Luka Medved, a third-year environmental management major, is hosting a lecture series called “Project Trident” to raise awareness about the environmental consequences of building a natural gas plant at the legislatively protected Holland Marsh.
Held at UTM, “Project Trident” takes issue on Veresen Inc.’s York Energy Centre (YEC), which will be built on Holland Marsh, a fertile 2,900 hectare land that yields approximately $50 million in harvest and crops per year.
It will be directly on top of a flood plain and near a local canal that drains in to Cook’s Bay, a branch of Lake Simcoe.
The YEC, a $365 million plant, is also known as the “York Peaker” as it will generate power at peak demand times.
“There have been a lot of corners that have been cut by the Ontario government to allow this project to come about. I’m essentially questioning the project with the help of professors and this is because they’re more qualified to question and answer certain things than me,” Medved said. “There are a lot of conflicting reports. Information from the government is being kept from the public and it’s very secretive.”
Medved hopes to convene a panel of experts through his lectures before moving on to the “student stage.” If the previous two stages are successful, he will present his final version of the lectures to members of the public.
“Hopefully [we can] curb the project’s current location and move it elsewhere,” he said.
Critics of the plant agree, saying that they acknowledge a need for additional power in the area but, the location raises more questions than answers.
According to a Toronto Star report published last year, documents obtained from Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller cited that the Liberals ignored standard environmental protocols, such as the Planning Act, which would have evaluated other alternatives to “a wider environmental context.”
The documents also outline that the construction of the YEC will violate Premier Dalton McGuinty’s own Greenbelt Act legislation, which serves to protect ecologically sensitive areas from urban development.
Medved has requested a copy of the commissioner’s report but has not received it yet. He has also requested that the Premier attends one of his lectures, but has been rebuffed.
Though Medved’s efforts have been ignored by the Premier, some officials have shown their support.
“The audacity of a government that ignores the concerns of local citizens and of local elected officials — concerns echoed by the Environment Commissioner of Ontario — and in addition dodges their own legislation, is shocking,” wrote Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner on his website.
Veresen Inc.’s company website stated that the new “quick-response” YEC would provide a continuous energy supply that “meets all Ontario Ministry of Environment standards on emission limits.”
The website also noted that the plant is located beyond the flood plains and the only structure located in the plains is the driveway, making up three per cent of the entire structure.
However, Medved said that with the risk of flooding in the area, the plant is very likely to act as a direct point source of pollution and contaminants may enter the local water supply, which will be problematic as the Holland Marsh yields approximately 50 per cent of Ontario’s produce.
Despite his efforts and Mike Schreiner’s campaigning, the YEC is, according to the residents, still being built on top of a flood plain.
“It sounds like this is just a case of the province pushing a poor location for this plant. They should instead find municipalities that want such a plant built, not force one where the local residents and politicians are in opposition,” said UTM geography professor, Nathan Basiliko, who plans to attend Medved’s first lecture.
Basiliko said that he is delighted that a student has gone beyond the classroom to raise an environmental issue.
Veresen Inc. and its representatives were unavailable for comment.
