Lakeview Plant Smokestacks Demolished

They’ve been a part of Mississauga’s skyline – and its history – for more than four decades, but on Monday morning it took less than a minute to make them disappear for good.

The four smokestacks at the former Lakeview coal-fired generating station – otherwise known as the Four Sisters – were demolished by explosive charges at 7:30am. Following a minute-long siren they fell one by one, eight seconds apart, leaving behind a cloud of dust and debris.

Mississauga’s Mayor Hazel McCallion joined dozens of city residents at McMillan Headland Park to watch the historic smokestacks go down.

It was a bittersweet moment for many who on the one hand were happy to see an end to what was considered the most significant single source of pollution for the GTA, but on the other hand were saying goodbye to a piece of the city’s history and a landmark for Lake Ontario sailors.

“To see them go down is kind of sad really,” McCallion said.  “Because a great landmark in the city of Mississauga is now disappeared, and the sailers will miss it. The boaters will miss it, and we will miss it. But progress must proceed, and the land must be used for a good purpose and I hope that a generating unit will be built on that site to continue to supply hydro as this plant did for some 40 years.”

It was an amazing sight to see all the locals who came out at the dawn’s early light to watch the stacks come down.

 Many admit having sentimental attachments to the Sisters.

 “I seen them being built, but now we see them being destroyed,” explains John Nyhuis. “Because I worked just down the road here and it was built, what, ’61. And we seen them built all through the years so it was very important.”

 “It doesn’t really matter to me one way or the other,” shrugs Fabio Pellizzer. “If it saves money in the long run, go for it.”

 But John Iheme thinks they’ve been there too long. “It’s good for the environment not to have this up,” he affirms as he watches the wisps of smoke cross the horizon. “A lot of people are raising children in the area here. You never know what could come out of this structure being up so it’s a good thing it’s gone.”

Construction began on Lakeview in 1958, and it opened officially four years later in 1962 at a cost of $217 million. The four stacks were each 500 feet – or 150 metres – tall.

It closed in April 2005 as part of the Ontario government’s vow to shut all five coal plants in the province by 2009, a goal Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals now admit can’t be met.

There’s a chance Lakeview might be resurrected as a gas-fired plant. McCallion insists the land will remain industrial, and no condominiums will go up in the smokestacks’ place.

According to a published report, McGuinty will announce the Liberal government’s intention to build new nuclear generating stations to replace the coal-fired plants on Tuesday. The Premier reportedly confirmed the plan in an off-the-record weekend speech.

The details of where such plants might be built are unclear at this point.

An Ontario Power Authority report on electricity needs in the province suggests a dozen more reactors will be required to fill the void left by the closed coal plants.

The Thunder Bay, Atikokan, and Lambton sites produce more than 2,500 megawatts of power, while the giant Nanticoke facility in southwestern Ontario can produce nearly 4,000 megawatts of power alone.