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Tag Archives: moratorium wind power projects

Wind power project siting process needs to be replaced, says Ottawa Wind Concerns

18 Thursday Jul 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cost benefit wind power, Feed In Tariff Ontario, gas plant cancellations Ontario, gas plants Ontario, Green Energy Act, health effects wind farms, health effects wind turbine noise, health problems wind farms, indirect health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, Lisa MacLeod, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower wind farm, North Gower wind power project, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, Prowind, Rochelle Rumney, Wind Concerns Ontario, wind power performance Ontario, wind turbines and property values

Posted by the Ottawa Citizen:

Wind-power projects as harmful as cancelled gas plants, critic contends

By Elizabeth Payne, OTTAWA CITIZEN July 18, 2013 6:04 PM
 OTTAWA —The same process that led to Ontario’s “gas plant fiasco” is being used for wind-generation projects with disastrous results, says the head of a group concerned about a proposed wind farm in rural southern Ottawa.

“The gas plants got all the attention, but the wind-power projects are more widespread — and causing real problems for communities in terms of health problems, social disruption, lost property value and harm to the natural environment,” wrote Jane Wilson in a submission to the Ontario Power Generation and the Independent Energy System Operator as part of a “dialogue” about the way the province locates large power projects.

The consultation process stemmed from the political controversy around the location, and cancellation, of planned gas plants in southern Ontario. The Liberal government’s handling of the costly gas plant issue is the subject of an inquiry and a criminal investigation.

Ottawa Wind Concerns, which Wilson heads (in addition to Wind Concerns Ontario) wants a new system for planning and siting all large energy projects, including wind, that gives local communities more control. The Liberal government’s Green Energy Act gave the province control over location of wind energy projects. In May, the provincial government announced changes that will make developers work more closely with municipalities.

Ottawa Wind Concerns says, however, that the province needs to go further and give municipalities full control over projects as well as treating them the same way an industrial project would be treated. So far 60 municipalities across the province have declared themselves not willing hosts to wind power projects.

“Local land use planning needs to be returned to communities as a start and power projects should be treated as any other sort of infrastructure, with residents having full input to decisions that will affect their community, their financial futures and their health.”

Although many people living near wind turbines complain about health effects, research into the issue is limited. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, in a 2010 report, concluded that “the scientific evidence available to date does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.” It also concluded that sound from wind turbines with common setbacks is not sufficient to cause hearing problems, although people might find it annoying. It also said there is no scientific evidence that vibrations from low-frequency wind turbine noise causes health issues. The report also said that “community engagement at the outset of planning for wind turbines is important and may alleviate health concerns.”

Health Canada has launched a major study into the effect of wind turbines on health. Meanwhile, federal cabinet minister Pierre Poilievre and Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod, both of whom represent the riding where the project is planned, are calling for a moratorium on the North Gower project until the Health Canada study is completed.

A spokesman for the company that is proposing to build the project, Prowind Canada Inc., said it is temporarily on hold until the province determines what the new process for awarding wind power contracts will look like.

Rochelle Rumney, environmental co-ordinator with the company, said — environmental coordinator said Prowind would “like to work with the community and try to have everybody be comfortable with the project.”

Meanwhile, during an ongoing July heat wave that has strained the power grid, wind power contributed less than one per cent to Ontario’s power needs this week, something that Wilson says underlines the need for a cost-benefit analysis of wind-power projects.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
OWC notes: despite community opposition, and opposition from elected representatives, despite clear evidence this project will cost taxpayers/ratepayers $4.8 million a year for power we don’t need, it looks like Prowind is still prepared to proceed with the North Gower-Richmond project…or sell it to someone who is. That means, we need even more help and especially funds for legal counsel. Donations welcome at PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0 Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com
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Environmental and Economic Consequences of Ontario’s Green Energy Act

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cost benefit wind power, cost of renewables, cost of tind power, Feed In Tariff Ontario, FIT Ontario, Green Energy Act, moratorium wind power projects, Ontario green energy plan, Ottawa wind concerns, Robert Lyman, Ross McKitrick, Wind Concerns Ontario

It’s not pretty.

It’s actually endangering the economic health of this province.

What is it? Ontario’s poorly thought out Green Energy and Green Economy Act.

Here is a summary of the report released by the Fraser Institute, written by University of Guelph ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES economics prof Ross McKitrick, prepared by Ottawa energy economist Robert Lyman.

