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“If the company wants us to proceed on their behalf and look at their proposals, I think we should be reimbursed appropriately,” he said. “The costs of us trying to find all the answers are accumulating. In the end, if we don’t grab it, we’re going to be stuck with the bill.”The full Orangeville.com article also notes the requirements in some jurisdictions to bury cables
Reimbursement wasn’t the only issue county council tackled that night, as Shelburne Deputy Mayor Ken Bennington submitted a planning report from his town, as well as a motion from his municipality and a petition signed by residents opposing the wind developer’s proposal.
Town staff conducted an inventory of existing and proposed sensitive land uses along the proposed transmission corridor in Shelburne. There are about 106 existing or proposed dwellings with 150 feet of the wind developer’s proposed hydro line — Hyland Heights Elementary School and a public park also abut the rail corridor.
Referring to a restriction in California forbidding any new elementary schools or schoolyards within 45 metres of a 230 KV transmission line, Bennington urged county councillors to cease negotiations.
Read the entire article at Simcoe.com"One is they have to provide notice [of a public meeting] to all landowners within 120 metres of the project. The notice must be in writing and they failed to do that. There are at least two landowners who haven't been notified of either public meeting," Preston explains. "But the biggest problem is as part of the public meeting they have to present their project plan...which includes a map of the project area. And at the first public meeting they didn't even show turbine locations and at the second meeting they showed turbine locations but the really key thing they have to show is the location of all the noise receptors. So a noise receptor is either a house or a location on a vacant lot that would be deemed a residence. And there are just dozens and dozens of errors and omissions on their mapping."
Brazil’s main lender to wind farms has revoked finance authorisation for projects using Vestas, Suzlon, Fuhrländer, Clipper and Acciona turbines, after auditing manufacturers to see if they comply with local-content regulations.
“The entire industry is stopped” as a result of the actions of BNDES, the national development bank
“I came out here for the peace and quiet. I can see all kinds of wildlife from my backyard — deer, coyotes, all kinds. And now I am going to see these big towers.”The man was able to better visualize just how tall those turbines will be thanks to a public awareness campaign launched Saturday by the West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group, a citizen’s group which opposes wind energy.This past Saturday, the group raised several weather balloons to the height of the proposed wind turbines, to provide a sense of scale for the size of the storeys-high towers. The wind turbines to be installed across the municipality will be as tall as 145 metres. WLWAG is calling the campaign “Look Up, Wake Up.”“We raised the balloons to help people visualize just how tall these turbines are going to be,” said Cam Pritchard, spokesperson for the group. “A lot of people can’t envision how tall 145 feet is. There were a lot of people on the border line, who weren’t sure if they were for or against the turbines, and when they saw the balloons, it really hit home for them.”
... projects like this have a habit of changing hands numerous times. When that happens, liability is dispersed and reliable maps of underground utilities become hard to find. D’Hondt fears the municipality will be left holding the bag if anything goes wrong.Read The Entire Article at the Simcoe Reformer site
“Tracking down firms has been a problem for us,” he said. “Not only for the old stuff, but for the new stuff.”
Capital Power executives Anthony Zlahtic and Barry Loewen brought the issue to council’s attention. They told council that encasing the 3.4 kilometres of cable in concrete would put the $70-million project behind schedule while adding $1 million to the final construction cost.
The pair said in-ground burial is standard for projects of this kind, adding that the 51-kilometres of collector cable in Haldimand will be buried without a concrete casing.
“We’re a little frustrated with where we’re at,” Zlahtic said.
In a 4-3 decision, council agreed to let Capital Power bury its cable without a casing. However, the firm must do so to a depth of two metres. This is double the provincial standard. As well, the collector cable’s location will have to be clearly marked.
"Between 1985 and 2011, global electricity generation increased by about 450 terawatt-hours per year. That’s the equivalent of adding about one Brazil (which used 485 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2010) to the electricity sector every year. And the International Energy Agency expects global electricity use to continue growing by about one Brazil per year through 2035..."
