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Tag Archives: Alliance to protect Prince Edward County

Wind power developer uses threat to influence environmental agency

15 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, APPEC, Blanding's Turtle, Environmental Review Tribunal, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, prince Edward County, wind farm, wind fram environmental damage, wind power, wind turbines

Power developer announcement it is about to clear land which is habitat for an endangered species is an attempt to force the Environmental Review Tribunal to issue a decision on the Prince Edward County wind power project, and proposed “remedies” for species at risk

The Environmental Review Tribunal determined the Blandings Turtle was endangered by the wind farm; the company is proceeding with construction in the absence of a final decision

April 15, 2017

Minutes before 4 PM on the Thursday of the Easter weekend, Germany-based wind power developer WPD issued notice to the Environmental Review Tribunal that the company intends to start clearing land in advance of building the White Pines power project.

Land clearing is to begin on Wednesday, the corporate power developer said, which meant there is only one day after the Easter weekend to file any documents against the action.

The White Pines project has been contested in an appeal before the Tribunal; the original decision found that the power project would cause harm to endangered species of turtles and bats. A hearing was held in late January to hear possible “remedy” actions to prevent loss of life, but a decision accepting or rejecting the remedies has not yet been rendered.

WPD is in danger of being in breach of its contract with the Ontario government if it does not begin supplying power by the critical Commercial Operation Date.

The Blandings Turtle, one of the endangered species at risk from the wind power project construction, has already been seen in the County by residents, so has emerged from hibernation.

The rush to construction shows how willing the wind power developer is to risk environmental damage, a spokesperson for the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County told news media Quinte News.

At an earlier phase of the White Pines project WPD began unauthorized land clearing but was halted by an order from the Environmental Review Tribunal. WPD is also the power developer behind the contentious Fairview Wind project near Collingwood. It threatened to sue the Ontario government if a contract was not issued for the power project.

Previous attempt by WPD to clear land for unauthorized construction of the Prince Edward County wind power project

 

 

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Wind farm appeal an eye-opener on government oversight of wind power approvals

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, endangered species Ontario, green energy, Ontario, Ontario Ministry of NAtural Resources, Ostrander Point, White Pines, wind energy, wind farm appeals, wind farm environmental damage, wind power

Birds? What birds? MNRF "biologist" misses the fact the South Shore of Prince Edward County is a designated Important Bird Area. It is slated for a 29-turbine wind power project.

Birds? What birds? MNRF “biologist” misses the fact the South Shore of Prince Edward County is a designated Important Bird Area. It is slated for a 29-turbine wind power project.

There have been many appeals of wind power project approvals in Ontario —in fact, almost EVERY approval since 2009 has been appealed—but the two appeals ongoing in Prince Edward County currently are interesting as they focus on the approval process for power projects, and the expert oversight citizens expect is part of it.

The truth? There isn’t any oversight.

If the wind power developer says there are not at-risk or endangered species in the project area then, well, they must be right. According to the government, that is.

The Ostrander Point appeal is now in its fifth phase as the appeal has bounced from the quasi-judicial Environmental Review Tribunal to court and back; we learned there that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources at-risk species expert recommended a permit NOT be granted for the power project.

And now, testimony at the White Pines appeal, also in Prince Edward County, is showing that the developer and the government relied on inadequate and incomplete consulting reports, and the government never bothered to check. At yesterday’s hearing, the MNRF “biologist” (she has a BA in environmental studies) stated that she was “unaware” that the County’s South Shore was a site for thousands of migratory birds, or that the power project site had several species of at-risk or endangered wildlife.

We invite you to follow along the excellent reports of the White Pines appeal (Ostrander Point has now heard all the evidence and will see final submissions in mid-January) at both Wind Concerns Ontario and the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC).

It’s an eye-opener.

[To donate to APPEC’s legal fight click here.]

Power developer records citizens at community event

29 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, community opposition wind farms, prince Edward County, White Pines wind farm, wind developer intimidation, wind farm, wind power, windmills, WPD Canada

Reposted from WindConcernsOntario.ca

Wind power developer records protesters in Prince Edward County

WPD’s slogan: “Wind has no limits.” Apparently, greed doesn’t either. 

