Converting the Lambton Generating Station near Courtright, Ont. from coal to natural gas appears to have been pushed to the back burner.
Steve Arnold, mayor of St. Clair Township, says "It's going into cold-mode shutdown. It's not like it's going to be dismantled, it will still have the capability to be brought back up. So it's our hope that we will see that conversion take place in the future.”
But for now hopes of salvaging some of the 400 full-time and about 700 contract jobs being lost at the end of 2013 have been dashed.
Converting the Lambton plant to gas would have saved less than 100 jobs, but Arnold says he’s anxious to save any jobs he can.
“If you have infrastructure that’s already in place and all the logistics are there to make it work, why not utilize that site to its maximum capability?”
The decision comes as the controversial cancellation of the gas power plants in Oakville and Mississauga, Ont. continues to make headlines.
Also at issue is the Nanticoke Generating Station, another station that is also slated to stop burning coal.
The plant is closer to Toronto, where most of the demand for power lies, so it may considered a priority for a possible conversion to gas.