While offering industry rates at 5.5¢ per kWh, the government is at the same time committing non-preferred consumers — smaller businesses and retail consumers — to pay rates that start at 11.5¢ per kWh for more wind power and 34.7¢ per kWh for solar. The government’s wind and solar contracts contain escalators and they require guaranteed payments to generators for curtailed production and costly new transmission and backup power.
"Neighbors of Kingston’s new wind turbines made plenty of noise at a zoning board of appeals hearing, sharing stories with panel members about sleepless nights and anxiety caused by the turbines.
Leland Road resident Dan Alves, speaking at a hearing last week, said he knew there had been talk of wind turbines before they were built, but he was not informed about what it would really mean to have them near his home.
“Never would I have experienced what I have experienced – headaches, dizziness, vertigo,” Alves said. “It sounds like a 747 that never lands.”
3 wind-turbine failures firefighters must know - Wind-turbine farms are springing up across the country and they pose unique threats to fire and rescue agencies.
Wind-farms have been around for several decades in Europe, but only in recent years have we seen them appear in the United States. The United Kingdom has experienced a dramatic increase in wind-turbine incidents resulting in a number of civilian injuries and deaths in the past decade, according to a report by Caithness Windfarm Information Forum 2012.
The potential health, environmental and financial effects of industrial wind turbines will be discussed at a public meeting Thursday at the Powassan Legion.Read the full article at The North Bay Nugget website:
A citizens' group called Stop Turbines on Maplehill Powassan (STOMP) has arranged for guest speakers.
Anemos Energy Corp. had sought council support for the Maple Hill Wind Project proposal earlier this year, but was denied until there are more details available.
Guest speakers will include Nipissing MPP and Progressive Conservative Energy Critic Vic Fedeli, Barbara Ashbee of the Victims of Wind and Carmen Krogh.
The turbine closest to her home is 700 metres away and her pictures showed vast open spaces with no homes or development of any kind in sight. About the only contentious issue in her wind-turbine experience was the threat of overhead transmission lines. In the end, the company that developed the project in her neighborhood agreed to bury transmission lines, something she said she and her neighbors fought for...
The most effective anti-wind speaker was Norma Schmidt who lives near Kincardine. She said she and her husband welcomed the idea of sustainable wind development when it was first proposed. However, when their 13-acre property was surrounded by turbines – none on their land – she became ill and was hospitalized, something she attributes to the wind development..The entire article can be read on the Better Farming website:
“Our life is hell,” she said. “We don’t have a life. Thirty-three years of hard work is all misery now. There is a madness going on in Ontario now. They are destroying our lives.”
Read the entire article at the American Bird Conservancy Website:
Picture from source article (ABC) (Washington, D.C., June 26, 2012) In a lawsuit filed today in Washington D.C. District Court American Bird Conservancy has accused the federal government of suppressing information about wind energy projects and their potential negative impact on America's wildlife. ABC is being represented in the suit by the Washington D.C. public-interest law firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.ABC charges that two Interior Department (DOI) agencies flagrantly violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to comply with statutory deadlines for disclosure of information, and by failing to provide their correspondence with wind developers and other information related to potential impacts on birds and bats, and bird and bat deaths at controversial wind developments in 10 states."It’s ridiculous that Americans have to sue in order to find out what their government is saying to wind companies about our wildlife—a public trust,” said Kelly Fuller, Wind Campaign Coordinator for ABC. “ABC is concerned that many of these projects have the potential to take a devastating toll on songbirds, majestic eagles, and threatened and endangered species,” she added.
