Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township is formally backing a bid by the province to redevelop the Ontario Power Generation site in Courtright – possibly with small nuclear power units.

Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Electrification came to Sarnia just before the provincial election to gauge opinion on a potential new power facility.

The province is already building Ontario’s first small modular reactor at the Darlington Nuclear station and refurbishing the Bruce and Pickering nuclear power plants.

Minister Stephen Lecce told business and community leaders at the time the province is “leaning in” to nuclear power believing it is “fundamental” to Ontario’s future.

If not nuclear, LGS could also be an ideal site for other reliable and affordable forms of power generation including natural gas, hydrogen or battery storage, said Lecce.

“Whether it’s nuclear, hydrogen, battery…the community is in the driver’s seat,” he said at the time. The provincial government won’t “impose” a new power project, Lecce stressed.

Lecce added at the time he was “putting it on the table” for local municipal councils and First Nations to make their support known in the next few weeks.

Monday, St. Clair Township gave the province that support, passing a motion saying the community is interested in developing a energy project on the site. 

The motion said St. Clair “supports the continued dialog and engagement with Ontario Provincial power generation OPG, the Minister of Energy and Electrification, and local stakeholders to explore the development of new power generation projects, including, but not limited to nuclear, gas, hydrogen and energy storage at the former site of Lambton Generating Station,” adding the project could benefit the community with “infrastructure improvements, economic development opportunities and increased municipal revenues.”

Agar tells The Independent the motion of support “gets everything in motion, and is just to say that we agree to this – and why wouldn’t we? OPG – that was there, was a hydro plant all these years. And you know, we’d be crazy not to want to get involved with it.”

Agar says there will be community consultation on any potential project with St. Clair residents and Indigenous communities in the area, “once everything gets rolling along.” 

He added the public had not been consulted to see if they were interested in exploring a new energy project on the site prior to the council motion. 

St. Clair Township also will ask Lambton County to formally endorse the idea.

• With files from Cathy Dobson