ERO-019-6647 – IESO Pathways to Decarbonization Study

By Linda Heron on Sunday, May 14th, 2023

Posted in Algae, Campaign, Clean Energy Credits, Dams, Energy, Environmental Registry, Heavy Metal Contamination, Hydroelectric, Industry, ORA Submissions, Pumped Storage, Regulatory, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Water Quality

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoirs

The ORA will never be in favour of streamlining the regulatory, approvals and permitting processes as they were put in place to protect our natural environment and communities, and have already been significantly undermined.

Instead, we need strong and rigorous environmental assessment and robust public, Indigenous and stakeholder consultation if we are to build climate resilience into our air, land and freshwater resources.

I will briefly address my rationale and the dangers of streamlining the regulatory regime of hydroelectric facilities in particular, as it is commonly claimed by governments and industry to be ‘clean’, ‘green’ and ‘non-emitting. However, this is misleading the public at a pivotal time when we should be following the science.

Related Information:

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Hydroelectric and its “Pathway to Decarbonization”

By Linda Heron on Friday, February 10th, 2023

Posted in Clean Energy Credits, Dams, Energy, GHG Emissions, Government, Hydroelectric, Industry, ORA Submissions, River Concerns, Rivers at Risk, Species at Risk, Water Quality

Abitibi River – Twin Falls GS

Please sign and share our Petition: Hydroelectric is NOT a Pathway to Decarbonization.

The increasing role of hydroelectric reservoirs as GHG emitters and negative environmental effects has resulted in thousands of independent peer-reviewed studies laying out the facts. However, the hydropower industry and governments have done a thorough job of promoting waterpower through a powerful disinformation campaign to mislead the world into believing it is clean and non-emitting while turning a blind eye to the growing body of evidence to the contrary.

ORA strongly recommends that OPG begin the use of drone technology to detect, map and measure GHG emissions within the entire zone of influence of its hydroelectric facilities – in the upstream reservoir, turbine intake, spillway and downstream of the dam. This will ensure that those who have purchased clean energy credits from OPG are getting what is claimed – a clean and non-emitting source of electricity. All data should be placed in real-time on the OPG website and made available to researchers and the public.

In closing, the ORA requests that the Minister finally remove the label of clean and non-emitting from hydroelectric generation. Certification will mean nothing if there is no authentic and verifiable science-based method of reducing Ontario’s GHG emissions. Furthermore, it would be unethical and fraudulent to mislead the public and corporations into believing they are paying for clean and non-emitting electricity when they are actually paying to fuel climate change.

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ERO 019-5816 – Development of a Clean Energy Credit Registry

By Linda Heron on Friday, September 16th, 2022

Posted in Clean Energy Credits, Energy, Environmental Registry, ORA Submissions, Regulatory, Regulatory Submissions, River Concerns

The total amount of GHGs emissions from a hydroelectric facility is dependent upon many factors, including the impounded reservoir, terrain, amount of organic matter, air-water temperature, reservoir depth and size, vegetation (algae and plant/tree litter), pH values, oxygen levels, flow velocity, water level fluctuations, wind speeds, precipitation, wetlands within the impoundment zone, and facility operating strategy (cycling and peaking to maximize power generation). Every hydroelectric facility is unique in its complexity and must be carefully studied and continually assessed and monitored to determine the total daily, seasonal and annual GHG emissions per MWh emanating from the system.

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