Tag Archives: green energy

Property value loss from North Stormont wind farm in the millions: Wind Concerns Ontario

06 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in Renewable energy, Uncategorized, Wind power

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BerwickAreaFarm-DL

Berwick area farm: 33 huge industrial wind turbines planned could mean a loss of $37 million for nearby property owners [Photo Dorothea Larsen, Kemptville]

Homeowners in North Stormont will have to make a big sacrifice to “green” energy if the proposed “Nation Rise” wind power project is constructed, says Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of community groups and Ontario families.

Using research completed recently by a land economist with the University of Guelph and published in Land Economics, Wind Concerns calculates that overall, the property loss for houses within 5 km of the 33 planned turbines could be $87.8 million. Using other research that is less conservative, however, the property value loss could be more than $140 million.

Research done in 2016 by the partnership of Clarkson University and Nanos Research on U.S properties with a view of Wolfe Island wind turbines showed an overall property value loss of 15 per cent for homes “with a view” of the turbines. Older research done by Ontario real estate appraiser Ben Lansink in 2012 found a more dramatic reduction for properties closest to turbines, an average loss of 37 per cent.

University of Guelph associate professor Richard Vyn found a property value loss in communities opposed to wind power projects of 8.98 percent for houses within 2 km of turbines, and 8.62 per cent for properties within 4 km, post-construction of turbines.

For the Nation Rise power project, there are 828 properties within 1,500 metres of turbines according to the wind power developer, Portugal-based EDP, and approximately 2,500 residences within 2 to 5 km of the turbines, according to community group Concerned Citizens of North Stormont.

The houses within 1,500 metres of a turbine in the “Nation Rise” project could see a loss of $21.8 million using professor Vyn’s estimate, $37 million according to Clarkson-Nanos, or as much as $91 million in losses using Mr. Lansink’s calculations.

The community group has appealed the project approval on the basis of environmental, safety and health concerns, and is worried about the effect of turbine construction on the water supply, which could be an additional factor in property value loss.

Wind power proponents and Ontario’s municipal assessment agency have maintained that there is no appreciable property value loss, but an energy commentator wrote in Forbes magazine in 2015 that “there’s a heavily funded public relations machine to make Americans think that wind power doesn’t impact property values.”

“Renewable energy and the ‘environment’ are big businesses and they include not just energy producing companies but also various agencies, interest groups, and even university researchers,” Jude Clemente wrote. “Their grant money and careers are at stake.”

Clemente added that “Many members of the Real Estate and Appraisal businesses, however, have been clear that wind power DOES impact property values … it would seem to me that these groups have no vested interest in supporting wind power or not supporting it.”

A decision is expected on the Nation Rise project appeal in the first week of January, 2019.

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) says Ontario has an adequate supply of power until 2035. The 20-year contract for the Nation Rise project will cost Ontario more than $450 million.

 

#properties Value at $300K each Estimated loss – Vyn 8.8% Estimated loss-Clarkson-Nanos/Lansink 15%
3,328 $998.4 Million $87.8 million $140.7 million

 

Reposted from Wind Concerns Ontario December 5, 2018 www.windconcernsontario.ca

Sources

Richard Vyn, “Property Value Impacts of Wind Turbines and the Influence of Attitudes toward Wind Energy”, Land Economics. http://le.uwpress.org/content/94/4/496.abstract?etoc

Clarkson-Nanos: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/clarkson-study-henderson-could-lose-40-million-in-property-value-from-galloo-island-wind-project–20160405

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2015/09/23/do-wind-turbines-lower-property-values/#4ea0a2d148cb

Lansink: http://www.lansinkappraisals.com/downloads/CaseStudy_DiminutionInValue_InjuriousAffection_WindTurbines.pdf

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Wind power developer documents found lacking: engineers’ report

09 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Power developer project documents are missing key details, engineering firm tells Municipality of North Stormont

Concerned Citizens of North Stormont leader Margaret Benke, in Finch, Ontario: MOECC has poor track record in meeting its responsibilities

August 9, 2017

Last week, Portugal-based EDP Renewables filed documents with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) as part of the Renewable Energy Approval (REA) process, to get final approval for its “Nation Rise” wind power project in North Stormont, just south of Ottawa.

Using every tool they have to act responsibly on behalf of citizens, North Stormont had engaged Ottawa engineering firm Morrison Hershfield to conduct a review of the documents presented earlier.

