Letter to Editor – National Post

Greens and lawyers killed nuclear

Published: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Re: Burning in the Dark, Lawrence Solomon, March 15

Lawrence Solomon fails to consider the negative environmental consequences of promoting coal and natural gas over sustainable nuclear power.
On a per-capita basis, Ontario is the third lowest carbon dioxide emitter in the country — behind only Quebec and British Columbia, both of which generate nearly all their electricity with clean hydro-power. Ontario gets 50% of its electricity from nuclear and 30% from hydro. Therefore 80% of the province’s electricity produces no emissions.
One only has to look at Alberta, a province that relies primarily on coal and natural gas, to see the environmental consequences of Solomon’s approach. Alberta’s per capita CO2 emissions are five times higher than Quebec’s and four times those of nuclear-powered Ontario.
If Canada wishes to reduce its CO2 emissions further, it must support nuclear power, which along with hydro is the only non-greenhouse gas-emitting energy source that can effectively replace fossil fuels for baseload power while meeting a growing demand.