MPP Randy Pettapiece Open Letter to the Minister of the Environment

MPP Randy Pettapiece has written an open letter to the Minister of the Environment noting the poor treatment of his constituents - both directly in ignoring their words, and indirectly in ignoring their representative at the legislature.

Wind turbine opponents not backing down

The Observer, in Sarnia, has an article covering activities to educate residents under threat of industrial wind projects:

The Lambton-Middlesex Wind Action Group is spreading the word about its opposition to hundreds of proposed industrial wind turbines in the area.

Group members are scheduled to speak Feb. 7 to the Golden K Kiwanis Club in Sarnia, and they’re organizing a public information seminar Feb. 16, 7 p.m., at Grand Bend Public School.
“The Grand Bend area has a lot of projects surrounding it,” said group member Marcelle Brooks.
That includes the 150 MW Jericho Wind Energy Centre NextEra Energy is planning for Lambton Shores, and other projects wind energy companies want to build in nearby communities.
“We weren’t sure all of these folks were aware of what’s going on just outside of their town limits,” Brooks said.

Read Paul Morden's full article at The Observer's website

Prince Edward County Poll on Wind Turbines

countylive.ca has a poll today on Wind Turbines in Prince Edward County.  The options are:

• NO - wind turbines should NOT be part of PEC
• YES - wind turbines should BE part of PEC
• MAYBE - with research on health, location and long term issues

Visit countylive.ca to vote.

Public Forum With Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha

MEETING

Saturday February 4^th starting at 11:00 AM

Prince Township Community Hall

Your opportunity to tell Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha of your concerns about the tough times we now face.

Rising electricity rates, flight of industry, green jobs costing $100,000 to $300,000 per job per year, bullying and discrimination against rural communities, threats to health and property equity, and a government which is a stranger to due diligence and accountability on energy policy but wants to cut health care services.

Insist that MPP Mike Mantha keep his election promise to listen to his constituents and take their issues to Government, so make sure he will represent your interests and concerns.

Green electricity finds few customers in Massachusetts

Given the option of paying more themselves for the output of those turbines, most don't

Green electricity finds few customers in Mass. - Metro - The Boston Globe:

Five years after NStar became the first Massachusetts utility to allow customers to buy electricity supplied by a wind farm, its Green program has failed to catch on. Less than 1 percent of the company’s nearly 900,000 customers have enrolled.

The dismal response resembles lackluster participation in similar renewable energy programs offered by other utilities...

The entire article may be read at the Boston Globe site

Local farmer’s presentation to OFA contributes to policy statement

The Mitchell Advocate: Local farmer’s presentation to OFA contributes to policy statement

A recent presentation to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture board by two HEAT (Huron East Against Turbines) members contributed towards a recent OFA position statement calling on the provincial government to “suspend the invasion of rural Ontario with industrial wind turbines.”

Mark Wales, OFA president, said in a phone interview last week that a power-point presentation by St. Columban farmer Tom Melady and his sister Jeanne is an example of what he’s been hearing from farmers across Southwestern Ontario.
“I don’t want to put a number on it but there are concerns people don’t feel are being addressed. We’re saying, ‘Let’s pause the process and get it right,’” said Wales.
The OFA position statement, written in response to the provincial FIT (Feed-in Tariff) review by the Ontario government now in progress, expresses concern about the price paid for wind power, setback issues, noise impacts, health concerns, the removal of municipal authority over planning for industrial wind turbines and the divisive effect of wind turbines on rural communities.
“Over the past few weeks we have clearly heard OFA members tell us of health concerns, concerns over the loss of farmland, encumbrances on their farm properties and many more issues related to the imposition of wind turbines across our rural landscape,” says a recent press release from Wales.
“Local directors for the OFA have been getting this message from farmers for some time now,” said Wales in the interview.

Read the rest of Susan Hundertmark's article at the Mitchell Advocate site

Wind Turbines (Goshen Wind Energy Center)

The Middlesex-Lambton Wind Action website contains information on many adjacent projects, as well as information on upcoming meetings, such as this one on February 16th

Island Band Wants Wind Projects Delayed

Island band wants wind projects delayed - Column by Ruth Farquhar - The Sudbury Star - Ontario, CA

The big wind project on MacLean's Mountain, near Little Current, is awaiting approval from the Ministry of the Environment. Two things have happened that may have impact on this and any upcoming projects for the Island. One is the recent press release from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture that asked the province to suspend development of industrial turbine projects.

The second was the decision by the newly elected chief and band council of Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation to request a suspension to, or a delay of, the MOE's 60-day public review and comment period of the Renewable Energy Approval report.

Continue reading the full article, by Ruth Farquhar, at the Sudbury Star site

Re: Wind Turbine Health Impact Study:

The National Wind Watch website posted a letter Ontario's Carmen Krogh has writeen regarding a recent report in Massachusetts - yet another report based on a review of carefully selected existing literature (the report is also criticized here)

Re: Wind Turbine Health Impact Study: Report of Independent Expert Panel:
Author: Krogh, Carmen

The purpose of this letter is to respond to the Wind Turbine Health Impact Study: Report of Independent Expert Panel of January 2012 that was prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

I would like to share excerpts from Ontario, Canada experiences regarding the serious risks to health that can occur when industrial wind turbines are sited in close proximity to residents.

As background, I have held senior executive positions at a teaching hospital, a professional organization and Health Canada (PMRA). I am a former Director of Publications and Editor in Chief of the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), the book used by physicians, nurses, and health professionals for prescribing information in Canada.

Contact with those experiencing adverse health effects which correlated with the onset of industrial wind turbine operations, inspired my research on the topic.

Read the full letter at National Wind Watch

Electricity and the Liberal Hansard History, Chapter 8

How to turn a contingent liability into a $3.9 billion revenue gain!