The firm found that key information was missing from the project documents in critical areas such as the impact of the project on groundwater, and on bird and bat populations, to name two. An excerpt from the Morrison Hershfield report, tabled at a late June Council meeting, follows.

  • No review has been completed for potential impacts of the project on potable water sources. While potential impacts to groundwater resources have been reviewed from a biophysical perspective, no review has been completed to assess the potential impacts to groundwater resources from a potable water quantity and quality perspective.

• No review has been completed for potential impacts of the project on prime agricultural lands (Class 1-3 agricultural soils)

• Confirmation letter from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport regarding completeness of archaeological and cultural heritage assessments has not been received for the project as described in clauses 22 (a) and 23 (3) (a) of Ontario Regulation 359/09;

• Confirmation letter from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry regarding completeness of natural heritage assessment and birds and bats EEMP has not been received for the project as described in clauses 28 (3) (b) and (c) of Ontario Regulation 359/09;

• Significant details are missing on the project description (e.g. location and type of permanent meteorological towers & location of the 2-3 proposed staging areas of 2-7 hectares each); and

• No detailed review has been completed to assess potential effects of the project construction on municipal infrastructure.

The consulting firm recommended to Council that North Stormont ask for these reports to be provided, including an assessment of impact on groundwater and municipal infrastructure such as roads.

Read the engineering firm report here.

There is no information on whether EDP complied with the request from North Stormont before filing project documents to be screened for “completeness” by the MOECC.

Citizens in the area are very concerned about the power project. Margaret Benke, a leader with Concerned Citizens of North Stormont, told Ottawa Wind Concerns “You can imagine that with 825 homes within 2km of one and up to 10 proposed turbines, and both Crysler and Finch villages within 3km of multiple turbines, we are bracing for the worst.

The group is especially concerned following release of a report by Wind Concerns Ontario in June, showing that the MOECC has failed to respond to thousands of reports of excessive noise from wind turbines.

“We have many apprehensive citizens,” Benke said. “Unless the MOECC changes its approach, we expect that we could be treated with the same lack of respect and consideration as the 3,200 other residents of Ontario who were largely ignored.  We will continue our fight to protect our rural citizens, who deserve equal respect as citizens.”

EDP also operates the South Branch wind power project in Brinston; it took over a year to file its required acoustic audit to demonstrate compliance with provincial noise regulations for wind turbines, but there is no report posted on the company’s website.

The Nation Rise project will be 100-megawatt capacity using 30-35 industrial-scale wind turbines; Ontario currently has a surplus of electrical power and is regularly selling off extra at below-market prices, and paying wind power generators not to produce in times of low demand and high supply.

A report published by the Council for Safe a& Reliable Energy noted that 70 percent of Ontario’s wind power is wasted. (Ontario’s High-Cost Millstone, June, 2017)

Ontario consumers paid millions for wasted power in April, stats show

08 Monday May 2017

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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While the Canadian Wind Energy Association, the trade association for the wind power industry and vested interests, continues to maintain that wind power cannot be contributing to Ontario’s rising and unsustainable electricity bills, the facts indicate otherwise. The figures for April 2017 show wind power produced out-of-phase with demand, causing power from other, clean sources to be wasted, and wind power producers paid not to add power to the Ontario grid.

Here is Parker Gallant’s analysis.

The Independent Electricity System Operator or IESO’s 18 month outlook report uses their “Methodology to Perform Long Term Assessments” to forecast what industrial wind turbines (IWT) are likely to generate as a percentage of their rated capacity.

The Methodology description follows.

“Monthly Wind Capacity Contribution (WCC) values are used to forecast the contribution from wind generators. WCC values in percentage of installed capacity are determined from actual historic median wind generator contribution over the last 10 years at the top 5 contiguous demand hours of the day for each winter and summer season, or shoulder period month. The top 5 contiguous demand hours are determined by the frequency of demand peak occurrences over the last 12 months.”

 The most recent 18-month outlook forecast wind production at an average (capacity 4,000 MW growing to 4,500 MW) over 12 months at 22.2%, which is well under the assumed 29-30 % capacity claimed by wind developers. For the month of April, IESO forecast wind generation at 33.2% of capacity.

