ATIKOKAN – “Today’s announcement marks the end of six years of effort to keep this generating station running. Closure of this plant would have been devastating to the businesses and homeowners in Atikokan. We can all now move forward with the certainty that today’s announcement provides. I am thrilled that we are creating 200 new construction jobs and helping protect good-paying jobs at the plant. This will spur on a new industry that will create more jobs and we’ve secured a large part of the municipal tax base. This signals a bright new future for Atikokan,” stated Bill Mauro the MPP for Thunder Bay Atikokan.
In recent years, the residents of Atikokan and Mauro have advocated to ensure that the town’s generating station remains in operation.
“That hard work has paid off. Today, the Ontario Government has directed the Ontario Power Authority to negotiate an agreement to buy the biomass power generated at Atikokan from Ontario Power Generation, the plant’s owners. Atikokan’s Generating Station will be turning off coal and switching to biomass,” enthused Mauro.
“This is splendid news for Atikokan. We are very grateful to Bill Mauro our MPP, the Minister of Energy, Brad Duguid, and the entire McGuinty government for this great announcement. It shows that they really care about Atikokan and North Western Ontario and we thank them very much for this,” comments Dennis Brown, Mayor of Atikokan.