This is chapter 8 in a series by Parker Gallant:  Chapter 1;  Chapter 2:  Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5, Chapter 6,

Chapter 7

On June 22, 2004 the Legislature was in session and the electricity sector again commanded a fair amount of attention. Some of the day's discussions were self-congratulatory while others expressed concern that the direction the Liberals were taking the sector would cause rate increases. On the latter point Mr John O'Toole (Durham) posed this question to the Premier:

“Premier you must be familiar with your budget speech on page 23, there's a little chart that says, "Includes one-time revenue gain of $3.9 billion related to the projected elimination of the liability for non-utility generator power purchase agreements in 2004-05.", “Minister, I'd like you to explain this to the House. Where does the revenue of $3.9 billion come from, or is it simply an additional burden on the taxpayers? What I'm understanding it to be, if I look at the question clearly, is that you increased the electricity rates -- we understand that -- in April, and I understand now that you're going to increase the electricity rates for the second time -- another broken promise. Is this what I can read from this obscure comment on page 23 here?”

McGuinty must restrain himself

In an editorial today, The Toronto Sun offers, "some ideas for how McGuinty could have saved money in the past, which might provide helpful guidance for the future."
McGuinty must restrain himself | Editorial | Opinion | Toronto Sun:

(3) McGuinty could have saved another $1 billion, approximately, by not cancelling two natural gas plants to save the political hides of two Liberal MPPs leading up to the 2011 election. In fairness, McGuinty has said one of the plants will be moved. We invite readers to treat this claim with all the seriousness it deserves.

(4) In future, we urge McGuinty not to force Ontarians to pay, through higher electricity rates, up to $250 million annually to green energy companies not to produce electricity. Someone in government should tell the premier you can actually pay zero dollars for zero electricity.

Read the full article at The Toronto Sun site

Suncor’s Adelaide Project – as if we don’t have enough planned already

Suncor’s Adelaide Project – as if we don’t have enough planned already… � Middlesex-Lambton Wind Action Group:

For those of you in Adelaide/Strathroy area, do look at Suncor’s “new” Adelaide map (more detailed than the one below) . It has the location of all the turbine projects in the township (minus White Pines) – Every turbine is mapped out. Not pretty.

Map showing locations on proponent's site here

Points to note—people in the North end of Strathroy are now in the “turbine zone”. Eg.: Turbines will be ~1000m to Buttery Creek subdivision. And a biggy–can anyone find the Strathroy HIGHSCHOOL on this map??? Yeah, it isn’t marked as a school, and just so happens to be less than 1500m from two turbines, and many more to the North.

 More at the Middlesex-Lambton Wind Action Group's site

A north wind doth blow . . . (III)

A north wind doth blow . . . (III) | www.citizen.on.ca | Orangeville Citizen:

There is a stunning quotation from British historian, T. S. Willan, regarding this great canal project: “What may seem to require explanation is not the comparative failure of the Ship Canal but the unquenchable vitality of the myth of its success.”

In Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty has relied on, similarly, the difficult-to-defeat “vitality of myth” to continue to push through his “green industrial revolution” here and now.

Rob Bredin's 'Ontario Matters' article, rich with economic history and completed with a biblical reference, can be read in full at the Orangeville Citizen site...

CAW faces boycott over Port Elgin wind turbine

"The turbine is being built under rules that have been superseded. Current regulations call for turbines to be at least 550 metres from the nearest dwelling.
But 60 or more homes lie within the 550-metre radius of the CAW turbine."

CAW faces boycott over Port Elgin wind turbine - thestar.com:

A Port Elgin community group has launched a boycott of products and services from companies employing CAW members, to protest a wind turbine being erected by the union in town.

The group, known as STOP, will target any workplace where members of the Canadian Auto Workers are employed, said spokesperson Karen Hunter.

That includes auto makers, airlines and retailers organized by the CAW, she said. In Port Elgin itself, the group is calling for a boycott of the CAW banquet hall, the town’s biggest facility for social events.

Read the full article at the Toronto Star site

SPAIN HALTS SUBSIDIES!

Spain Halts Renewable Subsidies to Curb $31 Billion of Debts - Businessweek:

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Spain halted subsidies for renewable energy projects to help curb its budget deficit and rein in power-system borrowings backed by the state that reached 24 billion euros ($31 billion) at the end of 2011.
“What is today an energy problem could become a financial problem,” Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said in Madrid. The government passed a decree today stopping subsidies for new wind, solar, co-generation or waste incineration plants.

Continue reading the Business Week article here 

The Spanish action follows Germany’s announcement last week that it would phase out support for solar panels by 2017 and the U.K.’s legal battle to reduce its subsidies for the industry.

A Response to Massachusetts' Turbine Health Impact '"study"

 Wind Farm Realities has posted a short, succinct rebuttal a literature review released by a carefully selected Massachusetts' panel earlier this month.
The Mass. DEP Report - Wind Farm Realities

Along with a link to the rebuttal by one Raymond Hartman, the Wind Farm Realities page has links to Wayne Gulden's rebuttals to previous studies.  For the response on the latest 'study':

Enter one Raymond Hartman, whose resume looks pretty serious.  He took a look at the Impact Study and came away with much the same impression that a lot of us who have been studying this stuff for a long time did.  In short, it was Junk Science, just like all the others in this series.  He published a summary of its faults, which I’ve converted to a pdf and reformatted a little to make it more readable.  It is a series of points, easily read in a few minutes.  I’d urge everyone to take a look at it.

