30 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
Here from the Ottawa Sun, a story by Susan Sherring, on the opposition to the proposed North Gower-Richmond wind power generation project.
By Susan Sherring ,Ottawa Sun
First posted: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 06:03 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 06:19 PM EDT
For years, Gary Thomas has run…
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30 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power
Tags
Green Energy Act, health effects wind farms, Jim Watson, Kathleen Wynne, noise wind farms, noise wind turbines, Ottawa wind concerns, Prowind, Scott Moffat, shadow flicker wind turbines, wind farm North Gower, wind farm Richmond Ontario
Here from the Ottawa Sun, a story by Susan Sherring, on the opposition to the proposed North Gower-Richmond wind power generation project.
By Susan Sherring ,Ottawa Sun
First posted: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 06:03 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 06:19 PM EDT
For years, Gary Thomas has run a successful 50-acre Christmas tree farm in North Gower.
And he does it right, a family event with horse-drawn sleighs, tractor-drawn wagons and a warm fire with hot chocolate and cookies waiting for you upon your return from the bush.
Don’t forget the sweet smells of fresh Scotch Pine and Balsam fir.
Idyllic? Absolutely.
Now picture the same Norman Rockwell scene with a 600-foot high wind turbine less than 1 km away.
Sort of jars the senses, doesn’t it?
And then picture the massive turbine casting a shadow over the scene every few seconds.
Thomas says he can barely believe the possibility.
But indeed, there continues to be a looming threat of a wind turbine project as his next-door-neighbour.
A company called Prowind has applied more than once to the province for permission to build the wind turbine project in North Gower.
And when the province opens up for bids again, there’s every expectation Prowind will submit a proposal again.
“We’re not very pleased with it for a number of reasons. Health, there’s the psychological aspect, and the flicker effect, with every few second have a shadow come in front of our house, this is crazy,
“I’m not sure customers having the old fashioned experience will like the shadow,” he said.
Agreed.
Thomas doesn’t just worry about the immediate effects of the turbines, but he and his wife have counted on the farm for their retirement — and if the giant wind turbines are erected, doesn’t know how that will effect the resale value of their home.
“We’re hopeful Watson and council won’t put them in the municipality,” he says, in an interview with the Sun on Wednesday.
The threat of a giant wind turbine farm in their community has galvanized residents of North Gower in opposition of the project.
“We really don’t need these wind power projects,” said Jane Wilson, the chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns.
The group is circulating a petition — which now has about 400 names on it — advising the province North Gower doesn’t want to be home to a wind turbine project.
“It’s a pretty big power plant, I’m not sure people understand that. It’s huge, these are really large machines, they make noise and the vibrations can be upsetting,” she said.
The group has the support of their ward councillor Scott Moffatt, who’s working with them and city staff to craft a motion asking the province to give municipalities a say in where the wind power projects can and can’t be located.
“The majority are against it,” he added.
……………..
Read more at the Ottawa Sun website and take the poll!
29 Tuesday Oct 2013
Posted in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power
Tags
Not a Willing Host North Gower, Not a Willing Host Ottawa, Not a Willing Host Richmond Ontario, wind power petition Ottawa
Thanks to talented and dedicated volunteers we now have an online poll which will gather opinions from voters in the City of Ottawa, which we can take to Council along with our petition.
The link to the survey is HERE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LZSDL9N
Please go to the survey, and send it to Ottawa friends, relatives and co-workers!
Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com
Donations welcome at PO Box 3 North Gower ON K0A 2T0
Petitions due November 12; return by mail to the address above
28 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Wind power
Here is a news story about Prowind’s UK division, which actually held job fairs for jobs that didn’t exist in the hopes of getting approval for a contentious wind power project. Now whining that they were misrepresented, they are looking to do a solar installation instead. Changing the company name to Prowind-ooops-solar?
Here is the story.
Prowind’s Keith Brooks speaks to residents and Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK at Jurby Parish Hall
Nearly 100 villagers voted unanimously at a packed public meeting to oppose on-shore wind turbines.
But the move came after it emerged that the company behind a proposed wind farm and wind turbine manufacturing plant in Jurby had now abandoned its plans for five 150m high turbines at the airfield site and was now exploring options for solar power instead.
In a letter to Tynald members, Prowind managing director Keith Brooks said that following ‘vastly incorrect representation’ of his company in the House of Keys this week, he had no option but to seek an alternative location in the UK for the venture.
