Monthly Archives: September 2012

A word about our photo

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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The rather elegant photo of Ottawa in our header needs an explanation: if there were a wind turbine in it, of the scale being proposed for south Ottawa, it is so tall you wouldn’t be able to see the nacelle or hub of it …. that is exactly how big these machines are. And of course, what they look like isn’t the issue, it’s the noise and the vibration they produce.

But, we need people to understand the scale of these power generating machines. Now, imagine TEN of these machines in the background of our photo…or 20 or 40 or 60 or—as in the Enbridge project near Kincardine, 120, or as in what Samsung is doing in Haldimand-Norfolk and Chatham-Kent, FIVE HUNDRED turbines…and you get an idea of what we mean when we say wind power projects are industrializing the small communities of Ontario.

It is expropriation with compensation. It is sacrificing the quality of life in our communities, reducing property values and harming health…all for an ideology for which there is no evidence of benefits.

We repeat a comment from then sales rep for Prowind, headquartered in Germany, who is behind the project in Richmond-North Gower and South Dundas. When asked by Mark Sutcliffe whether the wind turbines make noise (Talk Ottawa, April 2010) he said, “Of course they do! They’re power plants!”

What we need is a safe reliable power source that does not sacrifice anyone’s health or quality of life.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and please consider donating toward our legal and other costs. We accept PayPal or cheques at PO Box 3 North Gower On  K0A 2T0 Ottawa Wind Concerns is a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

What kind of person…?

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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We’re not sure who “Andy Braid” of Kars is, nor do we get why Mr Braid seems to have letters published with regularity in The Manotick Messenger (3 weeks in a row, by our count) but at least our response to his recent letter about the wind power project was published, yesterday.

Here is the letter.

Mr Braid claims that MP Pierre Poilievre hasn’t got his facts straight in asking for a moratorium on the proposed wind power project for our community. It is Mr. Braid who is in error.

Ontario uses coal power for less than three percent of its electricity needs, and could shut them off altogether for seven months of the year when they are not needed for spikes in demand due to hot weather. The truth is, Ontario’s pollution comes from cars and trucks, and from industry south of the border.

Most worrying, however, is his objection to Health Canada spending time studying the noise problem. What kind of person does not want more information on a public health issue, and is in fact willing to sacrifice the health of his neighbours in North Gower, Richmond and Manotick?

Wind power has not been proven to reduce greenhouse gases anywhere in the world.

Jane Wilson

Ottawa Wind Concerns

Mr Braid’s comments, it might also be noted, come right out of the wind power developers’ lobby group playbook. They don’t want Health Canada to study the turbine noise and infrasound. If the study is done right–and many are commenting on the current proposed study design (it has flaws) to improve it–it will show that there are questions about setbacks and nighttime noise.

Ontario could end up with 2-km setbacks (minimum in the view of the World Health organization and the Society for Wind Vigilance) and perhaps also having the turbines turned off at night, as they are now doing in some areas of France. That means less profit in the form of taxpayer subsidy for the big companies.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and donate to PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0

Landowner with turbine lease: “I wouldn’t sign now”

05 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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One of the things we have heard from a number of communities is that landowners who signed options and then those options turned into leases for industrial-scale wind turbines, is that they wish they had learned more about the whole issue before they signed.

A lawyer told our community group, If landowners had had a lawyer read over some of those contracts, the advice would have been NOT to sign.

The reasons are several: you virtually give away all rights to your own land for 20 years and at the end of that time there is a first right of refusal. In the United States for example, the leases are written in such a way that they are really 60-year leases, not 20.

But what happens quickly is the community reaction when a landowner decides to put money first and sign on the dotted line. Neighbours of the leased property tend to object when they learn that their property values are going to plummet (this is true regardless of what the wind power industry claims), their community industrialized and, worst of all, they are at risk of being made ill by the environmental noise and infrasound.

Here is an account of one farm owner’s statements from the dairy-rich Listowel area of Ontario. Note that the farm-owner now believes he was misled by the wind power developer (Invenergy in this case).