 Hartman, Junk Science

New Zealand: Pragmatic view of a wind turbine noise standard

Pragmatic view of a wind turbine noise standard | Wind Watch:

Abstract
New Zealand Standard 6808:2010 Acoustics – Wind farm noise is unique in that it acknowledges, up front under committee representation, that a representative of a university involved in its development does not support the Standard. Since that time a number of papers and presentations have decried this opposition to the Standard without giving the committee member the privilege of comment or reply. This paper is to put the record straight and explain why the Standard is not supported... This Standard and similar standards across the world are clearly biased towards cost effective wind farm development, and it appears public health concerns are not being given enough attention.

.pdf file: “A pragmatic view of a wind turbine noise standard”

Wisconsin: Aid for wind turbine victims sought by County Officials

Aid for wind turbine victims sought | Green Bay Press Gazette | greenbaypressgazette.com:

Wisconsin should pay the medical bills of Brown County residents who were made ill by industrial wind turbines, some county supervisors say.

Saying the state allowed "irresponsible placement" of industrial wind turbines in the Glenmore area, the Brown County Human Services Committee has approved a measure to ask the state to pay emergency aid to families living near the Shirley Wind Farm.

The request, which seeks an unspecified amount until the "hardships are studied and resolved," could come before the full County Board next month.

It is the latest attempt by county supervisors and other officials to manage an issue in which some residents began experiencing conditions such as anxiety, depression, weight loss and increased cancer risks since the wind farm was erected in 2010.

Continue reading the article at the Green Bay Gazette

Agricultural group supports OFA wind turbine opposition

Agricultural group supports OFA wind turbine opposition - The Lindsay Post - Ontario, CA:

LINDSAY - The Victoria Haliburton Federation of Agriculture says the Ontario Federation of Agriculture's (OFA) call for a halt to industrial wind turbine projects in the province makes sense.
The OFA issued a statement late last week that the wind turbines are creating an "untenable" situation by polarizing rural communities.
"If you get a rent cheque (for a wind turbine), it's pretty good. If you live next door, it's not as good," said Terry Parker, VFHA media relations person, in an interview. He said the OFA's demand for a moratorium "makes perfect sense to me."
Parker, a farmer in Oakwood, said he has until now steered clear of the issue because there are no turbines proposed for his area. "I realize how vocal people in Manvers have been." He noted that there are two very distinct camps in the debate and questioned whether we will live long enough for the science to be proven regarding such issues as the health claims.
However, he said the OFA had valid points, such as questioning the cost of the power generated by wind, that it currently can't be stored, and that local planning was taken away. "It was time they (the OFA) got off the fence."

 Continue reading at the Lindsay Post

Wisconsin Citizens Safe Wind Siting Guidelines

A coalition in Wisconsin has pulled together to create siting guidelines for industrial wind turbines:
www.windaction.org | Wisconsin Citizens Safe Wind Siting Guidelines:

Summary:
These guidelines were developed based on a need to protect Wisconsin Citizens. The population densities in the areas that most interest wind developers are much higher in Wisconsin than in other parts of the country. Wisconsin citizens are forced to live within wind generation facilities and among industrial wind turbines to a much greater extent than those in other states. The guidelines place the health of the people of Wisconsin first.

PDF: Wisconsin Citizens Safe Wind Siting Guidelines

Chatham-Kent Essex MPP on board with OFA

MPP on board with OFA - Chatham Daily News - Ontario, CA:

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture's demand for a halt to future wind turbine construction has the support of Rick Nicholls of Chatham.
The Chatham-Kent Essex MPP said Thursday he supports the farm organization's position on a moratorium on new and not-yet approved projects.
The MPP stopped short of demanding a halt on work slated to begin next week on an already-approved $600 million wind turbine project that will see an additional 110 turbines constructed in Chatham-Kent.
Half of the new wind turbines will be constructed by International Power Co. in south Chatham-Kent while the remainder will be erected in the north-west section of the municipality.
Nicholls told The Daily News there is also an urgent need for upgrades to service lines in the aging grid in order to cope with the additional electrical loads.
"This is especially important for livestock producers who can experience ground current,'' he said.
Nicholls is calling on the OFA and Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, as well as livestock producer organizations, to request funding for the Agricultural Research Institute to study the impact that induced current has on livestock.
"This could have very serious economic impacts on the livelihood of farmers,'' he said.

 Continue reading this article at the Chatham Daily News site

Wind company prez: 'We're not hiding anything'

The township council appears to have been unconvinced:
Wind company prez: 'We're not hiding anything' - Dunnville Chronicle - Ontario, CA:

WAINFLEET - Township council has blown off a request by Wainfleet Wind Energy Inc. and IPC Energy to use an unopened portion of Side Road 22 in the township.
IPC Energy, working on behalf of Wainfleet Wind Energy Inc., sought the unopened road allowance to give it access to one of its proposed wind turbine sites. The stretch of Side Road 22 (also known as Brawn Rd.) would have been from Abbey Road south to Concession 1.

Read the full article at the Dunnville Chronicle, which concludes with:

Mayor April Jeffs said even though all decisions regarding wind turbines will be made by the province, at the end of the day residents look to their municipal officials for help.
"We can direct people where to go, but everything starts here at the township level," she said.

SOUND PROPAGATION FROM OFF-SHORE WIND TURBINE ARRAYS

From the Amherst Island Wind Info Site:
WI Shoals – Harrison Responds - Amherst Island Wind Info:

John Harrison has been studying the propagation of noise over water for some time. The recent push to get the moratorium lifted and use the project as a “test bed” is a cynical attempt to get this project in, and once it’s in the developers are betting (probably correctly) that no matter how destructive its operation is it won’t be shut down.
He has prepared an 8-page report that details just how loud this project is likely to be on the neighboring islands, Wolfe and Amherst.