This a short summary worthy of forwarding to your friends and family who may be unaware the high costs of Ontario’s renewable power plan.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

For news through the day, check http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

 

 

MPP MacLeod to Minister of Energy Chiarelli: we must have a voice

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bill 2 Ontario, Bob Chiarelli, cost benefit wind power, Green Energy Act, health effects wind farms, health effects wind power, Jim Wilson MPP, local land use planning Ontario, moratorium wind power projects, MPP Lisa MacLeod, North Gower wind power project, Ottawa wind concerns, wind power Ontario

Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod wrote a letter to Bob Chiarelli, now Ontario’s Minister of Energy, asking for local land use planning powers to be returned to Ontario communities.

“Minister, local municipalities and residents must have a voice regarding Industrial Wind Turbine projects that are planned for their community,” she wrote.

“I ask you to immediately implement a province-wide moratorium and support Bill 2, which would return planning authority back to municipal government control.”

Yes!

The letter is here: LisaMacLeod2BobChiarelli

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations welcome at PO Box 3 North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

and, get your STOP WIND SCAM sign! Just $5 to stop the scam!

Medical Officer of Health: NO studies showed NO association

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

CanWEA, Dr Hazel Lynn, Dr Michael Nissenbaum, ethics of wind power projects, Harvey Wrightman, health effects wind farms, health effects wind turbine noise, health effects wind turbines, indirect health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower wind power project, Ontario government mens rea, Ottawa wind concerns, wind farm Richmond

We are reminded today of the “health” study–really just a review paper–sponsored by the wind power corporate lobby group CanWEA, which concluded that not only was there any proof of any association between industrial wind turbine noise (the word infrasound was not uttered in those days) and health impacts, in fact, the research team said, there is so little evidence of anything that we recommend no more money be spent on research. At all.

Appalling in the world of scientific research, to make a statement like that.

Now today, Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Hazel Lynn and colleague Dr Ian Arra, released the results of their own review and said, there are NO studies in the world that prove there is NO association at all between turbine noise and health impacts. In other words, the studies that CanWEA loves to trot out saying they are proof of no problems at all, are not valid.

At present, Dr Lynn and Arra said, the associations are weak, but not absent, and more research is needed they concluded.

Meanwhile, the wind power lobby group and corporations go around telling people that anyone complaining about wind turbine noise and health effects needs some kind of therapy, or an injection in their wallet–if either one of these things happens, their health problems will go away.

In the Ontario Farmer recently, farm owner Harvey Wrightman of Adelaide-Metcalfe, quoted Dr Michael Nissenbaum (whose study of turbine noise at Mars Hill indicated health effects as far away as three MILES): “If someone came into a doctor’s office and said they have chest pain and the physician said, ‘It’s all in your head,’ without investigating, that would be malpractice. It’s the same thing if patients are complaining of sleep disturbances and other ill effects, and off the top of your head you claim they’re making it up and it’s about the way the turbines look, especially when there’s a known, plausible mechanism for why people could be affected. There’s nothing magical about the effect that people are sleeping poorly due to the noise. There’s nothing difficult to understand or fantastical.”

“This whole issue has always been about ethics,” Wrightman continues, “and what the application of the practical limits are of harm, i.e., what you can reasonably accept in the way of harm of the rural population….Why are there increasing reports of vertigo and nausea with the latest projects?

“The first step to getting those answers is a moratorium on construction of projects. That would be a real show of understanding and respect for rural Ontario.”

We would add that there is more than ethics at play here, we would suggest that at this point, if the government has the slightest clue what it is doing could be wrong and could be harming people, there will be legal liability. The wind power companies, too. And the people who have leased their land for the turbines without thought for their neighbours and communities.

 

Contact us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Province knew about health effects in 2008

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amaranth, Dalton McGuinty, Green Energy Act, health effects wind farms, health effects wind turbine noise, health effects wind turbines, indirect health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, Lisa MacLeod, Melancthon, moratorium wind power projects, Orangeville, Ottawa wind concerns, Tim Hudak, wind farm North Gower, wind farm Richmond, wind farms Osgoode, wind farms Ottawa

At this point, no one is surprised that the Government of Ontario knew there was a potential for health impacts from wind turbine noise … but went ahead with its Green Energy and Green Economy Act anyway, which stripped away municipalities’ rights to plan local land use where “renewable” energy projects are concerned, and ride roughshod over the rights of citizens.

Here is an article from this week’s Niagara This Week which puts it all together.

