Haldimand "Haldimand County News Release Welcomes EA"

A little late getting this one posted, but I just found this news release on the Haldimand County Website. I don't recall this being in any of our local newspapers.

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Dated: October 31, 2008

Haldimand County Council welcomes the announcement from Bruce Power of its intention to commence the initiation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of its proposal to establish a nuclear generation station within the Lake Erie Industrial Park near Nanticoke. This proposal complements existing generation in this area and with other proposed generation facilities takes advantage of significant transmission capability.

Mayor Marie Trainer indicated that, in 2007, Haldimand County Council passed resolutions supporting the initiation of an environmental assessment. The public consultation process will apprise the public of all the issues associated with a nuclear power facility and to determine the willingness of the community to host such a facility.

“Council unanimously supports the initiation of the environmental assessment process and the extensive community and stakeholder engagement requirements that is associated with this step. Many opportunities will be provided over the nearly three years it will take to complete it so our citizens and businesses can provide their input” she said.

The Environmental Assessment process is a planning decision making process that will allow a complete and comprehensive assessment of the proposal through the requirement of rigorous supporting studies and the open and full engagement of all stakeholders.

Should this project proceed to construction, information provided by Bruce Power and independent research conducted by the County indicates that a nuclear generation facility would provide significant economic benefit to the County economy. The project has the potential to create a thousand long term stable jobs, significant construction employment and new assessment.

Haldimand County, through its Official Plan, has designated and protected a significant amount of land for large scale industrial and employment uses near Nanticoke. The County is interested to learn that this proposal envisions the nuclear generating facility as being part of a larger clean energy hub for the Province by partnering with other organizations to develop hydrogen, solar and wind generation. As a result the ‘Lake Erie Industrial Park’ has significant potential to help meet the electricity needs of the Province for the coming decades.

Haldimand County is excited about today’s announcement and is committed to ensuring that the community is kept informed and involved throughout this process and has established a special purpose committee to assist in this regard.

Further information please contact: Councillor Buck Sloat – Chair – Nanticoke Area Power Generation Committee (905) 961-3270 Don Boyle – CAO Haldimand County – (905) 318-5932