April 2017 has now passed; my friend Scott Luft has posted the actual generation and estimated the curtailed generation produced by Ontario’s contracted IWT.   For April, IESO reported grid- and distribution-connected IWT generated almost 703,000 megawatt hours (MWh), or approximately 24% of their generation capacity. Scott also estimated they curtailed 521,000 MWh or 18 % of generation capacity.

So, actual generation could have been 42% of rated capacity as a result of Ontario’s very windy month of April 2017, but Ontario’s demand for power wasn’t sufficient to absorb it! April is typically a “shoulder” month with low demand, but at the same time it is a high generation month for wind turbines.

How badly did Ontario’s ratepayers get hit? In April, they paid the costs to pay wind developers – that doesn’t include the cost of back-up from gas plants or spilled or steamed off emissions-free hydro and nuclear or losses on exported surpluses.

Wind cost=22.9 cents per kWh

For the 703,000 MWh, the cost* of grid accepted generation at $140/MWh was $98.4 million and the cost of the “curtailed” generation at $120/MWh was $62.5 million making the total cost of wind for the month of April $160.9 million.   That translates to a cost per MWh of grid accepted wind of $229.50 or 22.9 cents per kWh.

Despite clear evidence that wind turbines fail to provide competitively priced electricity when it is actually needed, the Premier Wynne-led government continues to allow more capacity to be added instead of killing the Green Energy Act and cancelling contracts that have not commenced installation.

…

* Most wind contracts are priced at 13.5 cents/kilowatt (kWh) and the contracts include a cost of living (COL) annual increase to a maximum of 20% so the current cost is expected to be in the range of $140/MWh or 14cents/kWh.

Re-posted from Parker Gallant Energy Perspectives

What’s driving up your hydro bills? Ontario’s renewable energy disaster

11 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Wind and solar energy can’t be delivered on demand so we pay twice to back it up with gas power

Energy debate

Tom Adams: Wind is a renewable energy ripoff

Bloor West Villager

By Tom Adams

With the Ontario government introducing a new program severing the link between the cost of power and the price of power so it can shift 25 per cent of household power bills today to future generation by way massive new debts, it seems like a good idea to know why Ontario’s power rate crisis developed.

Ontario’s power rates were relatively stable until 2008, when they started steep yearly increases. With the fastest rising rates in North America since then, Ontario’s rates surpassed the U.S. average years ago. The largest single factor driving this increase has been new generating capacity from wind and solar renewable generation.

The Ontario government and its supporters commonly report the costs of different types of generation counting only payments made directly to particular forms of generation.

But, when renewable energy costs trickle down to consumers, those costs are much more than just payments to renewable generators. While it is true that the payments to generators for wind power – 14 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) – is cheaper than for gas power — 17 cents/kWh – not all electricity has equal value. (For context, the average rate households pay for the commodity portion of their bill is about 11 cents/kWh.)

Why don’t we replace wind power with gas power, save money and cut emissions?

Where gas power is delivered on demand, wind is fickle. Eighty per cent of Ontario’s wind generation occurs at times and seasons so far out of phase with usage patterns that the entire output is surplus and is exported at a substantial loss or squandered with payments to generators to not generate. Gas power in Ontario backs up unreliable wind and solar, a necessary function if the lights are to stay on, but we pay twice for the same service.

Direct payments to solar generators average 48 cents/kWh, but the output is similarly low value. Except for a few days per year, Ontario’s peak usage of power is just as solar panels shut down – in the evening.

Massive losses through exports

Not only is Ontario’s renewable energy production driving massive losses to subsidize exports and payments to generators to not generate under the terms of contracts that obligate consumers to buy even useless power, but it is also driving costly but low-value “smart grid” projects required to accommodate renewables.

Rising power rates have driven down usage. Spreading rising costs over declining sales has amplified the pace of rate increases.

Again, government and its supporters have pumped their claim that using less will save us money. What has actually happened is that conservation in Ontario is indeed saving money but mostly for utilities and their customers in Michigan and New York State on the receiving end of our subsidized exports.

But didn’t renewables enable Ontario to get off coal, saving us from smog days, and slash health-care costs? Although endlessly repeated by the government and its supporters, none of these claims bear scrutiny.

Coal’s replacement in Ontario was achieved with increased output from nuclear and gas generators. Improvement in air quality in recent years has been the result of a massive conversion to gas power in the mid-western states upwind of Ontario as well as improvements in transportation fleets and industry. Most of the coal power Ontario produced in its last years came from plants with good new scrubbers, delivering effectively smog-free energy. Predicted health-care savings from the coal phaseout never materialized.

