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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1997-11-12, Page 2Pae - i cunt w Beat en, Wednesday, N©vonnae' 112p 3997' servin • 7Tozia page 1 Pickering. A it Book a long tined but by the time the fourth unit had been retubed, workers were experienced and the tech- nology was better. "That expertise is still . available." Monte Kwinter, commit- . tee member said, "It seems ' to me there should e every possibility of -phasing in, retubing the facilities and still delivering power io Ontario. Committee member Sean Conway said Hydro execu- tives had told the committee GS A support d by municp there aren't enough people within Ontario Hydro to do the work all at once, which is why some units need to •be shut down and employ- ees redeployed to worn on refurbishing' the operating units. Mann. suggested Hydro does have enough people. He added former Hydro employees who took early retirement incentive pack- ages offered to them under .former Hydro 'chairman Maurice Strong's regime, have retired in the area and would probably come back to Hydro. Ted Mielke, deputy reeve of :rice Township said he was sure employees work- ing at Pickering and Darlington would be more than willing to corne to; the Bruce to retube Units One and'Two while units Three and Four were operating. Kramer said Hydro's decision to lay up Bruce A „in March has already affect- ed the value of real estate in Port Elgin. He told them of a Hydro employee, recently transferred by the corpora- tion. Hydro bought the house for $230,000 in an upscale neighborhood in . Port Elgin. Hydro put the house back on the market, where it still sits for sale at $170,000. "That's a 25 per eent reduction' in value: Houses on that street have been devalued. Hydrohas already manipulated the market." Harry Thede, chair of the South Bruce Impact Advisory Committee said the IAC is seeking interven- tion to Hydra'saction, to allow and independent review of possible options including: 11. Retention of Bruce A if You Cant Find The Lucknow Sentine! (n Your Mailbox, VQU Can Fina It At .These Locations.... n Lucknow.... Village Market, Rx Pharmacy HJ Used .Cars: Hamilton Fuels Annie's. Gas Bar Seal's Discount Becker's Milk ! Goderich... Triangle Discount Internaflona,l len s n Ripie r Ripley Food Mart MacAdarrl Mini 11/lart (n Whitechurch . Keith's Repair Service in...Dungapnott Dawson's Store n Windham Trnang94 Discount • ;Brian's Valu Mart McPhee IDA n Amber(ey MacNay's Store., ity Port .Albert Port Albert General. Store ° in Kinross Silver Lake General Store (n Ho(rood Holyrood Store err Q operations: tiontinue opef`at- Ing safe units while under- taking refurbishing activi- ties; and/or commit to advancing the refurbishing of Bruce A ahead of Pickering A. 2. Staff recruitment and training: enact an Ontario first, Canadian second hir- ing policy; offer re -call incentives to qualified. past Ontario Hydro nuclear staff, provide displaced staff (heavy water plant employ- ees) with assessment and training for integration into skill demand fields; and supplement human resource needs with outside recruit- ment, only if necessary. The 13NPD training centre should be the main training location for all of Ontario Hydro. ° • 3: Wet versus dry ray -up: reconsideration should• be given to the proposed long- term dry lay-up' of the Bruce A units, as this has never been tested in the CANDID system. 4. Private sector equity participation: this invest- ment' option should be ,con- sidered to expedite the recovery'process, both in terms of time and cost fac- tors. To the best of our. 'knowledge `private sector. investment has not been considered by Ontario Hydro, although some'`past interest has been .expressed and should be explored. Kramer said a .consortium of Babcock and: Wilcox, Simmons. and Atomic Energy of Canada .Lid. had expressed interest in invest- ing in the retubing of Bruce. •Shea asked, Kramer for a' document with the offer of'. private.sector consideration. Bruce 'MPP Barb Fisher told Shea the document belonged. to Ontario Hydro and she doubted Kramer would be able to get the document. She suggested the committee ask Ontario Hydro'for.it, Shea .said, "We'y pursue, that." Thede also .said in his submission that theAtomic -Energy . Control .,Board (AECB) should be formally requested to give its opinion on Hydro's nuclear recov- ery strategy. "This would provide the public and industry comfort that recovery actions are consistent with current and changing nuclear safety standards and require- ments." Lauri Cunningham, man- ager of the Druce Community Development Corporation. said tare Bruce community has been placed in double jeopardy. She said if the current recovery plan proceeds uninterrupted, the area will suffer two distinct, but. related traumas. As a result Hydro's pro- posed lay-up of Bruce A, growth at the Bruce Energy Centre becomes that much more important in efforts to provide replacement jobs. and incomes. However, BEC proponents are being actively pursued by' other jurisdictions, outside Ontario, with offers of com- petitive energy rates and infrastructure services, Cunningham said. "Due to .Hydro decisions" over the past 10 years to impede negotiating 'compete iti ve rates for the BEC, industry is now seriously considering relocation and -new development invest- ment outside Ontario. The export of these industries, technology and innovation present a real, and immedi- ate second impact to the Bruce Lakeshore communi- ties, as well as Ontario." At the'close, of the bear ing Shea, said his yisit to the area had been a "helpful learning experiencefor me. We have a great deal .of information to digest. It will. be given full 'considera tion.;, e Later Shea said he was. astounded at the work done by people in the' area. "I am impressed by the interest: The community informed and impassioned."' Today,; Wednesday, Nov. 5, the committee is touring the Pickering Generating Station: After the tour, hear- ings about Pickering and Darlington will 'take place. Thairsday,'the Committee tours the Darlington station. When.. the hearings are., held' at Queen's Park, they, are televised on Channel 44, the Legislative Assembly channel: The hearings are also published in Hansard and can ,be found on the internet at. ontla:on.ca/hansard/hydrox. .htm; Ashfield received no objection Ashfield Township but' did not h.a,ve any objections. received no written objec- tions to assessments on the Maple Street municipal drain. A court of revision was held to hear appeals on the assessments prior to Ashfield Township Coun- cil's Oct. 21 meeting. One affected landowner attended the meeting to gather more information After the. court of'revi'- sion,council opened its meeting and gave third reading to its Maple Street municipal drain innproi'-. niertt. and extension bylaw. The .bylaw allows the township to collect its fees for: the work, from the affected,residents., 49