PDF available: Harrison, Sound Propagation from Off-Shore Wind Turbine Arrays


SOUND PROPAGATION FROM OFF-SHORE WIND TURBINE ARRAYS
John Harrison
January 2012

INTRODUCTION

There is, presently, intensive lobbying by a few wind energy developers and their potential sub-contractors to remove the present moratorium on off-shore wind energy generation in the Great Lakes.  It has even reached the point of pushing to build a project and use it as a study.  The Windstream proposal is not for a pilot project but for a full 300 MW, 100+ wind turbine development just 5 to 7 km off-shore.  This is a transparent attempt to get a permit to build, by political means, a development that will never pass an environmental review.  The effort ignores the fact that the residents of Wolfe Island, Amherst Island and along the waterfronts of Kingston and Prince Edward County will be treated as guinea pigs.  The following report presents what is known about sound propagation across water and applies it to off-shore wind energy generating systems.

CAW faces boycott over Port Elgin wind turbine

CAW faces boycott over Port Elgin wind turbine - thestar.com

A Port Elgin community group has launched a boycott of products and services from companies employing CAW members, to protest a wind turbine being erected by the union in town.
The group, known as STOP, will target any workplace where members of the Canadian Auto Workers are employed, said spokesperson Karen Hunter.
That includes auto makers, airlines and retailers organized by the CAW, she said. In Port Elgin itself, the group is calling for a boycott of the CAW banquet hall, the town’s biggest facility for social events.
STOP is worried about the impact the turbine will have on the health of residents, and on property values in the town on the shore of Lake Huron, a big tourist and summer cottage centre.

Continue reading the article at thestar.com

Energy critic warns of another hydro cost increase

CottageCountryNow Article: Energy critic warns of another hydro cost increase: 

MAGNETAWAN – The energy critic didn’t mince words when it comes to green energy and skyrocketing costs in Ontario.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli took a couple of sharp jabs at the Green Energy Act and warned Ontarians that hydro prices are set to climb.

Fedeli, who was speaking at the Muskoka-East Nipissing-Parry Sound Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting in Magnetawan on Saturday, Jan. 21, stated that smart meters are just one reason why energy prices will climb.

Read the full article at Cottage Country Now, including:

“I know the McGuinty government likes to say it’s all about job creation. Well, it’s a job killer,” said Fedeli. “And high energy prices have put you and your homes at risk. And your farms at risk.” 

OFA, health study take stand against turbine development; CanWEA ‘disappointed’

The Wellington Advertiser - OFA, health study take stand against turbine development; CanWEA ‘disappointed’:

Opponents of wind turbine proposals here are taking heart over some developments that indicate more pressure against wind power supporters.

Escalating concerns about industrial wind turbines prompted the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) last week to urge the province to suspend further development until farm families and rural residents are assured their interests are adequately protected.

The OFA took its new position on turbines on Jan. 19, and it will be presented to the provincial government later this month.

Opponents of wind turbine proposals here are taking heart over some developments that indicate more pressure against wind power supporters.

Escalating concerns about industrial wind turbines prompted the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) last week to urge the province to suspend further development until farm families and rural residents are assured their interests are adequately protected.

The OFA took its new position on turbines on Jan. 19, and it will be presented to the provincial government later this month.

Meanwhile, to the north of Wellington County, Wind developer WPD Canada and a farm owner who signed a lease to host turbines are being sued.

That claim seeks an injunction and $2 million in damages related to the proposed Fairview Wind Farm in Stayner. “This claim seems unique because the owner of the proposed farm is also being sued” said lawyer Eric Gillespie in a press release.

He warned, “Landowners who decide to allow turbines may need to look carefully at their legal position and potential liability.”

The claim focuses on possible devaluation of property. Plaintiff Sylvia Wiggins and husband John listed their home for sale in 2011. Showings started but they said they ended shortly after the turbine project was publicized. Recent data indicate when a wind company bought out homes near another Ontario project, on resale the company lost almost 35% of their value.

“These kinds of things appear to be happening with wind farms. We decided to do something now” said John Wiggins.

All of which leaves James Virgin, in charge of communications for Oppose Belwood Wind Farms, thinking the tide favouring wind turbines might be blowing back.

“Absolutely. I think people are becoming quite aware ... I think the realities are starting to show.”

He said people are getting more and more information about health effects, a negative economy and a loss of property values from wind turbines.

“We’re seeing more and more dialogue in the newspapers,” he said. “We were very pleased to see the OFA say, ‘Let’s back up. Let’s see what’s going on’.”

Read the full article at the Wellington Advertiser

Harper’s smarter

Harper’s smarter: The Toronto Sun:
By Lorrie Goldstein

"If Canada’s “green” media — especially in the Parliamentary Press Gallery — demanded the same standards of accountability of themselves as they do of politicians, they would be killing entire forests right now apologizing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. 

Why? Because in sidestepping the economically suicidal stampede onto the green energy bandwagon which they relentlessly shilled for, Harper was right and they — along with the Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens — were wrong. 

Today, so-called “green” energy is in retreat all over the developed world, as taxpayers and consumers in countries that blindly raced into it are in open revolt against paying exorbitant, ever-rising prices for unreliable, inefficient power sources that don’t lower carbon dioxide emissions. 

Germany is poised to slash public subsidies for solar energy — which sent shares in solar companies crashing world-wide — because it can’t afford the grossly inflated, 20-year feed-in-tariffs it has been paying for energy that’s so unreliable. It has had to import nuclear power from France and the Czech Republic this winter to avoid blackouts, plus restart an old, oil-fired electricity plant in Austria.

Continue reading at the Toronto Sun site

Political debate over wind farm development rages on

Political debate over wind farm development rages on: 

Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson is applauding a call from an advocacy group for the province’s farmers to suspend contract awards for large-scale wind energy development projects.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture issued an eight-point position paper late last week that, in part, called for great municipal input in the planning process, criticized the pricing schedule, and asked for provincially developed protocol to measure noise generated by wind turbines. 

