THUNDER BAY – News – Members of NOMA’s Board of Directors met with Premier Wynne and provincial Minister’s at the Ontario Good Roads Conference on Tuesday. As a result of that meeting, Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli committed to convene a technical meeting between the Common Voice Northwest Energy Task Force and officials from Ontario Power Generation for the two groups to share information regarding the appropriateness of the Thunder Bay Generation Station’s advanced biomass fuel supply and the Government’s insistence that 15,000 tonnes per year is sufficient to meet the needs of the region.
Iain Angus Explains Issue
Energy Task Force Co-Chair and NOMA Vice President Iain Angus told the Minister that they welcomed the technical meeting and reminded the Minister that the last time such a meeting was held, “the Energy Task Force won that brawl!” Angus told the Ministers that the Government “Was betting that they are right and the Energy Task Force is wrong, about the ability of the TBGS to meet the needs of the region”
Angus reiterated the call to have all 75,000 tonnes of advanced biomass on site when coal can no longer be used as a fuel.
The Minister repeated the Government’s position that the Northwest will have the power it needs, when it needs it and that he was confident with the information he has received from his advisors, particularly Ontario Power Generation.
Minister Chiarelli also stated that the actions of his government had resulted in 60 jobs at the Thunder Bay Generation Station being preserved. However, the Minister did not note that 50 existing positions would be eliminated effective January of 2015 at a payroll loss of $4.5 million a year to the community and businesses of Thunder Bay.
NOMA also put forward a plan to Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Glen Murray for the construction of a new transmission line to connect Dryden to Ear Falls and Red Lake and a line from the East West Tie to Greenstone via the Little JackFish Hydro Electric generation station and the construction of an east-west road linking Pickle Lake to the Ring of Fire.
