Tag Archives: Beth Trudeau

Power developer EDF claims to have signed leases for St Isidore wind project

22 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Ontario Farmer, June 16, 2015

Farmers signing up for St. Isidore wind power project

by Ian Cumming

[Excerpt]

A 10,000-acre windmill project is being proposed near St. Isidore in Prescott County with many farmers already having signed leases.*

The 150-megawatt project is projected to run from Highway 417 north to County Road 10 and 16 in the Nation township, states a press release from the St. Isidore Wind Energy Centre, and affiliate of EDF Renewable Services.

“There are supportive landowners in the area that have already signed up,” said David Thornotn from EDF. …

The St. Isidore Wind Energy Centre is holing an information meeting for the public on June 23rd from 5 to 8 PM in the St. Isidore Arena, said Thornton.

A Ponzi scheme: local farmer

“I have 700 acres right smack in the middle of it and I think the program is stupid,” said a farmer who wished to remain unidentified. “It’s a Ponzi scheme that in the end has you buying your own power. They’ve been phoning me for a couple of years now to sign, but I won’t,” said the farmer. “Others have probably signed up…they want the money now not realizing that in the end it will cost them.”

People who work at the power dam in Cornwall “tell me that you would cry when you see all the water that we dump over the dam because we don’t need the power,” said the farmer. “And when these things become obsolete the companies will be gone or bankrupt…You’re going to have to clean your own tower up.”

…Local landowner groups have become involved over the St. Isidore and other nearby proposed wind projects said Beth Trudeau from that organization.

Municipalities can take action

Their response to the project will focus on making municipal politicians aware of the fact that the Green Energy Act does not prohibit them from ruling as to whether or not the projects can be constructed, she said.

“The municipalities are saying there is nothing they can do, and we intend to show them otherwise,” said Trudeau.

*The wind power generators at the utility or industrial scale are NOT “windmills,” they are wind turbines. This should properly say the wind power developers is “alleged” to have signed agreements with farm owners as it is a common tactic for the developers to encourage people to sign by telling people many others already have; also, at this stage, the agreements are likely an “option” and not a contract.

 

Hydro bill protest attracts hundreds to Chiarelli’s office

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Wind power

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Megan Dalaire, Ottawa Citizen April 4, 2014

Ottawa — Hundreds of people affected by Ontario’s rising energy prices gathered Friday in a protest against the province’s Long-Term Energy Plan outside of MPP Bob Chiarelli’s office on Carling Avenue.

The energy plan was announced by Chiarelli on Dec. 2 and is expected to save the province $16 billion on energy between 2013 and 2017, at a high cost to residential hydro customers, whose bills will rise by 42 per cent over next five years, 50 per cent over next 10 years, and 68 per cent over next 20 years. The cost of heating is an especially touchy subject to Ottawans, who have just experienced the city’s coldest winter in two decades, but the protesters Friday had their fellow Ontarians in mind as they rallied for the second time since December.

”Across the province people are hurting because of high gas prices,” said protest organizer Beth Trudeau. ”What we want to do is to give a voice to the people who don’t have a voice. The people who have to choose between heating and eating.”

Friday’s protest was part of a provincewide movement called Join the Fight Against Hydro Rates, which Trudeau said was originally started by two Dryden, Ont., women and now has thousands of supporters.

Complaints by protesters covered a range of issues, from hydro usage cost increases, high distribution rates, HST and surcharges, to the dubious reputation of smart meters installed by Hydro One to replace analog meters. Passing motorists honked their horns and…

Read the full story here.

Blog editor note: thanks to those of our members who attended the protest, and handed out the McGuinty FITy dollar bills, which details the reasons behind Ontario’s electricity bill increases. (They’re not what the government is telling you.)