Environmentalists challenge biomass plan
The Ecology Action Centre is calling for a five-year moratorium on the burning of waste wood - known as biomass - to produce electricity.
Biomass, which includes wood shavings and junk logs, is a key part of the province's plan to reduce its dependence on coal.
There are concerns, however, that the plan will lead to more clear-cutting.
"The forest cannot be sacrificed on the altar of quick, cheap electricity," said Ray Plourde, wilderness co-ordinator at the 37-year-old ecological organization.
The government is promising new regulations to prevent that.
"If we don't change policy, then there's probably going to be more clear-cutting," said Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell.
In April, the government announced a target for 40 per cent of all electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.
But Plourde said burning biomass comes at too high a cost.
"At the end of the day, these targets and the word 'renewable' are almost becoming corrupted. We don't feel burning the forest for electricity is green at all," he said.
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Ottawa sets out to protect its hydro heritage
OTTAWA - The city of Ottawa is looking to designate five hydro substations built nearly a century ago as heritage structures, a move intended to protect the architectural history of Ottawa's earliest forays into the electricity business.
All five buildings are still used by Hydro Ottawa to reduce the voltage coming from transmission lines before the electricity is transmitted to homes and businesses.
Electricity came to Ottawa in 1882 when two carbon lamps were installed on LeBreton Flats, heritage planner Anne Fitzpatrick told the city's built heritage subcommittee on Tuesday. It became a lucrative business, and soon a privately owned monopoly.
In 1905,…
