Editor,
I’d like to respond to Tom Buck’s letter, which appeared in the Thursday, September 29 edition of the Meaford Independent.
I too have enjoyed my conversations with Tom, and I have the utmost respect for the honest plain-speaking people of Michigan. Ironically my passion for this project materialized in Michigan. While visiting the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant – this facility stores energy and has reliably served Michigan for 50 years, I learned the electricity source for their pumps comes in part from Ontario. Clean, emission-free electricity that Ontario ratepayers paid for is exported over the border because Ontario cannot store it for later use.
So, while we in Ontario burn natural gas to meet high electricity demands, Michigan can use the clean electricity it gets from Ontario because Michigan has storage and we do not. So, my question is why can’t we have storage too?
Using similar concepts we plan to build a better storage solution here in Meaford. We will apply the most advanced design and technology to protect Georgian Bay and the local environment while delivering sustainable clean energy and economic opportunities for Meaford and Indigenous groups.
Tom is right about one thing, if any evidence supported a conclusion the project would cause harm to this beautiful area, I would not have anything to do with building it.
John Mikkelsen, TC Energy
