To the Editor,
As Meaford residents are asked to weigh in on TC Energy’s proposed Pumped Storage Project (PSP), one crucial question remains unanswered: What is the true cost of this project — and who is responsible for calculating the return on investment for taxpayers?
TC Energy’s current estimate of $7+ billion is already outdated and under review, but even this large figure fails to account for several major PSP-triggered expenses. Most notably, the estimate does not include the cost of relocating the Department of National Defence’s campus and administrative buildings at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre (Meaford Tank Range). These buildings only need to be moved because of the PSP, yet the relocation cost has been omitted entirely. Without the project, no move would occur.
Equally concerning is the issue of contamination. At a recent deputation to the Town of The Blue Mountains, TC Energy representative Clark Little acknowledged that the company has not evaluated the cost of cleaning contaminants on the Tank Range. Instead, he stated that once the project is approved, TC Energy will hire “a professional company” to address the contamination. This means both the scope and cost of contamination cleanup remain unknown — and neither is included in the project estimate. Given the presence of clay‐based soils, unexploded ordnance, and decades of military contaminants, this omission is not minor.
Together, the campus relocation and contamination cleanup represent potentially massive costs that taxpayers are not being told about. These must be added to the project’s actual price tag.
It is also important to recall that Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) has already rejected the PSP, concluding that it did not provide sufficient value to ratepayers when compared to alternatives. That assessment was made before accounting for the additional, undisclosed costs now coming to light.
So again: What is the true cost of the PSP once the DND relocation and contamination cleanup, if included? Who is responsible for calculating the real return on investment, and how can the public evaluate a project whose largest expenses remain unpriced?
Before Meaford or the federal government makes any decisions, residents deserve full financial transparency — not partial numbers.
Sincerely,
Pat Zita, Meaford
