Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee Generating Station (NGS) was recently graded on its environmental impact over its first nine months of operation, the results of which were shared with Greater Napanee council at their Feb. 23 meeting.
Bruce Wick, plant manager of the NGS, noted the plant operated within the province’s Environmental Compliance Approval requirements related to air and noise and was compliant with the Host Community Agreement with the Town of Greater Napanee’s agreement not to exceed NOx emissions over 3.0 ppmv 97.4 per cent of the time.
“This was our first year of commercial operation, actually nine and a half months,” said Wick. “It’s not unusual for plants to have a series of issues to resolve as it shakes the bugs out of the plant and ours is no different, however we did enjoy an excellent environmental performance during this year.”
The 900-megawatt combined cycle power plant began operation on March 13, 2020 under the ownership of TransCanada Energy. On May 1 it was sold to Atura Power, which is a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation.
The presentation to council was part of the Host Community Agreement with the town, which calls for the NGS to provide an annual environmental impact report.
Wick noted two instances when the NGS did not operate within the parameters of the water/sewage works permit.
“We did have two minor exceedances relating to total residual chlorine levels this year,” said Wick. “In both cases we quickly identified the issue, stopped the discharge and reported the event. In both cases action plans were submitted to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and the action plans were successfully completed.”
Deputy mayor Max Kaiser asked if neighbouring homes were made aware of the instances at the time.
“In this circumstance the exceedance were very short and very minor so the ministry’s process did not dictate further public communication,” said Chris Fralick, president of Atura Power. “That being said we understand we’ve got close neighbours, we got people that want to know these kinds of things. I think it’s fair for us to take that back as far as what, if anything, should or could Atura do in what I would like to say would be exceedingly rare circumstances. However in our first year of operation we did hit a couple of road bumps but it’s certainly not our expectation going forward that this be a regular occurrence.”
The presentation also included highlights of NGS’s contributions to the community, which included the establishment of a Community Development Fund, which will provide $400,000 per four-year term until the year 2034. Atura also contributed $2,500 to the Napanee Salvation Army Food Bank.
Fralick offered a brief over view of the role gas plays in Ontario’s energy sector. In his presentation he noted the major benefit of natural gas is that it can help balance sources such as wind and solar, which are intermittent and require backup support.
“There really is no large scale storage,” said Fralick. “Energy is produced and consumed instantaneously. You need something in there that can ride those peaks as you go home and fire up your kettle or whatever, some generator out there has to put out a little more energy and that’s the role that gas can play.”
He also touched upon the future of natural gas in the country.
“We’ve heard a lot in the news lately is around do we phase out the use of gas and if so, when,” said Fralick. “OPG’s view and Atura’s view is the electricity sector in Ontario is very clean by any international standard.”
He noted in 2018, natural gas’ contribution to Ontario greenhouse has emissions was two per cent.
“If we’re going to de-carbonize as a society, we need to focus on the main emitting sources of greenhouse gases,” said Fralick. “That being transportation, industry and buildings.”
-Council officially appointed six new members to the Downtown Napanee Business Improvement Area board. They are: Karie Biggley, Sondra Elliott, Rennie Hutzler, Tina Kirby, Matt Raham and Ian Sinclair. The appointments came after all but one member of the board resigned last month.
-March 26 will be recognized as National Epilepsy Awareness Day in Greater Napanee. Council made the motion to make the proclamation following a request from Colin Slack of Epilepsy South Eastern Ontario. Citizens are encouraged to make an effort throughout the month of March to learn more about epilepsy, fight stigma and wear a lavender ribbon to show support.
-Council will decide next month on a temporary solution to the ongoing OPP contract saga.
Currently the town and the OPP are operating without a contract, as the previous one expired Dec. 31, 2020. The two sides are awaiting a response from Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General regarding policing matters involving the Quinte Detention Centre. The town is pushing back on paying for costs association with the detention centre, arguing they have overpaid for costs that should be shared among other municipalities.
While they await a resolution, town staff has suggested council choose one of three options as a temporary solution: 1. Renew a section 10 Contract Renewal for either three, four, five or six years. 2. Extension of one year of the contract that expired in 2020, through an amending agreement or 3. Transition to a section 5.1 policing agreement.
Council voted to keep the policing contract issue as ‘unfinished business’ and will make a final decision at one of their two meetings in March.
No matter what happens during the negotiations, councillor Bob Norrie told residents that police services wouldn’t suddenly stop due to a lack of a contract.
“You’re going to have police protection because it didn’t sound like it would happen after March if we didn’t do what we had to do,” Norrie said, addressing those who were watching the meeting at home. “I want to assure the public they will be protected and we will get the contract as best we can.”