Is Enbridge’s use of city-owned public property one other instance of preferential remedy for fossil gas firms, a reader asks
GuelphToday obtained the next Letter to the Editor in response to a earlier letter by Evan Ferrari, govt director of eMERGE Guelph.
Is Ontario going backwards?
I write in response to the Oct. 5 Letter to the Editor titled: Ought to Enbridge owe metropolis $8.8M per 12 months?
It actually bought me considering. Is that this one other instance of preferential remedy to fossil gas firms on the costly of “the little guy/us”.
It appears solely honest if “cable, phone, fibreoptic, water, sewage, and Alectra/Guelph Hydro, provide more compensation for the use of city land, that Enbridge is required to do the same. If this happens in other provinces, “Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia”, why not in Ontario? And what can we do about it?
Reply: Write, e-mail or name our MPP, Mike Schreiner and your metropolis councillors to allow them to know that is necessary to you. With the lack of growth charges being paid to the town, these funds will assist with metropolis bills since $15 million has been minimize to environmental and social providers from 2025 Price range. Ideally, the town might use the funds for inexperienced tasks which have been eased out the Metropolis Price range and would offer us financial savings in the long term.
Moreover, it’s not nearly whether or not the monetary phrases of the franchise settlement with Enbridge are “unfairly skewed in favour of the gas distribution company at the expense of municipal taxpayers”, it’s additionally about different fossil gas associated points in Ontario. Let’s put issues into perspective. The Ontario Vitality Board dominated in Dec 2023 that present fuel clients shouldn’t be paying for fuel strains into new developments. The OEB is an unbiased company assigned to overseeing and defending the general public from monetary abuse. Their resolution was primarily based on the economics of the way forward for fossil fuels and so they deemed any future fossil gas infrastructure funding wouldn’t be smart long run funding.
This is sensible to me, however this OEB resolution was shut down by the Province with no clarification as to why it’s a good suggestion for fuel clients to be investing in quickly to be out of date programs. Current research concur that utilizing fossil gas in our properties is just not wholesome, and with needed carbon pricing, to ween us off fossil fuels, these vitality sources might be getting increasingly costly. New householders don’t need to be locked into utilizing fossil fuels when warmth pumps, hybrid water heaters and induction stoves might be more healthy, extra environment friendly, greener and save them cash.
And it’s not solely in regards to the franchise settlement with Enbridge and the squashing the OEB resolution to carry again from new pipelines being put in in new developments, there’s nonetheless extra. The present Provincial plan so as to add extra vitality to Ontario’s grid is by way of fuel crops! How will this assist us to fulfill our 2030 GHG emissions objectives? There are thirty-five Ontario municipalities, representing about 60% of Ontario’s inhabitants, which have already handed resolutions requesting our Premier phase-out fuel energy as we as soon as did coal. “Ontario can phase-out gas power by 2035 by tripling its wind and solar power and by investing in energy efficient storage”. I’m wondering if our municipality is among the thirty-five to assist the part out of fuel energy?
Thanks Mr. Ferrari for bringing this concern to our radar on the identical days we watch the destruction of the latest hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida.
Let’s go away our youngsters and grandchildren the potential for a softer touchdown.
Each degree issues. Each motion counts
Karen Rathwell
Guelph