After months of hearing residents ask that Meaford's council take a public stand with regard to the potential for industrial wind turbine developments within the municipality, council last night delivered what many had been asking for.Meaford Council to Wind Developers: You're Not Welcome Here:
Read the report in the Meaford Independent:“Whereas the Municipality of Meaford is currently faced with an Industrial Wind Turbine Farm application in and around what is known as Silcote corners; and Whereas a substantial number of our residents, from all corners of our community, have voiced opposition to the acceptance of this project, and, whereas troublesome negative effects, such as adverse health effects, decrease in property values, destruction of the natural view-scape, and overall deterioration in individual quality of life are feared by near and far neighbours of this proposed site; and Whereas the Council of the Municipality of Meaford frustratingly acknowledges that any decision they make cannot overrule the powers given by the province in the Green Energy Act...Now Therefore, regardless of the undemocratic terms of Ontario Bill 150, be it resolved that the Council of the Municipality of Meaford confirms that it is not desirous of any Industrial Wind turbine development within our corporation, and requests that developers of wind farms do not submit further applications within our municipal boundaries,”
Read the entire article at the National Center for Policy Analysis Website:...the best option of all – generating electricity using bicycle generators. Pedaling ten hours a day on a stationary bike, each person can generate 1 kWh. Investing $1 million in bicycle generators and paying people the going rate for the energy they create, we could create 1,610 jobs....
Graphic from source article
The reason solar power creates more jobs per $1 million is that solar is extremely inefficient, requiring more workers to do more as they produce less. We could easily apply this to other sectors.
If we want to create more farm jobs (after all the percentage of farm jobs in the economy has fallen dramatically in the last century), we could ban tractors. Think of all the jobs we’d create for farm workers!
The article can be read at the Lakeshore Advance website:Gerhard, his wife Heather, and their family milk 350 cows three times a day. They are concerned about stray voltage and how the transmission lines will affect their business.“Our livelihood is at risk,” said Heather Ritzema. “We have to weigh those risks.”“If there is an oil leak, then the company is responsible for cleaning up that leak, if there is stray voltage, are they going to fix it?” asked Gerhard.“Because of the number of dairy farmers on the transmission route, we have tried to go above and beyond to explain the issues to every person on the route to address in advance any concerns they might have about stray voltage,” said Nicole Geneau, project manager of the Bluewater project.“Everyone is nervous because of the known..."
...the wind farm company requested that a vet examine the dog after the owner contacted them about a dramatic behavior change in one of his working sheep dogs after nights in which the wind blew from the turbine direction. Like many human reports, the effect occurs only in particular wind conditions; I wonder whether it’s similar to some wind farm neighbors who experience ear pressure and popping when downwind from turbines, perhaps due to air pressure differentials in the turbine wake, or due to a particularly strong physiological reaction to low frequency noise. Many other reports of effects on farm animals have been more general, making it hard to preclude other possible causes.Read the entire article at The Acoustic Ecology Institute website:
Strangely, the Court said that it had seen the 10 rotor diameter rule as a “zero-exposure standard;” in fact, a half mile would not avoid audibility or ocassionaly intrusive noise , especially at night, though it would reduce the number of homes experiencing relatively louder sound exposures. There are roughly 200 homes within the 1600 to 2700 foot zone. Many of the more substantial negative impacts reported by wind farm neighbors occur in this range.The full report at the Acoustic Ecology Institute site includes links to local, Minnesota, coverage.
While National Wind, developer of the 78-megawatt project, aims to begin construction within weeks, in hopes of being operational by the end of the year in order to qualify for expiring production tax credits, hurdles remain. The PUC rejected the company’s eagle monitoring and protections plan in February, and the developers have been planning to obtain an optional take permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect themselves in the event of that a bald eagle may be killed.
The South Marysburgh Mirror is sponsoring a referendum for S.M. residents on the subject of wind turbines. The question to be asked has not yet been announced, but will be straightforward and require only a Yes or No answer.
Voting will be limited to S.M. residents, permanent or seasonal, age 18 or better, and will take place at the Milford Town Hall on Saturday, July 14 from 9 am to 4 pm.
You can read more about the referendum in an article by publisher Steve Ferguson on the Mirror’s website. And Steve Campbell has some thoughts to share on his blog at CountyLive.
"June 24, 2012 (Washington D.C.) – A scathing new report by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Inspector General highlights “significant failures” by the federal Bureau of Land Managment in its stewardship over more than 30,000 wind energy right-of-way (ROW) acres and another 31,000 acres of solar energy ROW sites. View the complete report at http://www.doioig.gov/images/stories/reports/pdf/CR-EV-BLM-0004-2010Public.pdf.
