Portlands Phoenix

The new 550 megawatt gas fired power plant in the Toronto Portlands is rising like a Phoenix from the ashes of the old coal fired Hearn Generating station. Generating approximately 750 times as much power as the flaky CNE windmill in a hurricane, it will power the rapidly rising wall of condos along the waterfront, the condoification of the lower Don area and then some. Despite opposition from the Breath Much? folk, which according to Now Magazine includes another Phoenix, former Mayor June Rowlands in the form of her daughter, Joyce Rowlands running as a Provincial Liberal candidate, the new power plant is getting taller by the day. The newer technology will still be dwarfed by the 215 metre high carcass of the Hearn station which pumped out 1200 megawatts in the 1960s.

The arguments against the plant seem spurious. Westerly winds will carry any exhaust out over the lake to dissipate. The growing city needs power. What better place to do that than this long time industrial site?