“We’ve got evidence that turbines trigger health problems, our energy prices are skyrocketing, and we’re excluding local communities from the decision-making process,” said Thompson. 

“We are seeing inefficiencies with the pricing for wind power, concerns over the setbacks, health and environmental risks, and concerns over property values, and I am pleased to see the OFA bring their important voice to the table.”

Read the entire article at Bullet News Niagara 

Money trumps Integrity

Attacking Liberals seems to be de rigueur as both Parliament Hill and Queens Park Liberals were reputedly recently attacked. The attackers were a couple of the little guys who were then accused of abusing 3rd party advertising regulations. In Ottawa it was the National Citizens Coalition going after Interim Leader, Bob Rae and in Toronto it was Wind Concerns Ontario accused of spending breaches for their anti-Liberal campaign during recent Ontario elections. Lorrie Goldstein in the Toronto Sun carried the news about the NCC breach and the Toronto Star carried the story about Wind Concerns Ontario.

Wolf on the Ontario Grid

Wolf on the Ontario Grid - Wind Farm Realities:

Denise Wolf lives on Amherst Island (along with John Harrison and me, part time) and really knows how to do research and even better how to summarize it. As part of her efforts to convince the powers-that-be to stop the project on Amherst, she prepared a summary of what is currently known about the effects of wind turbines on Ontario’s grid. It is brief (6 pages) and to the point, and is totally accurate. If you need a good summary of what a mess wind energy has made of the Ontario grid this is excellent.

Read Denise Wolfe's summary

Note:  The "Ontario Power Export Losses" Chart in Wolfe's summary is from a Financial Post article this summer - year-end figures for 2011, using the same assumptions, is a record $359 million - figures shown in this spreadsheet

Zephyr Wind development trudges along – quick & dirty

Zephyr Wind development trudges along – quick & dirty � Middlesex-Lambton Wind Action Group:

The giant crane arrive 2 days ago, and the truck was promptly stuck when it couldn’t make the turn off Churchill Line to Ebenezer. Churchill Line was closed that afternoon. Dump loads of gravel upon mud should do the trick…. Sure hope there is a road agreement with the township on this.

As for the tower parts in the pictures below, yes those are tiny people beside them.

Pictures at the Middlesex-Lambton Wind Action Group Site

McLean’s Mountain Comments Close January 27th

The comment period on the proposed McLean's Mountain 60MW capacity industrial wind 'facility' is closing on January 27th.


Read about the proposal at the Manitoulin Coalition for safe Energy Alternatives Site
EBR Registry Number: 011-5195

Arran-Elderslie council backs OFA moratorium on wind turbine construction - Owen Sound Sun Times - Ontario, CA

Arran-Elderslie council backs OFA moratorium on wind turbine construction - Owen Sound Sun Times - Ontario, CA

Council unanimously supported a resolution Monday showing support for the OFA moratorium and calling on other municipalities in the province “who share these concerns regarding the damaging and devastating repercussions within our communities” to support the call for a one-year moratorium on turbine construction “with yearly extensions as required . . . until the concerns are properly studied and addressed.”

Question's Arising From the AG's Report

 Questions Arising from the

Auditor General’s 2011 Report on
Renewable Energy Initiatives
(Chapter 3 Ministry of Energy: Electricity Sector—Renewable Energy Initiatives)

Compiled by Keith Stelling, MA, MNIMH, Dip Phyt, MCPP
Central Bruce-Grey Wind Concerns Ontario
18 January, 2012

Summary

With comprehensive and detailed evidence gathered independently from inside the Ministry of Energy-- much of it previously unavailable to the public-- the Auditor General’s Report unambiguously challenges both the rationale and implementation of the Green Energy Act.

The Act has been promoted as a mechanism for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, increasing job opportunities, and creating a competitive business environment. However the Auditor General’s investigators found little evidence that these objectives have been or would be realized. Instead it suggests that the escalating electricity costs resulting from the addition of solar and wind power to the grid with their extravagant feed-in-tariffs are having the opposite effect.

What you can't hear can hurt you

"Politicians are lending their support to oligopolistic insiders and, in so doing, are destroying the property rights of the very people they have pledged to protect."

The Australian has an extensive article on the negative impacts of industrial wind turbines, beginning with an overview of Robert Rand's experience.  Rand, along with Stephen Ambrose, wrote The Bruce McPherson Infrasound and Low Frequency Noise Study,; and WCO posted Wayne Gulden's critique of that study.

What you can't hear can hurt you | The Australian

WHEN American noise expert Robert Rand turned up to work in Maine, in the US northeast, in April to investigate the impact of wind turbines on nearby residents he was literally blown away.
Not only did Rand's readings confirm many fears in the community, he claims to have become an unwitting victim himself.
A member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering and a technician with 30 years' experience, Rand was working for a philanthropic donor wanting to investigate why wind turbines were causing so much concern.
Rand told The Australian yesterday his experience had been unexpected. He had measured the noise from wind turbines on many previous occasions without difficulty but, in testimony to the State of Maine Board of Environmental Protection in July, Rand said the turbines had delivered "a miserable and unnerving experience".
When indoors, Rand and long-time colleague Stephen Ambrose, also a Member of INCE, experienced "nausea, loss of appetite, headache, vertigo, dizziness, inability to concentrate, an overwhelming desire to get outside and anxiety, over a two-night period from Sunday, April 17 to Tuesday, April 19".

Web link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/what...

"Windfall" on CBC Documentary Channel

"Windfall is an eye opener that should be required viewing for anyone concerned about the environment and the future of renewable energy."

