Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending Hydro One’s takeover of an American utility that owns a coal plant after years of Liberal boasting that Ontario has banned the plants to cut pollution and greenhouse gases.

She suggested the $6.7-billion purchase of Avista, based in Washington state, heralds the spread of Ontario’s clean-energy push beyond the province’s borders.

“As you all know, Ontario has shut down all of the coal-fired generation in the province. Hydro One has made a business decision to acquire a . . . company that has a small minority share in a coal plant,” Wynne said Friday in Ottawa.

“Let me just say this: you won’t find another jurisdiction — pretty much around the world — that has gone as far in terms of renewable clean energy as Ontario so I see this as a real validation of our opportunity to take that influence elsewhere.”

Avista owns a 15-per-cent-stake in two of the four units at the Colstrip plant in Montana — a major coal-mining state — and plans to use them for electricity production until 2035, said a spokesperson for the company that also operates hydroelectric dams, natural gas and biomass generating plants and wind turbines.

Colstrip is one of the top carbon-producing plants in the U.S. and has become a target of environmentalists and lawmakers in the fight against climate change.

The Associated Press reported in January that two older units at the plant, dating to the 1970s and not owned by Avista, will be closed by 2022 under an agreement with environmental groups.

Hydro One said in a statement Friday it will be “reviewing” Avista’s assets when the purchase, slated to close in mid-2018, is complete.

But critics said Ontario, which sold a majority of shares in Hydro One to raise money for transportation infrastructure and now owns a 49 per cent stake, is taking a step backward with the deal.

New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns blamed the Wynne government’s “fire sale” of Hydro One, which he said now operates on a profit motive to please shareholders.

“No one should be surprised they’re doing stuff contrary to what Ontario has been doing,” said Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

“It wouldn’t even be legal in Ontario,” he said of the Avista plant.

Colstrip supplies about 9 per cent of the electricity to Avista customers. The company, headquartered in Spokane, Wash., serves Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

Ontario “is in the coal business again,” said Progressive Conservative MPP Todd Smith (Prince Edward-Hastings).

The Green Party said the deal undermines the government’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“This is a bad move for Ontario and for our planet . . . keep in mind Montana borders British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and air doesn’t respect national boundaries,” said Jose Etcheverry, the Green candidate in Markham-Stouffville for next June’s provincial election.

“Hydro One has slapped us in the face by going shopping for a utility that owns one of the largest polluters in the U.S. northwest,” added Angela Bishoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

Wynne told reporters she talked with Hydro One chief executive Mayo Schmidt about the deal on Thursday, raising her concerns.

“I said: ‘You know, what about this?’ The fact is we have a coal-free electricity grid here in Ontario and . . . I expect that value system could be shared.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“I know that Hydro One will be reviewing all of the operations once the transaction is completed. But we are leading the way in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” she added.

An article in Scientific American last year titled “Inside a Western Town That Refuses to Quit Coal” said the plant emits nearly 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, earning a spot among the top 20 carbon-producing power plants in the country.

The power plant is one of the largest employers in Colstrip and is located near a coal mine, which supplies it with fuel.

Read more about: