Article: Driving Green Power via Ontario's Communities

I recently reviewed the benefits of local community buy-in to ensure the success of Ontario's green energy policies in an article for an upcoming International Bar Association newsletter.  The article, Ontario's Green Energy Act: the Answer to (Public Acceptance) is Blowing in the Wind, will be published in the October 2010 edition of the IBA's Environment, Health and Safety Law Committee newsletter (Vol 7, No 1). 

This article also works as a primer for an international audience interested in learning the basics about the province's Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEGEA).  It highlights some key components of the GEGEA; identifies issues that have recently been raised as concerns by certain groups and canvasses the Government of Ontario's response to some of these challenges.  As is my wont, it also mixes metaphors to ensure that solar and wind energy feel as though I'm treating them as equal brothers in the province's drive to a lower carbon future.  (My apology if any bio-energy fanatics were snubbed in the authorship of this piece.)

The article is reprinted below:

IBA Environment Health and Safety Law Committee Newsletter Oct 2010

International Bar Association
The IBA was established in 1947 and works to influence the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world.  It currently has three main objectives:

• To promote an exchange of information between legal associations worldwide;
• To support the independence of the judiciary and the right of lawyers to practise their profession without interference; and
• To promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law via its Human Rights Institute.