The main objective of Sierra Club Ontario’s Green Energy Campaign is to replace dirty fossil fuels and nuclear power by mobilizing grassroots activists in local communities to advocate for the transition to a clean energy future.
Dangerous, expensive nuclear and highly polluting fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal must be phased out to prevent irreversible changes in our climate. They need to be steadily and gradually replaced with cleaner and greener sources of energy like renewables, paired with energy conservation practices, to keep global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to more aggressively limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To this end we will:
- fight the expansion of tar sands, oil shale, deep-water drilling, and other high-carbon, high-risk fuels, and
- oppose dangerous pipelines, refinery expansions, and other unnecessary oil infrastructure and ensure that existing oil infrastructure operates only with adequate safeguards and protection for workers, the public, and the environment.
These actions take us towards our goals:
1. Green Energy Coalition
As a founding member of the Green Energy Coalition (GEC) in 1989, we have participated and intervened in many Ontario Energy Board proceedings, consultations and related legislative committees regarding energy use in Ontario. GEC advocates for enhanced energy efficiency and the reduction of adverse environmental impacts due to the production, transmission, pipeline distribution and use of energy.
In 2015, the Ontario Energy Board held a hearing (EB-2015-0029 / EB-2015-0049) to approve Demand Side Management Plans for 6 years for both Union Gas and Enbridge Gas. Union proposed to cancel its large industrial DSM program – a single program that had produced HALF the gas savings generated by all of Union's programs in the prior 2 years. The Sierra Club brought expert evidence that showed the value of those savings both economically and environmentally to the province. In January 2016 the Board ruled that Union's program should be continued.
2. Oppose Dangerous Pipelines
Sierra Club Ontario Chapter has applied to the National Energy Board to participate in both TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline and tanker proposal as well as the Eastern Mainline Project proposed to run adjacent to Lake Ontario beginning near Markham, Ontario and finishing near the community of Iroquois, Ontario.
3. Support a Nuclear-Free Future
We envision an energy efficient world, powered by clean, renewable energy technologies, free from dirty, dangerous, costly nuclear power and its legacy of toxic waste.
We advocate for solar, wind and geothermal power as well as energy efficiency technologies — all cheaper, cleaner, and safer for humans and the environment!
For more information, or to inquire about volunteer opportunities, please contact us at ontario@sierraclub.ca
Click here to make a charitable donation towards our Green Energy work.
Radioactive Waste: Unacceptable Burdens on Future Generations
Posted on February 12, 2019
Green Energy: Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility - UPDATE
Posted on October 24, 2018
(Photo by Charissa Val Straalen) Two years ago, over 49 non-governmental organizations across Canada and the USA signed on to a letter asking both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama to address issues pertaining to a series of shipments of liquid radioactive waste from Chalk River in Ontario to the US Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. These shipments were along public roads and over bridges crossing the Great Lakes.
Green Energy: Ontario Begins Process to “Modernize” Provincial Energy Regulation
Posted on April 16, 2018
ENERGY EAST ENDED… DISASTER AVERTED
Christine Elwell — October 25, 2017
With news that TransCanada pulled its applications for Energy East and Eastern Mainline pipelines(link is external), the Harper era, pre Paris Climate Accord and oil at $100 a barrel, is over.
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility: Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama
Posted on October 4, 2016
Over two dozen non-governmental organizations from Canada and the United States are asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama to postpone or cancel an unprecedented series of shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste from Ontario to South Carolina along public roads and over bridges crossing the waters of the Great Lakes.
See below for a letter from the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility to Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama.
Excerpts from 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
Posted on October 4, 2016Over two dozen non-governmental organizations from Canada and the United States are asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama to postpone or cancel an unprecedented series of shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste from Ontario to South Carolina along public roads and over bridges crossing the waters of the Great Lakes.
See below for relevant excerpts from the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
How NOT to Extend the Life of Aging Nuclear Reactors in Ontario
Posted on July 19, 2012- OPG to subject its EIA to independent third-party peer review, including on the issue of the structural integrity of the concrete used in the reactor containment buildings.
- A non-partisan Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Nuclear Power in Canada.
- Non-exposure to tritium in drinking water, a position consistent with the precautionary principle and responsible public policy. It should serve as a baseline in the CNSC assessment of the OPG EIS.
- The inclusion of nuclear issues in the new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) and a new IJC Nuclear Task Force to produce a report on nuclear issues.
Pickering Nuclear: A Cracking Bad Idea
Posted on February 20, 2013
SCC Supplemental Submissions on Darlington
Posted on January 15, 2013At the request of Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Sierra Club Canada sent in extra submissions on Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (Clarington, Ontario) on Jan 14. This paper goes into greater detail on the issue of the binational Air Quality Agreement and lack of notice given to the US related to pollutants released at Darlington. The Sierra Club's Atlantic Chapter (New York) has submitted a letter of concern as well.
Comments On OPG’s Proposal To Develop A Deep Geologic Repository For Radioactive Waste
Posted on October 8, 2013Michigan lawmakers sound alarm over Canada's proposal to store nuclear waste near Lake Huron
Posted on September 30, 2013
LANSING, MI -- Two Michigan lawmakers are speaking out against a Canadian proposal to store nuclear waste underground less than a mile from the shores of Lake Huron.
State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Taylor) and Rep. Sarah Roberts (D-St. Clair Shores) are expected to testify Monday afternoon in Canada before a joint review panel assessing the environmental impact and safety risks of a proposed nuclear dumping ground in Kincardine, Ontario.