Ontario Closed All Its Coal Plants, and Smog Advisory Days Fell From 53 to Almost None

The Ontario Clean Air Alliance was founded in 1997 with a single aim: end the burning of coal for electricity in Ontario. Its coalition of health, environmental and municipal groups campaigned for 17 years against Ontario Hydro's five coal plants, and the last of them stopped burning coal on 8 April 2014. Provincial records cited by York University researchers show 15 smog advisories covering 53 days in 2005, the worst year, falling to virtually zero from 2013, and electricity-sector sulphur oxide emissions down about 99.6 percent between 2005 and 2015. Researchers caution that tighter US pollution rules and other measures also helped clear the air, but they credit the Alliance's coalition for making the phase-out happen. The group is still active, now campaigning for a zero-carbon grid and an end to gas power.