In addition, the report exposed “weakness in financial accountability and resource protection including obligations to protect the Government’s financial interest by collecting rental revenues, managing the bond process, and by appropriate monitoring and enforcing ROW requirements.”"
“Our review of wind project files revealed very little inspection documentation for wind projects and no monitoring plans,” the report found.Read the entire article at the East County Magazine website:
In advance of the construction of IPC wind turbines across West Lincoln, a protest group is working to raise awareness by getting residents to raise their eyes. This weekend, the West Lincoln Wind Action Group (WLWAG) is raising a weather balloon to the height of a wind turbine, to provide a sense of scale for the size of the turbines. The wind turbines to be installed across the municipality will be as tall as 145 meters. WLWAG is calling the campaign “Look Up, Wake Up.”The entire article can be read at the Niagara This Week site
“Most people can’t comprehend the size of the of the impending giant 475’ industrial wind turbines that will shortly be invading our rural West Niagara neighbourhood and negatively impacting our health, our homes, our families, our natural environment, our pocketbooks and our faith in truth and justice,” reads a media release from WLWAG.
IPC is planning to construct five wind turbines in locations around West Lincoln.
In a survey released today by the Elma-Mornington Concerned Citizens, residents of the area identified for the Invenergy Conestogo wind turbine project overwhelmingly rejected the project by 96% to 4%.Premier McGuinty quote: "I've got all kinds of communities that want them ... I don't need the headaches that are associated with them going into communities that don't want them."
Details of the results and the survey methodology are provided in the attached press release. [PDF]
The survey was organized in response to a comment by Premier Dalton McGuinty indicating that he would be responsive to community input on renewable energy project such as wind turbines. Fifteen volunteers from the community group conducted a door-to-door survey of all residents living within the defined study area for the Invenergy Conestogo Wind Turbine Project over the period from June 7 to June 12. This time period immediately followed the two public information sessions run by Invenergy to explain their project to the community.
To the committee’s knowledge, this survey is the first attempt by any organization to actually collect the views of all of the residents of the affected community as part of the Renewal Energy Assessment process.
Read the Entire column at The Toronto SunWe cruised through this week’s record-breaking temperatures with only minor glitches.
Data From IESO 18-Month Outlook Table 3.3.3 (xls)
And while the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty would like you to believe it’s their energy policy that’s saved us, in fact it’s their economic development plan — or lack thereof — that’s freed up massive amounts of electricity.
This province has lost almost half a million manufacturing jobs since McGuinty came to power, so we just don’t need the same kind of generation we once did.
Worse, they were in industries such as auto companies, which provided good, high-paying jobs that had a multiplier effect in their communities.
...Germany's energy sector is under the most stress of any in the country. It is hemorrhaging jobs.
Its "green" manufacturing companies are serially going bankrupt. Others now have valuations near penny-stock levels, and many have fled high-cost Germany for China -- a nation whose own English-language media also recently admitted was giving up the green-jobs ghost as well, now that its best customers for the costly gadgets have gone broke.
Germany's staggering electricity costs are three times what Americans pay, and rising.
This is all due to the same energy transformation law that Obama heralds as America's way out of economic malaise. Since that law was first adopted in 2000, Germany's GDP has regularly grown at half the pace of America's. It is presently growing at 0.7 percent annually -- quite a model.
The entire article can be read at the Nature website...the concern is that turbines threaten species that are already struggling, such as bats, which in North America have been hit hard by white-nose fungus. Another vulnerable group is raptors, which are slow to reproduce and favour the wind corridors that energy companies covet. “There are species of birds that are getting killed by wind turbines that do not get killed by autos, windows or buildings,” says Shawn Smallwood, an ecologist who has worked extensively in Altamont Pass, California, notorious for its expansive wind farms and raptor deaths. Smallwood has found that Altamont blades slay an average of 65 golden eagles a year. “We could lose eagles in this country if we keep on doing this,” he says.
