Editor,

The Doane Grant Thornton Energy Proposal presented to government could have come out of a drawer in the 1950s.

The PEI government went all out — a free-for-all the last few years to fight global warming and “save the planet.” Here you go, Islanders, have some free insulation for your homes – take a heat pump or two – big bonus if you can afford to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle. We were going to show the world how to cut back our carbon footprint, while staying away from polluting energy sources.

But let’s remember that we get most of our electricity from New Brunswick — which produces its energy at 12 hydro, coal, oil and diesel-powered stations. Hydro okay, but the others are a big no-no for air pollution and global warming. Oh, New Brunswick also has the nuclear facility at Point Lepreau with its waste uranium (radioactive life of thousands of years).

And now, after all the new provincial energy-saving equipment was installed, we are apparently close to running out of electricity. Who would have thought? The dire warnings from Maritime Electric seem to be that if we plug in in too many electric cars we’ll be plunged into darkness.

But, just in the nick of time though, they have found a great deal on oil-fired generators. They claim we need these generators, and fast – or someone else will snap them up. And now we are talking about burning diesel oil. Oh, sure – just a little bit.

I may have been reading the news wrong, but wasn’t the whole free deal so Islanders could avoid using more petroleum-based fuels, or other polluters, like coal – the worst polluter of all? So we gave Islanders heat pumps, and subsidized electric cars and solar gear. And now surprise, we don’t have enough electricity to run things. Good plan.

I disagree with Energy Minister Gilles Arsenault’s recent statement on the report. I believe PEI should buy out Maritime Electric so decisions made regarding electricity can be made by Islanders and profits returned to the province instead of shareholders. Like Hydro-Quebec, NB Power, Ontario Hydro, and others.

Maybe we could start burying wires, so we don’t have to fear freezing rain. A few miles at a time, instead of cutting the tops off trees, which is just stupid looking and constantly blocks traffic when cutting them. The idea of a “new consumer advocate” position to be created, to counter the power of a private company monopoly supplying energy on PEI’ is just another layer of bureaucracy. Obviously there is profit to be made, or Maritime Electric wouldn’t be here. Why not have the profit go back into infrastructure, instead of shareholders’ pockets?

The sun baked us all summer, and the wind blows almost every day, so we should be working to get away from combustion and greenhouse gases to solar and wind power.

Back to the drawing board, please. Let’s really do our bit to reduce greenhouse gases. Trash that already out of date Energy Report, and let’s try to do what we can for the future.

Gary Walker

North Rustico