leaders program who are here today: Mike DiMaso from Exhibition Place, Doug Hietkamp representing Teknion and Steve Taylor and Mike Fenuta representing Steelcase.

The OEL Program:

The Niagara Plant Group is the first electrical utility to be accepted into the Ontario Environmental Leaders program.

It’s the 10th member in the Leaders program and there are now 23 Leader facilities province-wide.

The program is part of our government’s commitment to make Ontario an example to Canada and the world, as a place where good business practices and environmental responsibility go hand-in-hand.

Our government sets a very high standard for recognition as an Environmental Leader.

Here at OPG’s Niagara Plant Group, you have met these high standards and you are now setting your sights on going above and beyond them.

You have integrated environmental considerations into your day-to-day operations.

And you have a strong track-record of environmental achievement and a commitment to doing more.

Niagara Plant Group’s commitments

Upon entering this program, the Niagara Plant Group set out nine pollution reduction commitments to reduce its environmental footprint.  Here are just a few of them:

• Reducing the risk of non-PCB transformer oil spills and finding ways to recycle, and rejuvenate this old oil from 25 cycle transformers so it can be reused as high quality transformer oil …
• Planting 15,000 new seedlings and seeds over the next two years to increase biodiversity and restore habitats around Lake Moodie, the Niagara Escarpment, the DeCew Gorge and the 12 Mile Creek Valley.
• Increasing energy efficiency on two generators (G7 and G10) at the Sir Adam Beck 1 facility that will significantly increase generation … up to 188 per cent by 2012 on generator G10 and up to 710 per cent on G7 by the end of 2009.

These upgrades will increase electricity generation by approximately 325 giga-watt hours per year (GWh/year) by the end of 2012 and they will also reduce air emissions — combating air pollution and reducing harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

At all seven Niagara Plant Group facilities, they will be conducting voluntary, beyond compliance spill-risk assessments.

And, as we will hear more about during the tour, the Niagara Plant Group will be hosting the first Canadian trial of a biological treatment using a soil microbe to replace chlorine for zebra and quagga mussel control at this facility.

It’s clear that environmental action and stewardship are an integral part of doing business here at the Niagara Plant Group.

In addition to achieving the status of becoming one of Ontario’s Environmental Leaders, the Niagara Plant Group has been recognized with a number of awards … from the Region of Niagara for work on behalf of the environment and from the Wildlife Habitat Council for work to support wildlife and protect local eco-systems.

Green Economy and a Green Province

People want to live and work in a safe, clean, healthy community — and building a sustainable environment is going to help us attract people, jobs and investment to our province.

That in turn, is going to help us foster a strong green economy here in Ontario, create tomorrow’s jobs and build a high quality of life for all of us.

You are setting a great example here at the Niagara Plant Group.

I want to encourage all organizations, public institutions, manufacturers and businesses across this great  province of ours to also go above and beyond …  aim to become an Ontario Environmental Leader and raise environmental protection to new heights.

We all share responsibility for a cleaner, greener, healthier Ontario.

We all share responsibility for building a better world for our children and all the generations of the future.

Now, it is my great pleasure to present the OPG Niagara Plant Group with this certificate to show they are a respected Environmental Leader of Ontario.

Thank you.

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