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PAGE 6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, AUGUST 20, 2003 www.durhamrcgion.com. ,, Blackout slows, but doesn't stop Durham Courtice business 'inundated' with propane tank fillups BY JEREMY LE PAGE Staff Writer DURHAM - Blackouts may have caused the lights of the economy to flicker, but Durham businesses arc far from burning out due to the recent power crisis. Both small and large businesses were seriously impacted by the event late last week, which caused widespread closures to industry industry and services across the region - and continent. "If there's no power, you can't work," explains Anne Louise Currie, who runs a small Internet business business in Oshawa. She's also the past president of the Durham Small Business Association. "(The blackout) blackout) created a climate of uncertainty in the business environment... It had a pretty major impact," she adds. But, the benefit of operating operating a small business, Ms. Currie says, is having a smaller staff giving them a "certain amount of flexibility." flexibility." She says she couldn't work all day Friday, but has been able to make up the hours this week. Also, she adds, many businesses such as food suppliers have done well as a result of the blackout. "When there's crisis, there's always a business possibility for some people," people," explains Ms. Currie. The lack of power left many people cooking the old-fashioned way: on an open grill, the family barbecue. barbecue. And that meant good business for Cigas Energy, Shutdown costly SHUTDOWN from page 1 many tasks at hand, including including ensuring back-up generators generators were working properly for the entire plant, says Pierre Charlebois, chief nuclear nuclear operating officer for OPG. At Unit 4, when the grid failed, so temporarily did power for a key monitor, which left the unit's chief operator operator without key information information to determine if the necessary necessary conditions existed to keep the reactor at 60 per cent. To be safe, rather than sorry, the call was made to shut it down to power zero. "We prefer the more conservative conservative decision," says Michel Cleroux, spokesman for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal federal agency that oversees Canadian nuclear operators. "Some may say they should have chosen the 60 per cent but they might not say that if an unsafe decision was made." By Tuesday, all four Darlington Darlington reactors were back on line at full power while it won't likely be until next week that the three reactors at Pickering B are fully returned returned to the grid. A fourth reactor at Pickering B was already already shut down for routine maintenance prior to the blackout. Ironically, officials at OPG believe the first Pickering Pickering reactor back online this week could be one that had been mothballed since 1996 for retrofitting on the A side of the plant. After seven years out of service, Unit 4A was about to be reattached to the grid just as the lights went out. near Baseline and Cigas Road in Courtice. "We were inundated" with people filling up their propane tanks, said owner Gary Cooke. "We had people all the way from the other side of Pickering... people who never knew we existed before." The influx at Cigas was due in part to luck, as it gained power back Friday Friday morning, while many other filling filling stations in the Region took longer, Mr. Cooke said. "We basically spent all afternoon filling up 20 pound cylinders for barbecues," barbecues," he said. "I was a little surprised surprised at the response... but (barbe- ques) were all many people had to cook food and boil water." Gord Sirrs, chairman of the Durham Region Manufacturers Association, Association, says concerns about power supply will have a large impact on growth if not resolved. "If we don't have the power we have an issue," he says. "They're telling us to be cautious, but I don't see any other power plants being green-lighted... We really have no plans on this side of the border... It's something that our region and our country should be concerned about... We are at our limit right now." Conservation isn't seen as a longterm longterm solution by manufacturers, says Mr. Sirrs. Instead, manufacturers must make powerhouses accountable GM complies with request to reduce power GM from page 1 Mr. Patterson said stipulations in the collective bargaining agreement mean GM workers who work at any point this week will still be paid approximately approximately 80 per cent of their wage for the lost time. Terry Spence, financial secretary for Canadian Auto Workers Local 222, which represents more than 11,000 GM employees, said the cuts would "definitely hurt" local GM workers until the plant gets up to full production again. GM expects that to happen some time next week. for their services, he explains, adding similar situations have gripped business business in the United Kingdom in the past. Now, Mr. Sirrs points out, private private power companies in Britain must often provide rebates if services aren't fulfilled. However, even the UK pales beside beside countries like France and Germany, Germany, which reportedly each have up to 70 days backup supply of gasoline-based gasoline-based power. And Germany, like many other European countries that are phasing out nuclear technology, gets up to 10 per cent of its energy from the wind. "Meanwhile, we're still in the coal-burning age," says Shawn-Patrick Stensi, director of atmosphere and energy services at the Sier ra Club of Canada. 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