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Dion touts clean coal for power
Provincial Liberals favour nuclear power, but federal leader fears waste disposal a problem
January 17, 2007
Rob Ferguson
Queen's Park Bureau
Nuclear power is an iffy proposition for Canada because the issue of how to handle waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years has not been properly dealt with, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said yesterday.
"As long as I'm not able to look Canadians in the eyes and to say, `I'm comfortable with the waste,' I will not recommend it," Dion, elected leader last month on an environmental platform, said after a breakfast speech to a Bay Street crowd.
It's also time to look at clean coal as a solution to meeting electricity needs while reducing harmful emissions blamed for global warming, Dion told a business audience in what was billed as his first major speech as head of the federal party.
"I think there are cleaner coal possibilities, we need to go there to invest in it and to be a champion in the world," said Dion, noting university researchers in Saskatchewan and Alberta are looking into the potential.
The remarks appeared to put him at odds with his Liberal cousins in the Ontario government, who are preparing to build more nuclear power plants and hoping to phase out coal-fired power plants to meet the twin challenges of fast-growing electricity needs and increasing smog.
Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, who has said previously that coal isn't a long-term option, denied there's a policy rift between the two branches of the Liberal party.
"I didn't see it that way at all," he said in an interview, noting a federal panel is studying better ways to deal with storage of nuclear waste from uranium that powered atomic reactors. "We've always said nuclear waste isn't an easy issue."
More research into so-called "clean coal" is needed to see if there are ways to burn it without spewing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, into the atmosphere, added Duncan, whose government has twice broken promised deadlines for phasing out coal power plants.
Dion said he wouldn't trample on provincial jurisdiction by telling provinces what to do about nuclear power, but noted more countries are looking at it because it doesn't produce greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
"It's an unavoidable debate," he told reporters.
He urged Canadian businesses to get on his environmental bandwagon, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and inventing earth-friendly technologies to be part of a green "industrial revolution" that will sweep the world.
"Yes, Canada will cut megatonnes of emissions, but we will also make megatonnes of money," he told an audience of hundreds of members of the Economic Club of Toronto and the Toronto Board of Trade.
Dion said he'd also like to see high-speed trains become an option in Canada, reducing reliance on air travel for short hops, with a rail link that could whisk travellers from Toronto to Montreal in three hours.
"How many of us will take the train instead the plane?" he said to applause.
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Interesting. Now that coal has been demonized as a C02 producing enemy, it is now being revived as a "clean" solution. Anyone who has been arguing for clean coal research and development over the past few years must feel annoyed to no end that it has suddenly been discovered as a "green" soution to energy needs when they have pointing that out all along.
On another note, the last two paragraphs are also encouraging. Shall we actually see investment in the corridor routes of VIA? A shorter train ride? As someone who goes between Toronto and Ottawa quite often, I am all for this.
Provincial Liberals favour nuclear power, but federal leader fears waste disposal a problem
January 17, 2007
Rob Ferguson
Queen's Park Bureau
Nuclear power is an iffy proposition for Canada because the issue of how to handle waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years has not been properly dealt with, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said yesterday.
"As long as I'm not able to look Canadians in the eyes and to say, `I'm comfortable with the waste,' I will not recommend it," Dion, elected leader last month on an environmental platform, said after a breakfast speech to a Bay Street crowd.
It's also time to look at clean coal as a solution to meeting electricity needs while reducing harmful emissions blamed for global warming, Dion told a business audience in what was billed as his first major speech as head of the federal party.
"I think there are cleaner coal possibilities, we need to go there to invest in it and to be a champion in the world," said Dion, noting university researchers in Saskatchewan and Alberta are looking into the potential.
The remarks appeared to put him at odds with his Liberal cousins in the Ontario government, who are preparing to build more nuclear power plants and hoping to phase out coal-fired power plants to meet the twin challenges of fast-growing electricity needs and increasing smog.
Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, who has said previously that coal isn't a long-term option, denied there's a policy rift between the two branches of the Liberal party.
"I didn't see it that way at all," he said in an interview, noting a federal panel is studying better ways to deal with storage of nuclear waste from uranium that powered atomic reactors. "We've always said nuclear waste isn't an easy issue."
More research into so-called "clean coal" is needed to see if there are ways to burn it without spewing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, into the atmosphere, added Duncan, whose government has twice broken promised deadlines for phasing out coal power plants.
Dion said he wouldn't trample on provincial jurisdiction by telling provinces what to do about nuclear power, but noted more countries are looking at it because it doesn't produce greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
"It's an unavoidable debate," he told reporters.
He urged Canadian businesses to get on his environmental bandwagon, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and inventing earth-friendly technologies to be part of a green "industrial revolution" that will sweep the world.
"Yes, Canada will cut megatonnes of emissions, but we will also make megatonnes of money," he told an audience of hundreds of members of the Economic Club of Toronto and the Toronto Board of Trade.
Dion said he'd also like to see high-speed trains become an option in Canada, reducing reliance on air travel for short hops, with a rail link that could whisk travellers from Toronto to Montreal in three hours.
"How many of us will take the train instead the plane?" he said to applause.
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Interesting. Now that coal has been demonized as a C02 producing enemy, it is now being revived as a "clean" solution. Anyone who has been arguing for clean coal research and development over the past few years must feel annoyed to no end that it has suddenly been discovered as a "green" soution to energy needs when they have pointing that out all along.
On another note, the last two paragraphs are also encouraging. Shall we actually see investment in the corridor routes of VIA? A shorter train ride? As someone who goes between Toronto and Ottawa quite often, I am all for this.