The movie Windfall will be shown of the CBC Documentary Channel on:
January 25 at 7 pm, and
January 26 at 1 am

A listing of channels Documentary is available on is here: on Rogers it is 325 (591 for HD, and Bell it is 336 (may be 556 for HD).

WINDFALL | Movie Trailer from WindSector on Vimeo.

OFA's New Position on Industrial Wind Turbines In the Press, and on the web

 The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) recent position statement, where it  "respectfully and strongly recommends that the province of Ontario suspend the award of FIT contracts for industrial wind turbine development," continues to be the source of discussion.

Life in a Wisconsin Wind Project: A WCO "Site of Interest"

 Life in Wisconsin Wind Project is a website built to provide a first-hand account of the damage of callously sited industrial wind projects.

Our family lives in the Invenergy Foward Energy industrial wind project near the town of Byron in Fond du Lac County. We've lived in our home for 40 years.
In 2007 industrial wind turbines started going up around our house. We were told they wouldn't be any louder than a refrigerator. The closest one to our house, turbine #4, started spinning in March of 2008. There are 86 turbines in this project and each of them is 40 stories tall.
The following is a diary of what has happened to our lives since the turbines started turning.

The website appears to be frequently updated and includes the similar experiences of other victims of wind projects.  The latest entry is Life in a Wisconsin Wind Project, Resident letter from Falmouth, MA.
The letter begins:

By Neil Andersen, Blacksmith Shop Rd., Falmouth, MA.

What makes a person who has been in the alternative energy business for over thirty years, shut down his home building business (Energy Star certified), spend most of his time, as well as his savings, while racking up mileage traveling to different communities, feel compelled to “bad mouth” certain alternative energy projects?

The answer is an improperly sited wind turbine.

I live in Falmouth where there are 3 wind turbines.

Read the entire letter at Life in a Wisconsin Wind Project (and bookmark the site!)

Against the wind: The pursuit of clean energy has relegated ordinary people to the status of ‘collateral damage’

National Wind Watch has reproduced an article by Maurice Newman that first appeared in The Spectator, in Australia (and was referenced, on this site, here)
Against the wind: The pursuit of clean energy has relegated ordinary people to the status of ‘collateral damage’ | Wind Watch

Even before they threatened my property, I was opposed to wind farms.

They fail on all counts. They are grossly inefficient, extremely expensive, socially inequitable, a danger to human health, environmentally harmful, divisive for communities, a blot on the landscape, and don’t even achieve the purpose for which they were designed, namely the reliable generation of electricity and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Even if you buy the anthropogenic global warming case, experience shows that wind energy is not the answer. How is it, then, that governments around the world have embraced this technology with abandon, in the process spending hundreds of billions of dollars of other people’s money in a shameless wealth transfer from the poor to the rich? Surely the economic effect of taxing hardest those who can least afford it was thoroughly examined ahead of politically motivated empty gestures designed to placate climate change alarmists?

Apparently not.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but we have witnessed the birth of an extraordinary, universal and self-reinforcing movement among the political and executive arms of government, their academic consultants, the mainstream media and vested private sector interests (such as investment banks and the renewables industry), held together by the promise of unlimited government money. It may not be a conspiracy, but long-term, government-underwritten annuities have certainly created one gigantic and powerful oligopoly which must coerce taxpayers and penalise energy consumers to survive.

Not even independent UK research which shows 3.7 jobs in the broader economy are lost for every ‘green’ job created has engendered any real sense of concern within this politically protected and publicly funded class. After all, those who are crowded out by ever-more-costly green schemes are simply, as one bureaucrat informed me, ‘collateral damage’ and victims of ‘the greater good’. But to whom do the ‘damaged’ now turn? All political parties to a greater or lesser degree follow the same irrational policies, mindlessly repeating slogans about renewable energy targets and CO2 reductions plans, lest they be labelled climate change deniers.
Yet nowhere is there evidence that these policies work. Even Europe, with its huge investment in wind energy as well as an ETS, has not reduced emissions. ..

Read the full article at National Wind Watch

A Geologists Digs For Setback Rationale

 Tony Fleming searched for a rationale to the setbacks in his area, and his resulting article shows there isn't a coherent rationale for the setbacks.
Wind Ordinance Debate: The 1,000-foot Set-Back Standard (Are environmentalists underregulating themselves?) — MasterResource

In Indiana and elsewhere, many counties are falling all over themselves to adopt the so-called “1,000-foot voluntary industry setback” between large wind turbines and residences.¹ In some states, it has become part of “model” wind ordinances created by wind developers and energy agencies.

This buffer zone (who said these structures were environmental?) is starkly smaller than those mandated in several countries widely touted by industry proponents as wind “success” stories. InDenmark, for example, the setback is four times total turbine height (or about 2,000 feet for a large turbine), along with a built-in mechanism for compensating abutters for property-value losses.

In Holland, it is 1 km (3,314 ft). Germany’s noise-based setback ranges up to a full mile (1.6 km).

 Read the full, referenced, article at MasterResource

Electricity and the Liberal Hansard History, Chapter 7

This is chapter 7 in a series by Parker Gallant:  Chapter 1;  Chapter 2:  Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 8


The saga continues and for this chapter we visit Hansard on June 15, 2004, the day the Liberals introduced the Electricity Restructuring Act which created the Ontario Power Authority.

First out of the box was Energy Minister Dwight Duncan as he spoke about all the wonderful things that this Act would bring the people in Ontario. Here is part of his address relating to the creation of the Ontario Power Authority:

Dwight Duncan: "The power authority would assess adequacy and reliability of electricity resources and forecast future demand. It would also prepare an integrated system plan for generation, transmission and conservation, to be reviewed by the Ontario Energy Board. In addition to its planning functions, the power authority would have the power to procure new supply and demand management initiatives, either by competition or by contract. When necessary, it would use a competitive and transparent procurement process which would foster innovative and creative approaches to meeting our supply needs.”