MILFORD Ont., September 28, 2015—

As more than 300 residents of Prince Edward County gathered on Sunday to protest the assault on their community and the environment by two wind power projects (Ostrander Point and White Pines, both being appealed) Germany-based wind power developer wpd Canada recorded the event, including speeches given by various presenters.

“Shame on them,” says Paula Peel, secretary for the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC).

If the power developer’s presence recording people was meant as an intimidation tactic, it didn’t work, Peel says.

The organizers did a brisk business selling T-shirts and protest signs, she says. “If you didn’t come to the rally with a T-shirt or sign, it’s likely you left with one.”

“The one thing wpd will take away from our rally is that the fight is only just beginning.”

 

Contact APPEC and read more here.

Environmental Review Tribunal wraps up: evidence shows harm to human health ‘probable’

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Tags

Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, APPEC, Environmental Review Tribunal, Eric Gillespie, Gilead Power, Green Energy Act, health effects wind farms, health effects wind turbine noise, indirect health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Ostrander Point, prince Edward County

Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County
P.O. Box 173
Milford, Ontario K0K 2P0

APPEC Appeal Shows Probability of Harm to Human health

Milford, ON  June 24, 2013.   The Environmental Review Tribunal hearings on the Ostrander Point wind project concluded in Toronto on June 21.   The Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC) has presented evidence that indicates the probability of harm to human health from wind turbines.

Summations by counsel for APPEC, Gilead Power, and the Ministry of Environment (MOE) focused on three important issues:  the relevance of the Erickson appeal (2011), the medical evidence presented, and the standard of proof required.

APPEC lawyer Eric Gillespie argued that reliance on the Erickson decision avoids an onerous and unmanageable process of re-litigation on matters already addressed by 25 expert witnesses. The present ERT has to consider the principal findings in Erickson because they relate to a wind project, like Ostrander Point, approved to operate with 40 dBA noise limits and 550-m setbacks.

Mr. Gillespie urged the ERT panel to accept the testimony of 11 witnesses who reported adverse health effects from living near currently-operating wind projects.  All of them have suffered a range of symptoms known to result from exposure to audible noise and low-frequency sound. Expert opinion has related these to the proximity of wind turbines as far as 2 km away.

Gilead’s and the MOE’s own witnesses, said Mr. Gillespie, have testified that there are always “some people,” or a “non-trivial percentage of the population,” affected by wind turbines. APPEC’s case has shown the probability, not just biological plausibility, of serious harm to human health.  There is enough evidence on the “balance of probabilities” for the ERT to make a decision.

 

“People are obviously suffering despite the MOE’s regulations,” said APPEC President Gord Gibbins. “There will be more victims if Ostrander Point and other wind projects go ahead.”

The ERT panel also questioned the location of the wind project on Crown land.  The public will have access to the site via 5.4 km of maintenance road and would be exposed to the risks of ice throw, blade breakage, nacelle fire, and tower collapse. 

“These concerns are another sign,” said Gord Gibbins, “that public health and safety appear to be secondary to wind power development.”

The ERT’s decision is due by July 10.

-30-

For more information, please contact:

Henri Garand, Chair, Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County, 613-476-4527, hgarand@xplornet.ca

The Ostrander Point power project appeal: winnable!

28 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Algonquin Power, Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, APPEC, Carlyn Moulton, CCSAGE, cost benefit wind power, County Coalition for Safe and Appropriate Green Energy, Environmental Review Tribunal Ontario, Gilead Power, health effects wind farms, health effects wind power, health effects wind turbine noise, infrasound wind turbines, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Ostrander Point, Paul Catling, PECFN, prince Edward County, Prince Edward County Field Naturalists, Regent Theatre Oicton, touism and wind power projects, tourism UK and wind power, White Pines wind power

As you know, two community groups have appeal the Ministry of the Environment’s approval of a wind power project on the South Shore of Prince Edward County at Ostrander Point. The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN) and the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC) have both filed appeals, PECFN’s on the basis that the project will cause serious and irreversible harm to the natural environment, and APPEC on the basis of harm to human health. Wind Concerns Ontario was granted status as a participant and presented evidence on the potential harm to bats, and the resulting economic effects if this expensive and unnecessary power development were to be built. County Coalition for Safe Affordable Green Energy (CCSAGE)  is also assisting with fund-raising and other activities.

The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) is continuing in the County and a great deal of evidence on the environment has already been presented.

