Environmentalists Lobby Against Nuclear Power

Vincent J. Curtis

4 Feb 20

The Hamilton Saltpork & Rind published an op-ed by the Director of an outfit called the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.  It was a screed against the use of nuclear power, with the suggestion that power purchased from Hyrdo-Quebec and the construction of "renewable" power generation could make up the difference.  Ontario went all-in with nuclearn power generation in the 1960s through the 1980s based on the Canadian designed and built CANDU reactor.  The oldest of these are coming to the end of their designed service lives and will have to be replaced within the decade.  Ontario eliminated both of its coal-fored power plants about eight years ago, and now relies on hydro-generation, nuclear, and "renewables," which, of course, are backed up by natural gas generators.


For thirty years I’ve been saying that environmentalists discover problems and then declare that every practical solution is unacceptable.  Angela Bischoff did not disappoint.

You would think that the Director of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance would be in favor of any energy source that didn’t pollute the air.  But no.  Nuclear power, which does not pollute the air, is unacceptable.  Instead, Bischoff calls for Ontario to purchase hydro-electric power from Quebec, or to build more “renewable” generation such as wind and solar.

The trouble with “renewables” is that they all require natural gas generation as a back-up power supply, for when the wind isn’t blowing and the solar panels are covered in snow and darkness.  “Renewables” aren’t as pollution-free as Marxist environmentalists would have you believe.  Never mind the production of carbon dioxide, there is pollution associated with manufacturing and disposing of the solar panels, to say nothing of the bird-killing power of windmills.

The real test of the seriousness of an environmentalist is their attitude toward nuclear power.  Those who are dead-set against it aren’t serious as environmentalists, they are simply Marxists playing the environmental game.  They don’t want answers, they want chaos and economic dislocation.  They hate western economic success and are seeking to undermine it.

High technology Ontario should be looking to update and renew its commitment to clean, reliable, and Canadian nuclear generation.
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