Another way to ask this question would be to ask whether municipalities used to be responsible for providing for their own electricity before the Green Energy Act was passed. The answer is no: the Province was and is responsible to plan and provide electricity to US all.

Municipalities never had the ability to plan and zone their energy supply: the province has held this right and responsibility ever since the grid was FIRST established. Though some have tried to suggest that the Green Energy and Green Economy Act has somehow reduced municipal rights, it has in fact given the new opportunity to municipalities to generate their own electricity, and to own electrical generation assets.

Municipalities can do more about electricity now than they could before, not less.

When responsibilities for the environment and health are downloaded onto municipalities, standards BECOME inconsistent and malpractice may result as it did in the Walkerton drinking water crisis. The energy market is a complicated beast. Although many municipal politicians like the idea of having control over where wind and solar projects should be permitted to be physically located, municipal staff all across Ontario are typically stretched very thin in their work already, are wary of taking on further liabilities, and don’t have the experience or resources to approve or deny wind and solar projects properly: municipal staff tend to welcome central authority, especially for complicated topics like managing the electricity grid. Can you imagine what it would be like if municipal politicians were responsible to plan and negotiate the supply of local electricity for their citizens? With EVERYONE saying they don’t want power plants installed near them, but they still want the power to show up at their house when needed? When topics are broad and generally affect all municipalities of Ontario, they tend to be managed best at the provincial level.

When municipalities had the authority to approve the location of wind turbines, many permitted them closer than the current minimum setback requirement of 550 metres, and some municipalities refused to grant permission regardless of setbacks. There was no consistency, and there was a general lack of expertise in understanding how to manage the additional work of approving local power generation projects (whether gas, wind, nuclear, or other), especially in the smaller municipalities with fewer staff resources.

The Green Energy and Green Economy Act added to the old provincial process for planning our electricity system by adding rules for smaller and more local electricity generation projects (ie: smaller than nuclear plants and Niagara Falls), by standardizing the rules across the province for these types of smaller projects and simplifying the efforts required to get projects built (eg: not requiring a farmer installing a wind turbine to get the same permits as a nuclear plant needs), and by creating a “Renewable Energy Facilitation Office” at the Ministry of Energy to offer technical support to local projects: projects by farmers, school boards, faith groups, First Nations, municipalities, and ordinary homeowners installing wind turbines, solar panels, biomass systems, or restoring old hydro dams (mills).

Municipalities don’t need to plan where to buy electricity from for their citizens, and can now embrace the authority given to them under the Green Energy Act to generate their own clean renewable energy, just as many communities already have. The Green Energy Act empowers those concerned about climate change and the deadly health effects of burning COAL to actually do something about it, and to create local jobs and improve the robustness of the local electrical grid while they do.

Another way to ask this question would be to ask whether municipalities used to be responsible for providing for their own electricity before the Green Energy Act was passed. The answer is no: the Province was and is responsible to plan and provide electricity to us all.

Municipalities never had the ability to plan and zone their energy supply: the province has held this right and responsibility ever since the grid was first established. Though some have tried to suggest that the Green Energy and Green Economy Act has somehow reduced municipal rights, it has in fact given the new opportunity to municipalities to generate their own electricity, and to own electrical generation assets.

Municipalities can do more about electricity now than they could before, not less.

When responsibilities for the environment and health are downloaded onto municipalities, standards become inconsistent and malpractice may result as it did in the Walkerton drinking water crisis. The energy market is a complicated beast. Although many municipal politicians like the idea of having control over where wind and solar projects should be permitted to be physically located, municipal staff all across Ontario are typically stretched very thin in their work already, are wary of taking on further liabilities, and don’t have the experience or resources to approve or deny wind and solar projects properly: municipal staff tend to welcome central authority, especially for complicated topics like managing the electricity grid. Can you imagine what it would be like if municipal politicians were responsible to plan and negotiate the supply of local electricity for their citizens? With everyone saying they don’t want power plants installed near them, but they still want the power to show up at their house when needed? When topics are broad and generally affect all municipalities of Ontario, they tend to be managed best at the provincial level.

When municipalities had the authority to approve the location of wind turbines, many permitted them closer than the current minimum setback requirement of 550 metres, and some municipalities refused to grant permission regardless of setbacks. There was no consistency, and there was a general lack of expertise in understanding how to manage the additional work of approving local power generation projects (whether gas, wind, nuclear, or other), especially in the smaller municipalities with fewer staff resources.

The Green Energy and Green Economy Act added to the old provincial process for planning our electricity system by adding rules for smaller and more local electricity generation projects (ie: smaller than nuclear plants and Niagara Falls), by standardizing the rules across the province for these types of smaller projects and simplifying the efforts required to get projects built (eg: not requiring a farmer installing a wind turbine to get the same permits as a nuclear plant needs), and by creating a “Renewable Energy Facilitation Office” at the Ministry of Energy to offer technical support to local projects: projects by farmers, school boards, faith groups, First Nations, municipalities, and ordinary homeowners installing wind turbines, solar panels, biomass systems, or restoring old hydro dams (mills).

Municipalities don’t need to plan where to buy electricity from for their citizens, and can now embrace the authority given to them under the Green Energy Act to generate their own clean renewable energy, just as many communities already have. The Green Energy Act empowers those concerned about climate change and the deadly health effects of burning coal to actually do something about it, and to create local jobs and improve the robustness of the local electrical grid while they do.