Source: A Manville, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Other species at risk include the critically endangered California condors (Gymnogyps californicus) — which number only 226 in the wild — and the few hundred remaining whooping cranes (Grus americanus), concentrated in the central United States. Biologists can't say whether the increase in wind farms will cause the collapse of these or other bird species, which already face many threats. But waiting for an answer is not an option, says Smallwood. “By the time we do understand the population-level impacts, we might be in a place we don't want to be.”
Greenfield explains they want to know if creating a municipal by-law calling for a two kilometre setback from a residence could be enforceable, despite the GEA setback of just 550 metres.
However, Greenfield is adamant that even after they explore all financial and legal avenues -- Meaford will still not be in favour of wind development.
In fact, he plans to table a resolution next Monday to make that point very clear.
Greenfield adds that resolution won't overrule the Green Energy Act -- but it will let residents know exactly where council stands on the wind turbine issue.Audio is posted, with the entire article, at the Bayshore Broadcasting website
Ever notice how the places that are in the deepest financial trouble — Europe, California in the U.S., Ontario in Canada — are the ones that fell hardest for the myth of green energy?Read the entire article at the Toronto Sun website:
While it would be inaccurate to attribute their mad rush into “renewables” as the sole cause of their fiscal woes — many reckless decisions led to that — it was certainly a contributing factor.
For one thing, wind turbines and solar panels, which only produce energy if massively subsidized by the state, drive up electricity prices, which kills off manufacturing jobs.
Energy and environmental issues need to be addressed using logic and scientific thinking, not emotion, wishes, and depiction. On a realistic basis, industrial wind energy fails to deliver the goods. By this I mean that windpower:Read the quotes at MasterResource:
When you take away the wind lobbyists’ fast-talking shenanigans, their con comes down to these two things: They are telling us what we want to hear, and we’re not really verifying the truth of what they’re saying.
- Is not a technically sound solution to provide us electricity, or to meaningfully reduce global warming, and
- Is not an economically viable source of energy on its own, and
- Is not environmentally responsible
Braithwaite, who suffers from headaches and lack of sleep because of the ongoing noise problems, said he was disappointed but not surprised at the ruling. Someone higher up in state government put the screws to the PSC, which in turn rejected its own staff's recommendation and rolled over “the little guy” to do the bidding of the wind farm's corporate ownership, he said.Read the entire article at the Daily News-Tribune:
“The governor and all of them are pushing for wind farms, and the PSC backed down ...,” Braithwaite said. “They're not doing their job. That's all it is.”
Charlie Parnell, a spokesman for Edison, said Monday that studies conducted at Pinnacle found that the test muffler reduced noise significantly, and the company has ordered similar devices for the remaining 22 turbines. He expects the mufflers to be installed sometime this summer.
"We had significant reduction in noise (with the test muffler) and we anticipate significant reduction across the farm once they're all installed," he said.
"As far as we know, this is the first proposal that is being evaluated in the Oak Ridges Moraine," said Mr. Williams, pointing out that, with the Green Energy Act superceding the previous Oak Ridges Moraine policy, there will be no stopping other projects if Sumac Ridge moves forward.Read the entire article at myKawartha.com:
Local MPP Laurie Scott - who was joined by Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson who made the four-hour drive to Bethany - urged everyone to not give up the fight.
"We need to make these companies understand that they're not welcome here," said Ms Scott during the rally which elicited applause and the comment 'they're not welcome anywhere' from within the crowd.
In support of the public, Ms Scott committed to maintaining pressure at Queen's Park "to oppose wind turbines for those municipalities that don't want them."
Ward 16 Coun. Heather Stauble encouraged people to send letters or e-mails of objection to the wind company - and copy her as well - and ask that the documents be included in the Renewable Energy Approval (REA) approval, which is the company's next step, and as part of the public record.
A glorious interview with James Lovelock in today's Guardian. Essential reading for everyone, greens especially. In it, the inventor of Gaia theory and godfather of modern environmentalism declares that wind farms are hideous, renewables are a waste of space, nuclear power is good, sea level rises aren't a worry, environmentalism has replaced Christianity as the global religion and that we should all be "going mad on" shale gas, which he considers our best energy hope for the immediate future.
