Burning a mix of natural gas and specially grown crops, or other so called biomass fuel, at Ontario's soon to be extinguished coal power plants makes economic and environmental sense, says the Power Workers' Union.
That's the message the union is bringing to a Biomass Town Hall meeting Thursday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., in the Upper Hall at Sarnia's Clearwater Arena.
The Lambton Generating Station in Courtright is one of the coal-fired electricity generating stations Ontario plans to close by 2014. That move would eliminate about 300 jobs that remain at the local power station.
While Ontario has indicated it will convert one northern coal-fired station to use biomass, and is considering converting others to natural gas and biomass, no firm plans have been announced for the future of the Lambton station.
In 2011 Union Gas was asked to prepare plans for a potential natural gas pipeline to feed Lambton Generating Station.
"It's important that the biomass option be given consideration as soon as possible," said union official Bob Menard. "It provides a number of different opportunities to improve air quality and provide jobs and economic stimulus for parts of the economy that may now be suffering a little bit, such as agriculture and the forestry industry."
The union is holding a series of town hall meetings around the province, including Sarnia, to elevate discussion about conversation at Lambton and other coal-fired stations "and bring it up a few notches," he said.
The aim is to boost Ontario residents' understanding of options for keeping the stations open after they stop burning coal, so "it starts being something that people discuss on a more regular basis," he said.
Menard said that if stations are converted to natural gas, there are benefits to burning biomass along with it.
They include reducing harmful emissions and boosting the economy by creating a market for non-food crops grown as biomass, or forestry products, he said.
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