But isn’t the cost of renewable energy plunging?

Ten years ago, the average payment to Ontario wind generators was around 8.3 cents/kWh. Taking into account inflation, the average today is up 50 per cent.

THE OPPOSING VIEW: “Don’t blame renewable energy for Ontario’s electricity costs”

Wind and solar aren’t the only renewable energy ripoff. Recent additions to Ontario’s hydro-electric capacity have added billions in new costs but no additional production. Ontario’s most costly generator is a converted coal-fired station in Thunder Bay, now fueled with a wood product imported from Norway.

Punishing contracts in place for 20 years

A bad smell emanates from renewable politics at Queen’s Park. Renewables developers who made the biggest donations to the provincial Liberals have tended to win the biggest contracts.

Ontario’s renewable energy program is not the only disaster on consumers’ bills. Excessive payroll costs and wasteful conservation programs also lurk, but no single factor has contributed more to the compounding semi-annual increases in rates since 2008 than renewables.

Most of the punishing cost consequences of Ontario’s radical renewables program are locked in with 20-year contracts. Children today will be paying these irresponsible contracts long into the future, along with current costs that the Wynne government has now decided will be added to this future burden.

Tom Adams is an independent energy and environmental advisor and researcher focused on energy consumer concerns, mostly in Eastern Canada. He has worked for several environmental organizations and served on the Ontario Independent Electricity Market Operator Board of Directors and the Ontario Centre for Excellence for Energy Board of Management.

Get costs down, electricity stakeholders tell Wynne government

12 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Former banker and now energy analyst Parker Gallant has prepared a summary of submissions to the Ontario Ministry of Energy, which last fall asked for input to a new Long-Term Energy Plan (LTEP).

Aside from the vested interests in wind power, the stakeholder groups like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers all recommended the government act now to get costs down. And that includes, getting rid of wind power.

From the article, an excerpt on two of the submissions made to the government.

Strategic Policy Economics – Marc Brouillette’s excellent submission on behalf of Bruce Nuclear also carries some sane observations such as “Wind generation has not matched demand since its introduction in Ontario” and, “Over 70% of wind generation does not benefit Ontario’s supply capability.” And this one, which is becoming more evident as ratepayers are forced to pay for curtailed generation: “Wind generation will not match demand in the OPO Outlook future projections as 50% of the forecasted production is expected to be surplus.”

The recommendation that will cause the most handwringing will be: “The LTEP should integrate the objectives of Ontario’s environmental, energy, industrial, and economic policies for the long-term future benefit of Ontarians.”

Wind Concerns Ontario – The coalition of community groups and individuals throughout Ontario had this to say by way of advice to the Ministry: “The government policy to promote “renewables” such as wind and solar have been a critical factor in the grave economic situation today. Wind power for example, now represents 22% of electricity cost, while providing only 5.9% of the power. Worse, that power is produced out-of-phase with demand, as has been detailed by two Auditors General; so much of it is wasted. This is unsustainable.

“Clearly,” WCO continued, “the direction for the Ministry of Energy is to formulate a new Long-Term Energy Plan that will take immediate action on reducing electricity costs. Those actions must include a review of all contractual obligations for power generation from wind, and action to mitigate further costs to the system, and the over-burdened people of Ontario.”

WCO called for cancellation of all the wind power contracts given in 2016, the FIT 5.0 program, and further, cancellation of all contracts for projects not yet built or which are not going to make a critical commercial operation date. In fact, all wind power contracts should be reviewed and paid out, as Ontario can save money by eliminating the need to dispose of the surplus electricity.

Read the full article here.

Ontario ignored staff warnings on wind turbine noise

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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More on the disaster that has been Ontario’s “green energy” program.

Premier Wynne with former Energy Minister and Ottawa MPP Bob Chiarelli [Photo: Canadian Press]

Toronto Sun

It’s too bad Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government didn’t have its epiphany on the pointlessness of subsidizing any more expensive, unreliable and unneeded wind turbines before it tore apart rural Ontario.

It’s too bad Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government didn’t have its epiphany on the pointlessness of subsidizing any more expensive, unreliable and unneeded wind turbines before it tore apart rural Ontario.

The Liberals’ treatment of rural Ontarians has been a disgrace.