Last week, the community groups hosted a fund-raiser Town Hall, which featured excellent speakers. Local humourist Steve Campbell was the MC for the event, a packed hall at the venerable Regent Theatre in Picton, said he regularly reads of strife for city dwellers in the form of crime, and gang wars, etc. “Here in the County,” he said, “we only have two enemies: the provincial government, and the federal government.”

For more details on the event, please read the story here (and note the new mascot Angry Bird!):  http://www.freewco.blogspot.ca/2013/04/ccsages-town-hall-event-on-wind-turbine.html

One of the most stunning pieces of information presented that evening was from business owner Carlyn Moulton who noted that the arts and services sectors bring in $400 million in revenue annually to the County while the proposed wind power development will bring–get this–$1-2 million in tax revenue. “Huh?” she said. “How does that make any sense?” Tourism to the County will be drastically affected by the Ostrander Point project, and another proposed wind power project the “White Pines.” A study done recently in the U.K., Moulton said, showed that 75% of the visitors to an area where wind turbines had been installed said they would “never come back.”

Among the handouts that evening (we were there) was a flyer on why the Ostrander Point ERT is “winnable.” The environmental testimony has been damning—botanist Paul Catling said the damage to the rare alvar environment will be irreversible and he scoffed at developer Gilead Power’s claim to be able to re-create the environment elsewhere—but this ERT is the first opportunity for a Tribunal to hear actual testimony from people already living with wind turbines and the environmental noise and infrasound they produce.

“APPEC’s appeal is the first in which Ontario wind victims will present evidence demonstrating that wind turbines cause serious harm.This proof meets the test required in order to WIN  and ERT appeal,” APPEC wrote in the flyer. “By invalidating 550-m setbacks the appeal will set a precedent that applies to every proposed industrial wind project. The Ministry of the Environment would have to determine a new standard to protect the health of Ontarians, and it could not continue to rubber-stamp projects in Ontario.”

Worth supporting, wouldn’t you say?

Go to www.appec.ca to donate or send a cheque to

APPEC Legal Fund

PO Box 173

Milford ON   K0K 2P0

If the government actually approves this wind power project in a “globally significant” important bird area, and where the destruction of a rare environment is assured, there is no hope of using the government’s process for any project.

FIGHT IT.

Ottawa Wind Concerns

p-o-bird-gb-pt-pec(A grey-blue gnat-catcher, photographed by a Prince Edward County resident)

Ostrander Point project approval:contemptuous, reprehensible

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Alliance to protect Prince Edward County, Dalton McGuinty, Environmental Commissioner Ontario, Gilead Power, Gord Miller, Jim Bradley Minister Environment, Ostrander Point, Ottawa wind concerns, Point to Point Foundation, prince Edward County, Prince Edward County Field Naturalists, Wind Concerns Ontario

Citizens of Prince Edward County were stunned when, just a few days before Christmas, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment announced it had approved the Ostrander Point wind power project.

Ostrander Point is at the southern tip of Prince Edward County and is considered an “Important Bird Area” which, according to Nature Canada, is “globally significant” for the number of migrating birds passing the area each year in the spring and fall.

The Ontario Government doesn’t care.

The Ministry of the Environment doesn’t care.

They don’t care that Ontario’s own Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller not too many months ago, advised the government not to locate wind power generation projects near the 70 or so Important Bird Areas in the province.

Stunning.

Of course, groups are lining up to file an appeal (how contemptuous is this government of democracy? The 15-day appeal period comes at the most holiday-intensive time of the year and actually only affords EIGHT business days for citizens to respond) including Prince Edward County itself.

And of course, the Legislature is pro-rogued so that not even our MPPs can stand up in the House and object.

What can you do?

Learn more about the project and Prince Edward County at

http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

http://appec.wordpress.com/

http://pointtopointpec.ca/

Write to the Minister of the Environment, Jim Bradley and complain. You can email him at:minister.moe@ontario.ca

and write to Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller at commissioner@eco.on.ca

Consider joining one of the community groups in Prince Edward County (see the link to APPEC, above) and join Wind Concerns Ontario (link above)

and donate to Ottawa Wind Concerns.

PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca to join our (confidential) email list for bulletins.

South-Shore-300x200

South shore, Prince Edward County

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