By Joanne Chianello, The Ottawa Citizen, February 17, 2015
The city is having a little trouble extrapolating itself from its relationship
with Plasco Energy. As our Matthew Pearson reports, the environment committee
voted to officially cut ties with company on Tuesday, but city solicitor Rick
O’Connor (left, in photo above) says the city can’t unilaterally cancel its
contract with Plasco without a judge’s permission now that the company is under
creditors’ protection. It won’t be entirely smooth sailing over the next while
for the city when it comes to Plasco, and not just because the city needs a
court’s permission to unilaterally end its contract. The city is owed $15,000 by
Plasco, and it’s quite possible we won’t see much (or even any) of that money.
And decommissioning the Plasco site, which sits on city land, looks like it’ll
take 18 months. Plasco had already given the city a $300,000 deposit for the
decommissioning and Tuesday, Kirkpatrick told councillors that he was
“comfortable” that the deposit would cover the winding-down costs. Let’s hope
he’s right. via
City Hall Blog: How the city lucked out on Plasco | Ottawa Citizen.