They overrode local planning rights by passing the Green Energy Act of 2009 under Wynne’s predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, then rammed industrial wind factories down their throats.

Sometimes, it was hard for people in these communities to believe they were living in a democracy.

Rural communities were torn apart — neighbours cashing in by leasing land to wind developers for turbine construction, against neighbours forced to live in the shadow of the mega-structures.

The province received hundreds of complaints about health problems which people believed were being caused by the turbines and suppressed them.

During the 2011 election, the CBC reported government documents released under Freedom of Information legislation showed environment ministry staff had issued internal warnings the province needed stricter rural noise limits on turbines, that it had no reliable way to monitor or enforce them and that computer models for determining setbacks were flawed.

Ontario Provincial Police showed up at the homes of middle-aged women in one rural community who had never been involved in any form of law-breaking, warning them to keep their demonstrations against wind turbines peaceful.

As we reported, these visits were made at the request of a wind developer. (The government denied any involvement.)

While the Liberals dismissed wind protesters as NIMBYs, they simultaneously cancelled two unpopular natural gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga due to local opposition, at a public cost of $1.1 billion, in what the Tories and NDP dubbed the Liberal seat saver program.

When local residents wrote to Liberal MPPs asking for help in fighting the industrial wind factories imposed on them, they received form letters in reply.

For many rural Ontarians, the Liberal blunder into green energy, launched without any meaningful business plan according to the Auditor General of Ontario — and which wasn’t needed to eliminate coal-fired electricity — wasn’t just a case of their government wasting billions of dollars and sending their electricity bills skyrocketing.

It was a case of their government robbing them of fundamental democratic rights.

 

Municipalities demand formal support be mandatory requirement for new wind power bids

17 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Since this news release was issued, two more municipalities in Ontario have asked the Wynne government to change the wind power bid process, so communities can plan for sustainable development — and not have power plants forced on them

NorthFrontenac

NEWS RELEASE

Plevna, June 15, 2016

Municipalities call on Ontario government to make municipal support mandatory for wind power bids

Seventy-five municipalities have now endorsed resolutions that call on Ontario’s Independent Electrical System Operator (IESO) to make formal Municipal Support a mandatory requirement in Ontario’s next round of procurement for renewable energy projects.

Mayor Ron Higgins of North Frontenac, who put forward a resolution now supported by other municipalities, says making municipal support mandatory is key to fairness in the process. “It will force proponents to seriously address local concerns when developing these proposals, rather than just going through the motions,” he says.

The IESO process allowed municipalities to express their concerns about wind power projects but that had little impact on the outcome, Higgins says. In spite of the fact that then Energy Minister Chiarelli said a contract in an unwilling community was “virtually impossible,” three of five wind power contracts were awarded in municipalities that did not support the projects proposed by developers.

The municipality of Dutton Dunwich, which also created a mandatory support motion, held a referendum on the wind power project bid there — 84 percent of residents said no. The municipality is now fighting a contract award.

Municipalities across Ontario support these resolutions, including former Energy Minister Chiarelli’s home municipality of Ottawa. Municipalities in Northern Ontario also endorse the resolution.

“Communities know what type of development is appropriate and sustainable,” says North Frontenac Mayor Higgins. “Our resolution points out that utility-scale wind power does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions or appreciably benefit the environment. In fact, in our case, it would have harmed it.”

The recent Environmental Review Tribunal decision revoking the approval for the Ostrander Point wind turbine project underscores the importance of community input into the process of awarding contracts and approving power projects. The community in Prince Edward County went through two appeal hearings and two hearings in court before succeeding in its goal of protecting the environment and endangered wildlife from a power project.

Recent feedback published by the IESO shows that the current bid process was resoundingly condemned by municipal officials and community groups for a lack of openness and transparency.

