Meaford council has approved a motion to provide conditional support for the proposed TC Energy Pumped Storage project.
It passed at Monday’s meeting in a 5-2 recorded vote. Councillors Harley Greenfield and Brandon Forder were against it.
The motion from Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney recommended the municipality provides conditional support for the construction and operation of the 1,000 megawatt pumped storage facility on a number of conditions.
TC Energy is currently working through the regulatory process for approval of the construction and operation of a pumped storage facility on Department of Defence lands at the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre.
The municipality doesn’t have any authority over its approval, but can reap some financial benefits by supporting the project and working out a community benefit agreement.
Prior to discussing this motion, council received a number of comments from the community, including those representing Save Georgian Bay, a group opposed to the project, detailing why they are not in favour of the proposed project and its potential harms to the environment.
Keaveney says, however, it was an important decision to make as the municipality needed to decide whether they wanted to play host to the proposed facility.
“This motion before us today is one of the most important undertakings that has ever been before your Municipality of Meaford council. I believe many of you are wondering, ‘why now, what’s the urgency, aren’t we giving up our leverage by offering conditional support at this point in time?’ I would respond by saying the municipality has been engaged with TC Energy since 2019. The previous council passed two motions, to move the relationship forward, and I believe now it is time to move today’s motion,” says Keaveney.
This motion is the latest in the proposed projects’ history in the municipality, which started in 2019, when TC Energy made its plans public to operate the facility, geared toward producing zero emission electricity by utilizing Georgian Bay, in Meaford.
In 2020 council received and reviewed a report, declaring their support for the proposed project, where it moved on to various assessments.
Later in 2021, the Department of National Defence determined the facility could be located within the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre.
Last year, TC Energy brought forward how the community could benefit from the project, and this year, advised Meaford it would reimburse the municipality for all costs incurred from technical peer reviewers of the potential impacts of the facility, as well as legal council on relevant matters.
The TC Energy proposed project would become a divisive issue in the community and among council, where through a recorded vote of five to two, council supported the motion put forward by Keaveney.
“We want to advance Meaford, but we don’t have the financial capacity to make many of the things we like to happen. The potential economic impacts of the TC Energy project are massive. Our local businesses will benefit, this will bring new residents and much needed new businesses to us. Jobs will be created and the financial impact to the Municipality of Meaford will be significant,” says Keaveney.
During the meeting council took a recess to talk with their legal council to discuss what the best move would be with this motion, with Kentner saying they have been advised it would be best to accept the motion as it would be beneficial to play host while also having conditions.
Each councillor also gave their thoughts as to why they supported or were not in favour of the proposed project, with calls to also include discussion with the Indigenous community and get their thoughts.
Coun. Tony Bell acknowledged the community members who spoke to the proposed project and says while he is a conservationist, he would vote to support the motion put forward by Keaveney.
Coun. Brandon Forder says there are a number of reasons why he would not support the project, including how it did not align with their goals of putting the environment first approach to development.
“When I weigh the pros and cons from an objective lens, I believe the negatives that may come from this project are too significant to discount,” says Forder.
Coun. Steven Bartley says as a supporter of the project, in order to move ahead with pumped storage facility, they need to work with TC Energy.
Coun. Rob Uhrig acknowledged how divisive the issue is, saying he feels it is still too early to be making these calls to commit to being a willing host.
Coun. Harley Greenfield, who did not support the motion, says by moving ahead with the proposed project, they are taking a gamble on how it will benefit the environment and one of Meaford’s most precious resource, Georgian Bay.
“Our municipality has many residential development proposals on our plate, more than we have ever had before,” says Greenfield. “Why have these residential developers come to our municipality? Was it so they can build beside a pumped storage project? No, it’s because of Georgian Bay, that’s the attraction.”
Kentner rounded out by saying he is concerned the project is going to happen even without council’s approval, but the municipality will be in a much stronger position in approving the motion.
“There are a lot of ways in which Meaford is ill prepared and positioned to benefit from the project if it goes ahead,” says Kentner. “For that reason, I think it’s very prudent of us to begin discussing the future with TCE. I believe they have altered their plan very substantially from an environmental point of view, and they have been striving hard to communicate with our community.”
The conditions include receiving a written confirmation from TC Energy they will completely pay back the municipality for all costs incurred, develop a regulatory plan and share information on Meaford’s central roll and future actions regarding the proposed project, come to a formal agreement on the short, medium and long-term benefits the project will bring, and approval of the facility under all applicable assessments including environmental and licenses.
By approving this recommendation, Mayor Ross Kentner is going to send a letter to Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith, indicating conditional support of the proposed project.