This “power authority” that Duncan spoke of that day in the Legislature became the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) It did produce an “integrated system plan” or as it was called the IPSP which did find its way to the Ontario Energy Board only to be thrown in the waste bin by George Smitherman, when he was appointed the Minister of Energy & Infrastructure and brought in the Green Energy Act (GEA). The OPA under the direction of Jan Carr did create competition and contracts were executed after a transparent bidding process but the GEA killed that competitive process when the FIT and MicroFIT programs were established.

REA Approval for Gesner Wind Energy Project

Brace yourself!
The Gesner Wind Energy Project (near Highgate in municipality of Chatham-Kent) has been issued a Renewable Energy Approval.

A Renewable Energy Approval has been issued to Gesner Wind Farm LP, to engage in a renewable energy project in respect of a Class 4 wind facility consisting of the construction, installation, operation, use and retiring of the following: five (5) wind turbine generators, each rated at 2 megawatt (MW) output capacity, with a total name plate capacity of 10 MW.

The decision was loaded to the registry on January 20th, and can be appealed by February 3rd.

Report the Multi-Party MP Grouping Forming in UK to Oppose Government's Wind Agenda

The report indicates appeals are overturning the rejection of proposed projects in order to meet an arbitrary quota: "MPs have grown alarmed by a trend for onshore wind farm applications to be approved on appeal because of Mr Huhne’s target, even when inspectors concede they will be a blight."

Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | UK News :: MPS' bid to halt hot air Chris Huhne's wind farms:

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne wants a major expansion of onshore wind farm development to help Britain meet green targets.
Backbench MPs from all parties will brand heavily subsidised onshore wind farms inefficient, expensive and a major blight on the landscape.
They will urge Ministers to re-think a policy which will add £280 to the annual energy bill of hard-pressed homeowners by 2020.

Bird and Bird Habitat: Ontario Guidelines for Wind Power Projects

Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources released the guidelines titled "Bird and Bird Habitats: Guidelines for Wind Power Projects"

Canadian authorities seek to muffle the noise of wind turbines

 Radio Canada International has posted an audio report on Industrial Wind Turbine Impacts and Regulation
The Link's Top Story is "Canadian Authorities Seek To Muffle The Noise Of Wind Turbines"
Listen at Radio Canada International Site

Governments in Canada are working together to devise voluntary guidelines for noise generated by wind turbines. Although scientific studies have not found a link between wind turbines and health problems, The Link’s Lynn Desjardins tells us there are people who say they got so sick they’ve been forced to leave their homes.

Donations Requested to Support Haldimand Wind Concerns

Haldimand Wind Concerns is requesting donations now, with actions demanding responses on, "four Industrial Wind Turbine (IWT) companies, Capital Power, NextEra Energy, Samsung  and Niagara Region Wind Corporation proposing development of over 184 Industrial Wind Turbines spanning from Port Dover to east of Dunnville."
Please Make a Donation to Help Support HWC’s Efforts | Haldimand Wind Concerns:

As you know, 2011 was a busy year that was tremendously successful and we now have more work to do in the year ahead.
Where we are today is from the shared efforts from everyone who has dedicated their time, efforts & donations in helping to protect Haldimand. As the year progresses, the reality is, should the first impending wind turbine project application in Haldimand be granted approval in the near future, then Haldimand Wind Concerns will need your support to help fund legal fees for the Environmental Review Tribunal, which must be filed within 15 days of an approval.

Visit the Haldimand Wind Concerns site for more on how to support their work

Opposing Opposition to Unhealthy Alternatives

An article in the Toronto Star January 18, 2012 infers that Wind Concerns Ontario, a grass roots volunteer organization, supposedly spent more then the allowed amount during the recent Ontario election campaign. WCO was accused by Jude MacDonald and her lawyer, the famed criminal lawyer, Clayton Ruby of “running a negative advertising campaign against Liberal candidates.” 

The response by the past President of WCO, John Laforet, was clear that “the spending allegations are completely false” and he went on to note that WCO had no advertising budget. In fact, WCO has no paid staff, operates on a shoestring budget supported only by nominal individual and group memberships.
 
The involvement by the renowned criminal lawyer, Clayton Ruby would appear to be in keeping with his biography posted on the web which indicates he “has devoted his professional career to ensuring that those who are underprivileged and those who face discrimination are given equal access to the legal system of this country.” It would appear that he supports the Elections Act and all it stands for by ensuring that the standards and regulations underpinning the act are observed in their entirety and for that we applaud him.
 

Suspend wind development for now: OFA | Better Farming

Wales says the situation has become untenable and industrial wind turbines are occupying the rural agenda. “It’s tearing rural communities apart.”

 Better Farming: Ontario's Online Community of Professional Farmers
Suspend wind development for now: OFA:

January 21, 2012
Industrial wind turbine developments are pitting neighbours against neighbours and raising concerns about human health as well as the loss of farmland says the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
by SUSAN MANN

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture wants the provincial government to temporarily pull the plug on industrial wind turbine development until serious shortcomings with the program can be fixed. 

Federation president Mark Wales says the developments are pitting rural residents against each other. In addition during the past few weeks, members have told federation representatives about health problems associated with the turbines, concerns over the loss of farmland, encumbrances on their properties and other issues.

Continue reading at the Better Farming Site

Planned Minnesota Wind farm will seek permit to legally kill eagles

Wind farm will seek permit to legally kill eagles | StarTribune.com:

A controversial wind farm proposed near Red Wing plans to ask for federal permission to legally kill eagles, making it one of the first in the nation to participate in a new federal strategy aimed at managing the often-lethal conflict between birds and turbine blades.