###

Contact:

Mayor Ron Higgins, North Frontenac, 613-884-9736

Mandatory Municipal Support Resolution

  1. Adelaide-Metcalfe, Middlesex County
  2. Alfred & Plantagenet, Prescott-Russell County
  3. Amaranth, Dufferin County
  4. Asphodel-Norwood. Peterborough County
  5. Algonquin Highlands, Haliburton County
  6. Arran-Elderslie, Bruce County
  7. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Huron County
  8. Bayham, Elgin County
  9. Bluewater, Huron
  10. Brockton, Bruce
  11. Brooke-Alvinston, Lambton
  12. Bruce Mines, Algoma District
  13. Cavan-Monaghan, Peterborough
  14. Central Elgin, Elgin
  15. Central Huron, Huron
  16. Chamberlain, Timiskaming District
  17. Chatsworth, Grey County
  18. Clarington, Region of Durham
  19. Dutton-Dunwich, Elgin
  20. East Ferris, Nippissing District
  21. Elgin, County of
  22. Essex, Essex County
  23. Enniskillen, Lambton County
  24. Gananoque, Leeds and Grenville County
  25. Georgian Bluffs, Grey
  26. Grey Highlands, Grey
  27. Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, Peterborough
  28. Hornepayne, Algoma
  29. Howick, Huron
  30. Huron, County of
  31. Huron-Kinloss, Bruce
  32. Kawartha Lakes, City of
  33. Killarney, Sudbury District
  34. Kincardine, Bruce
  35. Lakeshore, Essex
  36. Lambton, County of
  37. LaSalle, Essex
  38. Laurentian Hills, Renfrew County
  39. Leeds and the Thousand Island, Leeds and Grenville
  40. Lennox & Addington, County of
  41. Mapleton, Wellington
  42. Magnetawan, Parry Sound District
  43. Marathon, Thunder Bay District
  44. McDougall, Parry Sound
  45. McNabb Braeside, Renfrew County
  46. Meaford
  47. Newbury, Middlesex
  48. Mono, Dufferin County
  49. Morris-Turnberry, Huron
  50. Nairn and Hyman, Sudbury District
  51. North Frontenac, Frontenac County
  52. North Glengarry, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
  53. North Grenville, Leeds and Grenville
  54. North Perth, Perth
  55. North Stormont, Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry
  56. Northern Bruce Peninsula, Bruce
  57. Ottawa, City of
  58. Peterborough, County of
  59. Plympton-Wyoming, Lambton
  60. Prescott-Russell, United Counties of
  61. Prince Edward, County of
  62. Rainy River, Rainy River District
  63. Ramara, Simcoe County
  64. South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce
  65. Southgate, Grey
  66. Tillsonburg, Oxford County
  67. Trent Lakes, Peterborough
  68. Tudor and Cashel, Hastings County
  69. Tweed, Hastings
  70. Val Rita-Harty, Cochrane District
  71. Warwick, Lambton
  72. Wainfleet, Niagara Region
  73. West Grey, Grey
  74. West Lincoln, Niagara
  75. Zorra, Oxford

Wynne government thumbs nose at Ontario’s small communities

31 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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While Manitoba is bending over backwards to foster cooperation and benefit for both rural and urban communities, the Ontario government is doing the opposite, says PostMedia writer Jim Merriam. In fact, the Wynne government has made it very clear what it thinks of rural/small-town Ontario –you’re there to supply our power and bury our garbage.

Orillia Packet, May 31, 2016

You tiny little annoying people...
You tiny little annoying people…

Rural-urban divide a wedge issue in Ontario

By Jim Merriam

Although Manitoba and Ontario are neighbours, their differences far outnumber their similarities.

One of these differences is the way their leaders treat the rural-urban divide.

Brian Pallister, recently elected Conservative premier of Manitoba, has coined two new words: “rurban” and “urbal,” according to the Western Producer.

The Manitoba premier is trying to create a new reality in Manitoba, wherein his urban members of the legislature care about rural areas and vice versa. He is trying to convince legislators that, “You do not think about yourself. You think about your team.”

The new boss went on to say “there are rural situations that many people in the city don’t fully appreciate.”

In contrast, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has been all over the map on the same issue.

As recently as two years ago she denied the divide even existed. Then last November, she told a rural audience “the issue of bridging the rural-urban gap” has been on her mind since she was first elected in 2003.

The reasons for the divide are various, but some stand out.

No. 1 is the way this government has shoved industrial wind turbines down the throats of rural dwellers. The province is still approving new developments over the strongest objections of municipal leaders in a wide area of the province.

During the last provincial election, the Liberals told rural Ontarians their voices would be heard on wind farm developments.

Yet, in April, just weeks after awarding controversial contracts for five wind farms, Ontario said it’s opening bidding for double that amount of wind energy.

Recent approvals included a development in Dutton-Dunwich in southwestern Ontario where 84 per cent of residents who voted, didn’t want such developments.