The noise limits are discussed in more detail in the full article.Proposed setbacks for large commercial turbines are:
■ Six times the total height of the proposed structure from the nearest residence, the nearest project boundary line, boundaries of adjacent towns and any road.
■ Two miles from Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River waterfronts.
■ 1.25 miles from boundaries of the village of Cape Vincent and hamlets of Rosiere, Millens Bay and St. Lawrence Corners; from Route 12E; Seaway Trail; National Scenic Byways and schools.
A-weighted, audible spectrum, noise limits proposed are:
■ Daytime (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.), 45 dB.
■ Evening (7 to 10 p.m.), 40 dB.
■ Nighttime (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.), 35 dB
Completion of the biggest transmission line project in Ontario in 20 years clears an important hurdle for a series of massive wind turbine projects in Southwestern Ontario, including eight within 70 kilometres of London.In the full article Mr. Miner lists Jericho, Bornish, Goshen, Cedar Point, Adelaide, Gunn's Hill, Bluewater, St. Columban, Erieau, and East Lake St. Clair.
The names have a comforting, familiar ring - Adelaide, Bluewater, Goshen, Bornish. Jericho.Continue reading at the 'London Free Press'; the article includes quotes from WCO President Jane Wilson.
But if you're looking for who controls the massive wind farms under development in this part of Ontario, you won't find their head office anywhere close to their local namesakes.
While incorporated as separate companies with local-$sounding names, the real control of these wind farms resides in Juno Beach, Fla., home to NextEra Energy, the third largest nuclear power company in the U.S. and the largest industrial wind company in North America.
NextEra Energy owns Florida Power and Light and NextEra Energy Resources, which owns NextEra Energy Canada. It, in turn, owns the planned Adelaide Wind Farm, as well as neighbouring Bornish, Goshen and Jericho.
THE HOT ISSUE: Wind turbines had regional councillors’ heads spinning Thursday as a proposed call by St. Catharines Coun. Andy Petrowski for a moratorium on new wind projects was defeated. The lopsided 18-6 vote didn’t reflect the long, drawn-out build up to it: Council spent about an hour in camera hearing from their legal beagles before several citizen delegations spent the next three hours airing their views, with citizens speaking fervently against the turbines and business reps arguing for them. Read more at the St. Catharines StandardThe Wainfleet Wind Action Group provides the details on who voted for the moratorium motion (including NDP icon Peter Kormos, now a Welland councillor), and who voted against - while noting:
... the vote should be considered INVALID because of a conflict of interest:
NRC has a direct investment in Wind Energy!!! (Read more of "Niagara Regional Council fails, again!")
... in regard to your inquiry about the installation of wind turbines on your property ...the Company has advised that should a wind turbine be erected on the property, the Western General would not insure same and they would no longer remain on risk at that property...
More than 60 wind farms have sprung up across Australia in the last decade.
Giant white propellers scattered across hilltops around the country...We headed to the tiny town of Waubra, about two hours northwest of Melbourne to find a town divided by the farms.
Half of the residents have turbines and the added financial benefit.
The other half say the turbines are making their rural hamlet unliveable.
For example, a bylaw recently brought into effect by Grey County will start charging a flat rate of $5,000 per turbine starting next year. Once that phased-in approach comes into force, Grey will be eligible to collect nearly the same amount of DCs per wind turbine as it does for a single family home.The entire article may be read at Orangeville.com
County officials had asked Bevan to suggest some alternatives to its GFA model. He presented council with three options on Thursday — stick with the GFA status quo, collect a rate of $1,127 per turbine or calculate charges based on volume.
Although Bevan wasn’t aware of any municipality in Ontario adopting a volumetric approach, council is eyeing that route.
As parents of young children.and members of a fifth-generation Amhetst Island family. we are alarmed by the recent news release from Windelectric Inc. that states that industrial wind turbines on Amherst Island will be a “community benefit and improvement ..... for all residents.’ On behalf of our children. we disagree.
The United Nations Convetion on the Rights of the Child, which Canada has ratified, outlines the rights of children to health and safety; in particular. the convention emphasizes the obligation of adults and governments to protect the physical and mental health of children.
