Petition Alert: Oppose Bill 39 and speak out in support of renewable energy in Ontario!
Here is an important notice, from the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative and Solarshare, about how to support renewable energy.
The Conservative Party has introduced a Bill to revoke the Green Energy Act and the FIT Program. It was tabled on March 26th and is set to be debated, and then put to a vote regarding whether it gets a Second Reading on Thursday April 18, 2013. (see a summary of the Bill at the end of this e-mail).
It’s important we collectively raise the pro-renewables voice around the province today!
What you can do:
- Call or visit your MPP’s constituency office before April 18th 2013 to communicate your objection to Bill 39!
- Sign petition “Ontario MPPs: We support renewable energy in Ontario” https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/ontario-mpps-we-support-renewable-energy-in-ontario then forward this email to contacts and share on Facebook and twitter
While many do not believe this Bill will pass, we do believe the government is watching to see the extent to which Ontarians support green energy by how vocal they are in opposition to this Bill.
The best ACTION to take at this time is to CALL YOUR MPP or visit their constituency office in person and share with them that you are a member of their constituency with a community power project under development that engages and benefits a significant number of other local citizens. If you’re not sure who your MPP is, here is how you can find out here: https://www.ola.org/en/members/current/contact-information
Summary of Bill 39:
- The Bill enacts a new Act to deal with industrial wind turbines.
- No person is allowed to install or operate an industrial wind turbine unless authorized by a by-law of the municipality where the turbine is located. The installation or operation of industrial wind turbines is entirely prohibited in the Niagara Escarpment Planning Area or the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan Area.
- The Bill amends the Electricity Act, 1998 to prohibit the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) from entering into contracts for the procurement of electricity supply or capacity derived from renewable energy sources unless the price for the supply or capacity does not exceed the price that would be payable if the supply or capacity were derived from non-renewable energy sources.
- The Bill terminates the feed-in tariff program that the OPA has developed to procure energy from renewable energy sources.
- The Bill amends the Green Energy Act, 2009 to allow municipalities, by by-law, to restrict the use of goods, services and technologies designed to promote energy conservation and to restrict activities with respect to renewable energy projects, renewable energy sources or renewable energy testing projects.
- The Bill amends the Planning Act to reverse the effect of the amendments made to the Act by Schedule K to the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009. Those amendments exempted renewable energy undertakings from the normal application of the Planning Act, including policy statements, provincial plans, official plans, demolition control by-laws, zoning by-laws and development permit regulations and by-laws.
See the tabled Bill here: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-40/session-2/bill-39