Election: Riopel favours solar energy over nuclear

NEWS RELEASE

ANDRE RIOPEL GREEN PARTY SAULT STE. MARIE

************************* Green candidate excited about Base Line solar farm project

Andre Riopel, the Green candidate for Sault Ste. Marie in the October provincial election, today praised the solar farm venture on Base Line. “It is wonderful to see our community taking such an active role in building a clean energy future for our province,” said Riopel [shown dressed as Lady Godiva at a peace march in 2003] “As projects such as the Base Line 20 MW solar farm become more commonplace it will completely offset the need for environmentally damaging fossil-fuel and nuclear energy sources. Who wouldn’t rather live next to a large solar farm than a nuclear reactor or a coal burning plant? With $60 billion put into solar energy rather than nuclear, we could put solar panels on the roof of every home in Ontario and completely revolutionize the world's solar power industry. As renewable-energy projects increase, the costs will continue to decrease with the potential of becoming even cheaper than fossil-fuel technologies in the very near future.”

The Green Party of Ontario applauds the provincial government’s initiatives in this matter and continue to push for even more action towards a Greener community. “It is great to see them adopting our Green platform more and more every day. Perhaps the increasing number of votes for the Green Party is having the effect of making the other parties better understand the public concern for the environment and our sustainable future,” Riopel added.

The Green Party of Ontario is polling at over ten percent in this election, despite leader Frank deJong's exclusion from the televised leaders' debate scheduled for later this week.