Scientific evidence has demonstrated the negative health outcomes noise can have on the cardiovascular system, memory, language development. and learning acquisition of children.
Peer-reviewed literature cites growing evidence that children living in close proximity to wind turbines have demonstrated changes in sleep patterns, decline in academic performance and behaviour, and problems with concentration and memory.
Within weeks, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem Energy Secretary, will announce details of subsidies for renewable energy covering the period 2013-2017, following a consultation on whether they should be cut by more than the 10 per cent reductions already planned.
Mr Osborne is understood to be pressing Mr Davey for onshore subsidy cuts of around 25 per cent for that period.
HWC's case at the Environmental Review Tribunal Hearing continues this week onWednesday, June 20 and Thursday, June 21 at the Hagersville Community Centre (62 Main St. South, Hagersville),and regular starting time is 10 am.June 20 is planned for the Director, Vic Schroter who approved NextEra's project andBen Greenhouse, the project manager to testify and be questioned.June 21 - MOE MotionThen the Hearing continues on July 16, 17, 18 & 19. A date for summations for BillMonture's case and HWC's case still has to be determined.
Green energy, a clarion call to investment in Ontario's future, eventually may prove to have spawned more ostensibly job-related deals - all on taxpayers' backs - than even Bernie Madoff conjured.Read the entire article at the Windsor Star Site:
Almost panic-like, the provincial government signalled its proactive-like policy decision in Ontario's infamous Green Energy Act by removing municipal control over zoning when it came to siting everything from massive wind turbines to solar panels.
Respectable investment brokerage firms advertised services to prospective green energy investors in terms reminiscent of newspaper ads about the 1890s Yukon gold rush.
Lobbyists for the wind-energy sector are actively lobbying for a multi-year extension of the production tax credit, the 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour subsidy given to producers of wind-generated electricity. To justify that lucrative subsidy, which expires at the end of this year, the wind lobby continually portrays itself as being an alternative to fossil fuels.Continue reading at Energy Tribune:
Furthermore, the American Wind Energy Association’s spokesmen and their many boosters in the blogosphere regularly deride anyone who criticizes industrial wind projects as somehow being in the thrall of the fossil fuel sector. But their rhetoric doesn’t match reality. The hard truth is this: AWEA represents the fossil fuel industry.
BLENHEIM - Profanity laced-tirades were heard as emotions ran high during a public meeting here about the health impacts of green energy projects.Read the entire article at the Chatham Daily News
More than 50 people attended the meeting at the Blenheim Community Golf Club, organized by the Chatham-Kent Wind Action Group. The topic was "Industrial Wind Turbines and Your Family Health."
Carmen Krogh, a retired pharmacist who has been researching the adverse effects on wind turbines on human health for the past four years, spoke about peer-reviewed studies that have shown increasing setbacks for industrial wind turbines to 2-kilometres has diminished complaints about negative impacts to human health.
Minimum setbacks for the majority of wind turbines in Chatham-Kent are 550 metres.
(Statement issued by Manitoulin Coalition for Safe Energy Alternatives, June 14, 2012)
MCSEA and Wikwemikong Elders, Community Members and Youth — groups well known for their opposition to Industrial Wind Turbine Projects on Manitoulin Island — will be protesting the opening of the M’Chigeeng industrial wind power project on June 15.
M’Chigeeng community members who have concerns with the project but also have concerns about possible repercussions from M’Chigeeng Band Council should the opponents be seen protesting have specifically requested MCSEA and Wikwemikong citizens raise awareness, circulate information to the public, and conduct a peaceful protest.
The Wikwemikong group has restored democracy in their community and repeatedly halted industrial wind turbines by successfully petitioning their council. The democratic success of the Wikwemikong citizens contrast starkly the lack of democratic rights of other rural residents of Ontario who have had their right stripped away under the Green Energy and Green Economy Act.
