Mostly: Classical

[KastelCo]

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2003/12/05/pf-277473.html

Guess they better put up a few more wind turbines at Pickering ;o) ... And the new Liberal (yeah the party is actually called Liberals :o) government wants to get us off coal fired generation pronto,... right... of which which we have the biggest coal fired plant in NA.. at Nanticoke..

Electrocuted
3 top bosses at OPG walk the plank over new report
By ALAN FINDLAY, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

A new report exposing billions in cost overruns and up to seven years in delays to restart four Pickering nuclear units prompted Energy Minister Dwight Duncan to show Ontario Power Generation's three top bosses the door yesterday. "It's a horrible mess, but I can't sit here and whine about what's gone on in the past," said Duncan, adding the project is still costing taxpayers $25 million a month.

The public power company's chairman, Bill Farlinger, CEO Ron Osborne and COO Graham Brown, all appointees by the former Tory government, resigned upon request yesterday. Severance terms were not released.

Richard Dicerni, OPG VP, was appointed interim CEO. Duncan largely assumed the board of directors' powers and hinted a new board could come as soon as next week.

In Charlottetown, Premier Dalton McGuinty said the report shows the previous Tory government was more than just "fiscally irresponsible and managerially incompetent.

"They failed to exercise their responsibilities and they were negligent when it came to overseeing the affairs of the OPG."

The review that prompted the shakeup cited stunning mismanagement by executives, the board and the former government.

"The delay in the return to service of Pickering A has adversely affected Ontario's electricity sector and pushed up prices for residential and business consumers," states a report of the review headed by former federal Tory cabinet minister Jake Epp.

Since 1997, the cost of restarting four Pickering units has risen 11 times and only one unit is back online. The initial estimate of $780 million could go as high as $4 billion and work could take another five years, according to Epp.

The review said the project's general contractor predicted early on that costs would escalate, but the OPG subsequently met with the company to revise the estimates back down before presenting them to the board.

Despite the cost overruns and 13 revised start dates, the board and government continued to let expenses grow, the review discovered.

In one example of mismanagement, workers spent as long as three hours of their shift at security checks.

New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton called on the government to launch a forensic audit and request a criminal investigation.

"It's either gross negligence of public money or misuse of public money," he said. "No one was thinking about the public interest anymore. Everyone was thinking about the gravy train."

Former Tory energy minister John Baird, who actually launched the Epp review, said the hydro woes date back to before the Tory regime.

"I think obviously the whole issue of oversight perhaps could have been stronger, and I accept that," he said.

The review has further cast into question the fate of Pickering A's three remaining mothballed units.

Local and industry opponents of the project have said the review should be the final nail in the coffin for Ontario's nuclear energy program.