And as a ‘gesture towards repairing the damage caused’ to the company’s reputation he suggested that Prowind should receive compensation – a refund of its £120,000 investment costs plus an offer to set the planning fees for both the solar park and industrial unit at £1 each which he said would give ‘sufficient confidence to resume a situation here’.
Michael MHK Alfred Cannan, who called the public meeting at Jurby parish hall, described the situation as ‘a shambles and a joke’.
But he added: ‘It is actually very serious. There is a lot of anger at the way this has been handled. It was presented as a fait accompli and raised temperatures among landowners and residents. I took a vote which was a unanimous “No to wind turbines”.’
In the House of Keys, Economic Development Minister John Shimmin accused Prowind UK of raising false expectations among job seekers who attended a three-day jobs fair organised by the company on behalf of US wind turbine manufacturer Xseres.
Some 70 applicants each day had been due to attend interviews at the Job Centre in Douglas for jobs ranging from office admin and packaging to manufacturing and delivery drivers. They were told the unit would be opened in March or April next year and successful applicants would be offered a start date at the end of November.
Mr Shimmin told MHKs that at a meeting on Friday, Prowind had been told wind turbines could not be erected at Jurby airfield as the site was safeguarded for emergency landings and future aviation use.
He said no formal agreement had been reached with government and the company would need full planning consent before going ahead.
The Minister said: ‘I believe the company made a mistake by approaching the Job Centre and advertising 100 jobs which indicated they were further progressed than this actual business plan is.
‘I would like to make it clear that I’m very interested in talking to Prowind UK. However, the airfield at Jurby will not have the turbines that have been proposed. Prowind may walk away from that area.’
Prowind managing director Keith Brooks, who outlined the firm’s plans at Jurby parish hall on Saturday, claimed the public were ‘extremely supportive’ of both wind and solar power.
Speaking at the jobs fair, he told the Manx Independent that three of the five planned turbines would have been in the way of airfield operations. He said: ‘My current thinking is we don’t need to have turbines on the site. It was always an option to go solely solar. After a second viewing in my opinion a revision to solely solar would be more suitable.’
Mr Brooks said Prowind UK has asked for Andreas Racing Association’s assistance in designing a layout that would allow the safe operation of its activities.
He said: ‘As a company we strive to create local benefit. In the case of Jurby this would be assisting Xseres with all preliminary work which has included initial staff evaluation to determine the existing skills set.’
In the Keys, the Economic Development Minister accused Mr Cannan of undermining the island’s message that it was open for business after the Michael MHK claimed Prowind UK had assets of only £7,000, made a loss of £96,000 and has creditors of more than £165,000.
Questioned about the figures, Mr Brooks told the Independent that the £96,000 was a ‘declared loss for accountancy’.
He added: ‘I’m in charge of the finances of the company and to the best of my knowledge there are no outstanding creditors. There is nothing to hide. Prowind UK is the UK arm of a multi-national company. We are funded directly by the parent company.’
In the Keys, Chief Minister Allan Bell accused MHKs of ‘jumping the gun’ on Prowind’s proposals as no firm proposition had been put forward.’
…..
Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com
28 Monday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
Here is a link to the poster presentation on the link between the environmental noise and infrasound produced by industrial-scale wind turbines, as presented by a member of the Renewable Energy Technologies and Health team at the University of Waterloo.
Wind Concerns Ontario has already sent a letter to the Premier, the Minister of Energy, and the Minister of the Environment to demand that NO MORE wind power project approvals be granted, given the questions raised by these results.
Poster_CPaller_Oct15_WT Noise Sleep Quality
Wind Concerns Ontario may be contacted at windconcerns@gmail.com
27 Sunday Oct 2013
Posted in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power
Tags
Lisa MacLeod, noise wind farms, noise wind turbines, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, property value loss North Gower, Prowind, wind farm North Gower, wind farm Richmond Ontario, wind power North Gower
(Dear Tom Spears: they are NOT ‘farms’)
From the Ottawa Citizen
NORTH GOWER — Nearly 300 people came to the recreation centre in North Gower Saturday morning to oppose construction of eight to 10 wind turbines north and west of the village.
“They’re too noisy. They are really way to close to people for an industrial power plant,” said organizer Jane Wilson, of Ottawa Wind Concerns. “Far too close to too many people.”
She estimates that 1,100 homes would be within 3.5 kilometres of the turbines.
“A number of the homes are within two kilometres, which is … where you see most of the health effects,” she said.