The concerns of many M’Chigeeng citizens include the potential for additional turbines to be added in future, the loss of traditional hunting grounds, forest loss, the siting of the turbines in key habitat, loss of reserve lands for productive use due to the minimum 550 meter provincial danger zone setback from each turbine, and the concern that even this exclusion distance is totally inadequate to mitigate impacts.Read the entire article at the Tom Adams Energy website:
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HWC's appeal will continue on Friday, June 15 at 9:30 am. at 655 Bay St. in Toronto. Expert witnesses Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Rand will be testifying via video conference on behalf of HWC during the morning session. In the afternoon, Dr. Dobie will testify on behalf of NextEra. Everyone who can attend would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
HWC
LISTOWEL – The term annoyance gets tossed around a lot when debating wind turbines. No matter what definition though, those in attendance for a public meeting in Listowel were clearly annoyed.Please Read the entire article at southwesternontario.ca
Nearly 200 people attended the first public information centre hosted by Invenergy Canada at the Royal Canadian Legion on June 7, in anticipation of their Conestogo Wind Power Partnership project in North Perth and Perth East.
James Murphy, director of development for Invenergy Canada, explained the proposed 69 MW project would position 27 turbines in the area, though the exact layout for the turbines is yet to be determined. Murphy was also unable to confirm the size of turbines to be used, but that it could be up to 3 MW...
A REPORT into wind farm noise has recommended that turbines on existing wind farms less than 2km from housing be removed.The entire article can be read at the 'Weekly Times Now' website.:
The Victorian Government last year introduced policy that states a wind farm cannot be located within 2km of an existing dwelling but turbines built near homes before the legislation was passed remain switched on.
A new report, released today by Noise Management Services, emphasises "the need for, and practicality of" the 2km setback.
"It is recommended that the 2km setback be implemented at Waubra, Cape Bridgewater and other existing wind farms," the report said.
Bentley said the low-cost power for businesses won’t cost other power users anything.The entire article can be read at thestar.com - where comments are currently open
That’s because the power used for the program is surplus power that otherwise would have been exported, he said.
Ontario is sometimes forced to offer power to neighbouring states and provinces at a steep discount – and occasionally even pays them to take Ontario’s surplus.
“We’re not selling it at a loss, we are exporting our extra,” Bentley said. “We have sufficient generation for families and businesses of Ontario, the demand following the world-wide recession left us with extra, and we’re putting that extra to work.”
Bentley said Ontario can produce about 150,000,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year, but uses only 140,000,000.
PULSING sensations in the head, ringing in the ears and nocturnal panic attacks are some of the symptoms which Millicent beef producer David Mortimer claims have led him to consider suicide.Read the entire article at The Border Watch website:
Mr Mortimer almost broke down while giving evidence against Infigen Energy's proposed Woakwine Windfarm to Wattle Range Council's independent Development Assessment Panel (DAP).
The DAP welcomed comments from residents on Monday as part of the decision making process on the approval of the proposed windfarm.
"To have the continuous pulsing in your head, it is like your brain getting squeezed, you can't get away from it, there is no escape, I can put in ear plugs, but it is still there," Mr Mortimer said.
"I get nocturnal panic attacks at night - I don't know what I'm trying to get away from."
During the day Mr Mortimer experienced dizziness, feelings of his heart being in high speed "flutter" mode, fits of depression and wanted to go to sleep "and not wake up".
"I've considered suicide when I've been in a state of depression, and I've never been that way before," he said.
Gamesa Inc. has canceled a controversial wind-power project it planned to build on Shaffer Mountain in a major flyway for migrating hawks, eagles and bats along the border of Somerset and Bedford counties.Read the entire article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
The Spanish company, which operates wind-turbine production facilities in Pennsylvania, announced it would abandon the project because of uncertain federal wind-power production subsidy policy and concerns the turbines could harm the endangered Indiana bat.
A Resolution for a Moratorium on IWT development is on the Agenda for the June 14/12 NRC meeting at 6:30pm.
Concerned residents and citizens of the Region should show in the largest possible numbers to show support for a Resolution.
A Phone Blitz is proposed on local and regional NRC members. Phone and Email info can be found here.
“40. (2) Clause 70 (2) (l) of the Act is amended by striking out “an integrated power system plan” and substituting “an energy plan”.