U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials say they urged the developers of AWA Goodhue Wind to seek the new permit because the deaths of an unknown number of eagles and endangered golden eagles will be inevitable once the 50-turbine project is up and running.

Read the entire article at StarTribune.com, including notice that permits to kill eagles seem set to grow:

So far, only one wind project, the West Butte Power Project in Oregon, has submitted a request for such a permit, but more are expected.
"There are a fair amount of wind farms lined up - hesitantly," Rheude said. "I think there are a lot of people watching to see how the process will go."

Farm federation wants block on wind power

Farm federation wants block on wind power:

Plans to dot Ontario's countryside with wind turbines should be shelved, says the province's largest agricultural organization.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is calling on the government to properly address a range of concerns, including the health effects of turbines, before it issues any more permits for development.
"A lot of these issues haven't been resolved," says Mark Wales, president of the OFA. "It's really dividing rural communities and that's not healthy, that's not good."

Read the full article in the Ottawa Citizen, including this from our Minister of Energy:

"We elected not to give all 440-plus municipalities in the province of Ontario a veto," says Energy Minister Chris Bentley. "Because the natural result of that would be that no projects would proceed."

OFA urges province to put moratorium on new ‘wind farms’ - The Cornwall Standard Freeholder - Ontario, CA

OFA urges province to put moratorium on new ‘wind farms’ - The Cornwall Standard Freeholder - Ontario, CA:

CORNWALL — The Ontario Federation of Agriculture has officially called on the provincial government to suspend wind turbine development in Ontario.
OFA president Mark Wales said “it’s too important to not get it right, so we’re asking that (the government) put this on hold.”
It’s impossible to say whether this development will impact plans for a local wind turbine project in South Dundas.
“There are too many unresolved issues and we’re hoping that through the feed-in-tariff (FIT) review process, for which we already put in a submission to determine what energy prices should be. We’re working with government to see the issues resolved – there’s too much divisiveness in rural Ontario right now in a number of counties.”
The majority of the 37,000 farming families across the province are against any further wind turbine development, Wales said.
“Our members are telling us loud and clear: let’s deal with this stuff. It’s time to get it right, right now.”
According to the OFA release, the concerns include: price paid for wind power, inefficiencies in storage technology, setback issues and induced currents, health and nuisance problems and the removal of municipal input from industrial wind turbine projects.

Read the full article at The Cornwall Standard Freeholder site

Wind power versus rural power

A letter by Mark Wales, the President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, is at
 Wind power versus rural power - Chatham Daily News - Ontario, CA:

Sir: The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is calling on the provincial government to suspend the invasion of rural Ontario with industrial wind turbines.
Earlier this week, OFA took a hard look at our own concerns with wind turbines. We have always been concerned with the price paid for wind power and the fact that it is not dispatchable – it is not stored for use during peak demand periods, making it highly inefficient. This was noted by Ontario’s Auditor General in his annual report in December 2011.
In addition, our technical concerns with regard to setback issues, induced current and noise impacts remain unaddressed.
OFA believes that the amendments to the Planning Act made under the authority of the Green Energy Act are not having the desired effect of providing for good planning. Removal of municipal input into industrial wind turbine projects has alienated the rural population and ignored competing community needs and policies.

Read the full letter at The Chatham Daily News site

Ontario’s Power Trip: Green Energy Act kills competition, jobs and OPG revenue

Ontario’s Power Trip: Green Energy Act kills competition, jobs and OPG revenue | FP Comment | Financial Post:

Where the Green Energy Act has failed is in the promise of 50,000 jobs it was touted to deliver

Competition in the Ontario electricity sector has failed to materialize in Ontario because of the structure of the province’s Green Energy Act (GEA). The act, brought in to attract green investment to Ontario and create jobs, is also driving jobs and investment out of the province—a prospect confirmed by the recent announcement from Direct Energy that they are relocating their headquarters to Houston, Texas. At least 500 Toronto jobs will be lost.

In an article in the Toronto Star, a spokesperson for Direct Energy said “We`re a company with a growth strategy built on the need for deregulation.” That’s not what Ontario has, and the Direct Energy executive said the company was better off in business where competition is welcome. The Ontario energy market “is not open to competition, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to move in a direction where you’re going to have competitive wholesale markets, which is a requirement for competition.”

PC Energy Critic Asks Government to Clearly State Maratorium Position

January 20, 2012

MORATORIUM ANSWER BLOWING IN THE WIND?

NORTH BAY – PC Energy Critic and Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli has written Dalton McGuinty’s Energy Minister asking him to clearly state whether he plans to lift his moratorium on offshore wind energy projects or not.

It was recently announced that Siemens Canada had signed an agreement with Windstream Wolfe Island Shoals Inc. to supply up to 130 turbines for a massive industrial wind farm on eastern Lake Ontario. Windstream holds the offshore wind power Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) contract in Ontario awarded by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) in May 2010. (Daily Commercial News, Jan. 5, 2012)

Now, four other firms have reportedly landed contracts to fabricate the steel, assemble the components and transport the giant towers across Lake Ontario for the project (Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 18, 2012)

However, last February, Ontario announced it wasn’t proceeding with proposed offshore wind project “while further scientific research is conducted.”

“Why are agreements being signed if there’s a moratorium in place? Do these companies know something the rest of us don’t?” asked Fedeli.

“The Minister need to explain this. If he and Dalton McGuinty plan to lift the moratorium, they need to tell Ontarians when and the reasons why they’re doing it,” added Fedeli.

“At a time when we’re forcing intermittent wind power onto the grid and the Auditor General tells us we’re selling surplus power at a loss to Quebec and the United States, this moratorium needs to continue.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact

Clint Thomas

Executive Assistant

(705) 474-8340 or (416) 710-1752