A link to the full story follows.

Doug Hoshel, the Britton landowner who leased the three turbines in question, said his feelings towards wind turbines have certainly changed since he signed the contract with Invenergy last October.

“I would never sign one now, mainly because of what it’s done to the community,” Hoshel said. “There’s so many unanswered questions I wasn’t aware of when I signed.”

 The draft site plan also conflicts with Hoshel’s understanding of the project, which was described by Invenergy Canada as a low-density project with one turbine every 100 acres and no more than three turbines per rural block. The draft site plan now shows Hoshel with three turbines on his 100 acres farm, leaving him feeling like he was misled.

 “The last thing I want is for someone to get sick because of something that’s on my property,” Hoshel said. “I love this community, and I’m concerned about it.”

http://www.southwesternontario.ca/uncategorized/welfare-of-children-at-risk-due-to-wind-turbines-parents-say/

****PLEASE be sure to sign the petition put forward by Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, asking the Ontario government not to approve the North Gower-Richmond area of Ottawa wind power project, while the Health Canada study is ongoing. A copy of it is on this website under documents, or you can go to Mr Poilievre’s office at 250B Greenbank Rd and sign there.

MPPs call for halt to wind power development in North Gower-Richmond

03 Monday Sep 2012

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From the latest online version of the EMC Manotick-Winchester, an account of a news conference held by Conservative MPPs Lisa MacLeod, Vic Fedeli, Randy Pettapiece and Bob Bailey.

The story is here http://www.emcmanotick.ca/20120830/news/Conservative+MPPs+decry+wind+power+in+North+Gower

and here:

Conservative MPPs decry wind power in North Gower

Posted Aug 30, 2012 By Emma Jackson

EMC news – A group of Progressive Conservative MPPs joined Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod in North Gower on Aug. 21 to oppose the Ontario government’s commitment to wind power in Ontario.

A small group of North Gower residents have been fighting a Prowind proposal to build 10 industrial wind turbines just outside the village boundaries, and PC energy critic Vic Fedeli and MPPs Bob Bailey and Randy Pettapiece took time from the Association of Municipalities Ontario conference in Ottawa to show their solidarity.

Fedeli did most of the talking at the brief event at the Rideau Township Archives on North Gower’s main street. He said the McGuinty government’s plan to bring green energy into the province is failing.

“The government’s dream of bringing green energy was forced on Ontario by overpaying for FIT (the feed-in tariff program) and guaranteeing to buy the power whenever it’s made, which is usually at night,” he told a small gathering of residents. “And they stripped municipalities of their decision-making power.”

He said the PC party would like to reverse those three elements of the Green Energy Act, so that residents can have more power to decide what energy projects are built in their communities.

“When you want green energy in your community, (municipalities can ask) is it in a willing host community, do we need the power and is it at a price we can afford,” Fedeli said.

The party is also asking to put all proposed wind projects in the province on hold until a federal study on the health effects of wind turbines is completed.

Gary Thomas, owner of Thomas Tree Farm on McCordick Road, said his house and farm will be within one kilometre of “four or five” turbines planned for the area. He said he’s done some basic calculations and thinks that from about December to February he will experience shadows from the turbines in the afternoons.

“It would drive you crazy. I couldn’t live there, and we’ve been here for 32 years,” said his wife Ruth Thomas.

Thomas said he’s concerned that it will ruin his old-fashioned Christmas tree cutting events. “With the turbines across the road, I don’t know how old-fashioned it will be,” he said.

Passing on the family farm will become difficult as well, because his son’s family will likely refuse to come because of health concerns.

Thomas said he wishes he could be more supportive of such an initiative.

“If they were of any benefit, it would be a different story,” he said. The Conservatives have long lambasted the McGuinty government for their commitment to wind power, claiming that turbines are inefficient and less green than traditional sources of power such as hydro.

Fedeli said he wants the government to focus on retrofitting existing dams and hydro plants to harness water energy, which he said would be more environmentally-friendly and more cost-effective.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

Donations gratefully received: PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0