Follow the process when dealing with peaker plants

Last Wednesday's public information meeting before King councillors, regarding the proposals of Northland Power Inc. to put a peaker generating plant in the Holland Marsh area of the township, produced few surprises.

The vast majority of the people who attended the session don't want such a facility in their municipality, as if that was some sort of a major revelation. And Township councillors have already gone on the record as stating King will not be willing host of such a facility.

Another thing that was disappointing, although not too surprising, was that some people don't seem to grasp the process.

There were some who criticized the Township for holding the meeting in the first place. The fact is the meeting was held mainly because Northland has made applications for rezonings and Official Plan amendments, meaning such meetings have to be held. Provincial legislation mandates that. It was not a case of King officials being overly accommodating.

There were some who questioned the timing of last week's meeting, with some arguments that it should have been delayed until after the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) has decided who should get the job of building the plant, and where it should go. We are prepared to grant that argument has a certain amount of merit. OPA is expected to make a decision around the end of the year, and it is possible that Northland Power might not be selected, or the company could get the nod, but for one of its two proposed sites outside King. In that event, last Wednesday's meeting will be rendered more or less redundant.

But if one of Northland's King sites is selected, the Township staff and council will have to be ready. We would submit that last week's meeting was part of that preparation. If the Township is to challenge such a move, it has to be very well informed, with the facts available to present solid and convincing arguments, and it's never too early to start pulling all that material together.

The public needs the chance to acquire information too. Last Wednesday's session was, after all, a public information meeting.

Besides, if the Township had waited before holding the meeting, there would have been charges that the mayor, councillors and staff had been sitting on their hands, rather than acting.

No one gets far into adulthood without learning that it's impossible to please everyone, and the perfect method of dealing with these proposals has probably not yet been discovered. In such a case, the powers that be have to decide what makes the most sense and act accordingly, and we believe the Township has done just that.

And let's not forget the Township has a stake in this too.