Yukon Energy's decision to begin burning natural gas next year drew fire throughout the day Monday.

Critics accused the Crown corporation of lacking vision and the strength to pursue green alternatives to meet the territory's growing energy demand.

The world, it was said, does not have time to argue whether natural gas is better than diesel fuel.

Fossil fuels are killing the planet, the corporation was told. Unless we do something about it now, our children and grandchildren will carry the burden of irresponsible choices made today, it was said over and over again.

"It is madness, it is just madness,” Lee Carruthers said at last night's public meeting regarding Yukon Energy's decision to begin using natural gas.

"We should be moving toward renewable energy.”

"I am just really sorry there is this kind of fixation on old-fashioned fuels,” said another member of the audience. "I just wish you guys would do something different.”

Yukon Energy president David Morrison defended the move toward natural gas as the most economical and environmentally friendly choice.

The energy grid needs a reliable source of energy to back up its hydro generation in case the system fails, he emphasized repeatedly.

Morrison said the choices for back-up generation are limited to diesel or natural gas.

Natural gas, he said, is cleaner and cheaper.

There is nothing in terms of renewable energy that can replace the reliability of the two fossil fuels, he insisted.

Morrison said when the grid goes down, Yukon Energy needs to know it can hit a switch to supply back-up power.

You can't do that with wind or other forms of renewable energy, he said.

Morrison emphasized the back-up generators, which also assist during peak loads in the winter time, produce less than one per cent of the electricity on the grid annually.

The rest, he said, comes from renewable hydro.

Yukon Energy announced last week it's proceeding with a $34-million project to replace two old diesel generators at the Whitehorse Rapids Dam with two natural gas generators.

The project requires developing a 1.5-hectare site near the dam for the two stand-alone modular units.

A storage facility will also be built on the site for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) Yukon Energy intends to truck in from Shell Canada's Jumping Pound facility near Calgary.

Yukon Energy is proposing to have the natural gas generators operational by the end of next year.

The publicly owned utility maintains two independent assessments by reputable firms.

Both showed the switch to natural gas was cleaner and more economical, compared to replacing the two diesel generators with newer diesels.

Yukon Energy has been hosting meetings over the last week with various groups and local First Nations to explain the decision to go with natural gas.

Monday afternoon, it held a meeting for the Yukon Conservation Society, Yukoners Concerned about Oil and Gas Exploration and others.

The afternoon session was followed by an evening meeting for the general public.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, the utility faced accusations of dovetailing its future energy needs with the Yukon Party government's desire to promote development of natural gas deposits in the Yukon.

It was accused of cherry-picking the results of the two independent studies to sell natural gas ahead of diesel as the best choice.

Participants pointed out, for instance, the information from the studies highlighted by Yukon Energy shows natural gas as the most environmentally-friendly over a 100-year period.

When compared to emissions from diesel engines, however, natural gas is three times more toxic as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period, it was pointed out.

It was argued scientists around the world agree the Earth has about 30 years before it reaches the point of no return when the global temperature is expected to reach two degrees above normal at current levels of air pollution.

Yet, Yukon Energy insists on presenting a 100-year comparison, it was noted.

"We don't have 100 years,” said Carruthers. "If we are not off fossil fuels in 20 years, we are sunk.

"We want to see the 20-year horizon – that is what really counts.”

Robin Gilson said the extraction of natural gas is poisoning the environment around the world.

One has to look no further than just south of the Yukon-B.C. border to see the impact hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is having on the wildlife and the quality of life for residents of northeastern, B.C., Gilson insisted.

"If we use LNG, we are just hurting other people on this planet,” she told Morrison and the battery of Yukon Energy staff and consultants on hand to present the project proposal. "How dare we.”

Don Roberts of Yukoners Concerned about Oil and Gas Exploration said again that Yukon Energy's move toward natural gas opens the door to hydraulic fracturing in the Yukon.

Roger Rondeau of the Utilities Consumers' Group suggested Yukon Energy doesn't need to spend $34 million to bolster its back-up and peak loading capabilities.

Managing generation capacity currently available in the Yukon would be sufficient, he insisted.

Morrison stood his ground. He dismissed the accusation the Crown corporation is rushing into its decision to go with natural gas.

He said Yukon Energy has looked at all the options.

As it stands, two 1960s-era generators have to be replaced at the Whitehorse dam. Everything points to natural gas as the most environmentally sound and economically feasible choice, Morrison said.

Shell's Jumping Pound facility, he said, supplies natural gas using conventional drilling, not gas obtained by fracking.

"We do not think we are rushing into this,” he said. "It's the back-up supply. We do not feel comfortable we have engines we can reliably rely on when there is an outage.”

Morrison said Yukon Energy continues to explore its long-term renewable energy options to expand generating capacity to provide for the growing demand.

It continues to advance projects to raise the level of water storage for generation in Marsh Lake and Mayo Lake, as well as several other projects, including wind, he told the audience.

He said the corporation is talking to the Carcross-Tagish First Nation about a micro-hydro project at Choatla Lake along the road to Tagish.

Yukon Energy, Morrison added, has entered into an arrangement with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation of Atlin to explore the possibility of expanding its Surprise Lake hydro facility to ship power north on a new transmission line.

For now, however, the focus is on providing stability on the back-up system, and natural gas is the first choice, he maintained.

Morrison also emphasized there will be ample opportunity for further public discussion.

The project, he pointed out, still needs to be screened by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB), and is subject to a full review by the Yukon Utilities Board.

Yukon Energy hopes to have the proposal before the YESAB by the end of the month.

Among the issues raised Monday were concerns about the appropriateness and safety of having a storage facility for LNG go close to the main generating plant and the Riverdale area.

Consultant Dave Glessner of Braemar Engineering said there is no safety issue.

LNG has been around since the 1940s, and it became an international commodity in 1959 when the United Kingdom bought the first ship load, he said.

Today, said Glessner, countries around the world produce LNG and countries around the world buy it.

He said the storage and shipment of LNG is highly regulated.

"It can be transported and stored safely, just as diesel,” he said.

See letter.