In November 2013, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli testified before a legislature committee that municipalities wouldn’t be given a veto over projects but it would be “very rare indeed” for any to be approved without local backing.

Garbage is another source of friction …

Read the full article here.

NOTE: The City of Ottawa does not presently have any wind power projects under contract, but the IESO is set to begin its new Large Renewable Procurement process later this summer. Eastern Ontario has a “green light” in the wind power expansion process. Earlier this month, Ottawa City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking that municipal support of power projects be a mandatory requirement for new bids.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Ontario’s big green suicide plan: The Financial Post

17 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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The end of Ontario’s lifetime of economic progress…

Environment Minister Murray : the first time assisted death has been tried on a whole province, says Kevin Libin

Environment Minister Murray : the first time assisted death has been tried on a whole province, says Kevin Libin

The Financial Post, May 17, 2016

To get an idea of what Ontario could look like a couple of decades out under Liberal energy minister Glen Murray’s “climate action plan” — which was revealed in detail in Monday’s Globe and Mail — who better to rely on than the man himself, Glen Murray?

Back in 2008, when he chaired the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, Murray — along with his acting CEO, Alex Wood, now executive director of the Ontario Climate Change Directorate — offered up a plan that looked remarkably similar to the new Liberal cabinet document. In fairness, the NRTEE document hardly offered the perniciously micro-managed prescriptions for people and businesses that Murray has graduated to now. And this new plan, billed by the Liberals as a “once-in-a-lifetime transformation” for Ontario’s economy, may also prove the end of Ontario’s lifetime of economic progress. In an era where assisted dying is the big thing with Liberals, this could be the first case where it’s tried on a province.

The leaked cabinet document, reportedly signed-off on by Premier Kathleen Wynne, lists a jaw-dropping 80 or so policies including: The eventual ban on heating new homes and buildings with natural gas, with only electric or geothermal being legal; $4 billion to be doled out by a “green bank,” funded by carbon taxes, to subsidize retrofits of buildings to get them off natural gas; the requirement that homes undergo an “energy-efficiency audit” before they can be sold; and a stack of rules, regulations and handouts to get an electric car into every two-car household within eight years, including rebates, free electric charging, and plug-in stations at every liquor store. Naturally, there will be billions more in traditional government-spending programs on public transit, bike paths, upgrades for schools and hospitals, and “research” funds and centres of climate excellence, not to mention new ethanol fuel standards that will gratify the Liberals’ top corporate donors in the biofuel lobby.

Read the full Comment here.

Ottawa councillor wants municipal say on wind power contracts

05 Thursday May 2016

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Municipal input should be a deciding factor in granting wind power contracts, Councillor Scott Moffatt says

3-MW turbine south of Ottawa at Brinston: Ontario. Communities have had no choice. [Photo by Ray Pilon, Ottawa]

3-MW turbine south of Ottawa at Brinston: Ontario. Communities have had no choice. [Photo by Ray Pilon, Ottawa]

CFRA, May 5, 2016

Rideau-Goulbourn councillor Scott Moffatt wants the City to be able to have a say on where future wind turbines are placed.

He’s tabling a report at Thursday’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee meeting, recommending Council ask the Province of Ontario to change the law, to give municipalities “a substantive and meaningful role” in deciding where future wind power projects will go.

The report says municipalities deserve a role in the process, because “the siting of wind power projects has local planning implications” and decisions on renewable energy projects need to take place “within the context of community sustainability.”

The report further states that early municipal input should not only be a priority for proponents of new wind projects, but it should also be a deciding factor for Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) when approving a new project.

Currently, the Province has sole jurisdiction over where wind farms are located.

If the recommendation is approved, full City Council will vote on whether to send their concerns to the Provincial government, the energy minister, the IESO, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and all municipalities in Ontario.

The Agenda for the ARAC meeting May 5 is here.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: The community of North Gower presented a petition to  Ottawa City Council in 2013 asking for recognition as an “unwilling host” to a proposed wind power project that would have been close to thousands of residents. Council passed a motion unanimously asking the Government of Ontario to return local land-use planning power to municipalities. The government gave no response to Ottawa, Ontario’s second largest city.

At present, more than 90 communities in Ontario are officially “unwilling hosts” to wind power projects–that represents the majority of Ontario communities vulnerable to the industrial-scale power projects.