Her group circulated a map of where it says the turbines would be sited, “and when people start looking at the map and see how close it is, it really makes a difference to them.”
Opponents of wind farms say sound waves that are at too low a frequency for the human ear to hear can cause insomnia, dizziness, headaches and other health problems. The industry says there is no health impact.
Construction could begin in the fall of 2014, she believes.
The proposal by Prowind Canada is on hold for now, but residents expect the company to go ahead eventually. The Prowind website estimates the size of what it calls the Marlborough wind farm at eight turbines, producing up to 20 megawatts.
Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, who is also the Conservative energy critic, attended the event to support the protest.
“Rural communities are going to be assaulted by these wind turbine developments,” she said.
She said the Conservatives want a moratorium on new wind developments, and an end to subsidies “so that we can put them put of business.”
She also accused the turbines of being costly and inefficient.
Wind farms are common in many parts of Ontario, especially along the Great Lakes, but are not yet common in Eastern Ontario. In some rural communities they have pitted neighbours against each other, with some welcoming the revenue and some saying their health and property values are at stake.
“There are obviously some health issues that need to be explored and Health Canada is doing that right now,” MacLeod said.
Wilson said the Saturday rally collected 282 signatures declaring that North Gower is “not a willing host” to a wind farm.
Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre announced on Twitter that the social costs of wind farms are too high and added, “I will continue to stand with you.”
Click here for the map by Ottawa Wind Concerns.
27 Sunday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
Here from The Independent, is the responses received by the newspaper to a set of questions put to Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, on the new procurement process for large-scale wind power projects. The announcement of the new process has been delayed.
Posted October 26, 2013: Business, Featured, Front Page, News.
Editor’s note: The Independent recently requested an interview with Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli about the concerns about industrial wind turbines. We submitted five questions and here are the unedited responses forwarded by the minister’s office.
When will the province outline how it will handle FIT program?
The Large Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program is being replaced with a new competitive procurement process for renewable energy projects. We asked the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to develop a new competitive procurement process for future renewable energy projects larger than…
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27 Sunday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
From The Morrisburg Leader, news item about Wind Concerns Ontario member and community group leader Leslie Disheau, who plans to run in the 2014 municipal election. Disheau has been involved in numerous community and charity efforts, and until the group decided to disband recently, was leader of the South Branch Wind Opposition group.
SOUTH DUNDAS —
The nomination process for the 2014 municipal elections doesn’t open until the new year, but already, Leslie Disheau has announced that she plans to seek a seat at the South Dundas council table.
Disheau made the announcement to the South Branch Wind Opposition group, and its followers, within the context of the announced dissolution of the group, over the weekend.
Although Disheau has not yet announced which seat at the South Dundas council table she has her…
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26 Saturday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
North Gower-Richmond (Ottawa), October 26–Hundreds of residents jammed into the largest hall in the Recreation Centre in North Gower today, to listen to speakers and sign petitions to declare the community Not a Willing Host to a proposed wind power project.
The 20-megawatt project is on hold, waiting for Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli to announce the new “procurement” process and application procedure for large-scale renewable power generation projects, which is expected to happen in January, 2014. The wind power developer Prowind, based in Germany,already told The Ottawa Citizen it intends to reapply for the subsidy program, and that it would work to make local residents “comfortable” with the project.
But the citizens looked anything but comfortable Saturday as they lined up to sign a petition to go to the City of Ottawa demanding to be declared Not a Willing Host.
Ottawa Wind Concerns chair Jane Wilson said that the $20-million…
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23 Wednesday Oct 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
University of Waterloo Research Chair
industrial wind turbine (IWT) study results statistically significant
Oct. 24.2013/ At a recent symposium in Toronto facilitated by former Toronto Mayor David Miller titled Symposia of the Ontario Research Chairs in Public Policy, a poster entitled ‘Wind Turbine Noise, Sleep Quality, and Symptoms of Inner Ear Problems’ was displayed by Claire Paller, Phil Bigelow, Shannon Majowicz, Jane Law, and Tanya Christidis.
The research indicates statistically significant results for sleep, vertigo and tinnitus (excerpt):
“All relationships were found to be positive and statistically significant.”
The University of Waterloo – Ontario Ministry of Environment funded IWT health study was publicly displayed during the symposium on sustainability held at York University , Toronto on October 17, 2013.
It is reported that 396 surveys were included in the analysis (excerpts include):
“In total there were 412 surveys returned; 16 of these survey respondents did not provide…
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Ottawa Wind Concerns 