The link is: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/

Province knew about health effects from turbines

Released documents show ministry aware of concerns as far back as 2006

 

Province knew about health effects from turbines. Documents released through a Freedom of Information request reveal the government was aware of adverse health effects caused by industrial wind turbines as far back as 2006. Toronto Star file photo

Documents released through a Freedom of Information request from an Orangeville resident reveal the government was aware of adverse health effects caused by industrial wind turbines as far back as 2006.

While Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak says he is not shocked to learn the government kept this information from the public in relation to the 200-megaWatt Melancthon EcoPower Centre (located in Amaranth and Melancthon Township, near Shelburne, Ont.), he says he is disappointed.

“I wasn’t surprised. Concerns have been raised across Ontario and in other jurisdictions,” says Hudak, whose own riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook is poised for the installation of several industrial wind turbines.

“What it is, is disappointing. It appears as through they were trying to cover something up.”

In the released document, ministry officials report “complaints of adverse health effects by area residents are for the most part justified.

“MOE Provincial Officers have attended at several of the complainant’s [sic] residences and have confirmed that despite the noise emissions apparently complying with the applicable standard … that the noise emissions are in fact causing material discomfort to the residents in and around their homes,” reads the document, written by provincial officer Gary Tomlinson.

According to the ministry, to develop the guidelines for noise limits, ministry scientists and engineers consulted with local community members and noise experts including representatives from major acoustical consulting firms. At the time of the Melancthon project, there were no minimum setback distances, only a provincial noise guideline of 40 decibels, which was maintained in the Act.

The documents state that “at least two families have moved out of their homes due to noise impacts” and that the MOE was aware of “at least six cases where the wind developer bought out resident’s [sic] homes to address and silence their ongoing concerns.”

Tomlinson writes, “reasonable people do not leave their homes to sleep elsewhere for frivolous reasons.”

Melancthon is Canada’s largest wind energy installation to date. Construction on phase one began in 2005, and phase two was completed in 2007. The project has a capacity close to 200 megawatts — roughly 30 megawatts less than the largest project proposed for West Lincoln by Niagara Region Wind Corp.

The Melancthon EcoPower Centre, made up of 133 turbines, was approved before the province passed its controversial Green Energy Act. The Act established a minimum setback distance of 550 metres between residential dwellings and turbines, which is 100 metres more than the minimum setback distance used in the Melancthon project.

Projects approved prior to the passing of the GEA had to meet provincial noise guidelines but the setback distance was to be negotiated between the developer and municipality.

The Melancthon turbines, however, are much smaller than those proposed for parts of West Lincoln. NRWC is proposing to erect 77, three-megaWatt turbines designed by Japanese manufacturer Enercon, which is building facilities in Niagara to manufacture both the towers and electrical components. Fourty-four of those turbines will be built in West Lincoln, three in Wainfleet and 31 in nearby Haldimand County. The concrete towers of these turbines measure to a maximum of 145 metres to the hub, about the length of 13 school buses stacked bumper to bumper. The blades stretch close to 50 metres, roughly another five school buses across.

The turbines used in the Melancthon project are 1.5 megawatts and are manufactured by GE. They measure 80 metres in height, with blades nearly 40 metres long.

While some local residents claim Enercon suggests a greater setback distance for the model being used by NRWC, a company spokesperson said she was unaware of it.

“Enercon has to sign off on everything we put forward,” said Randi Rahamim. “They have signed off on the full design.”

Hudak’s colleague, Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, wants to know why the government moved ahead with the Green Energy Act when it was aware of health concerns.

“I’m absolutely disgusted,” said Thompson, who is the PC energy critic. “It’s sad, because, at the end of the day, it hurts that the Liberal government chose to play word games with people’s health. It comes back to my point of how and why did this Liberal government become so arrogant that they can blatantly play with people’s health just to further their own agenda.”

Thompson was further disappointed with the response from Ontario’s environment minister, St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley, to a letter she sent to him Jan. 9 in light of the FOI information.

“His response was that there is no direct impact,” said Thompson. “Of course, the odds of a blade falling off and hitting someone are rare. But too many people have come forward with concerns, and their complaints have gone nowhere.

“This further emphasizes the need for a moratorium, which I have tabled twice now,” said the MPP whose own riding not only includes the Bruce Power nuclear energy plant but is poised to see 1,700-1,800 wind turbines primarily along the shoreline of Lake Huron.

Thompson said her office is getting ready to table a motion when the house resumes Feb. 19.

“I will continue to put forward efforts to make this government accountable,” said Thompson. “I am not going to let go of these redacted documents… They point to a larger problem of this Liberal government: it doesn’t matter who is in charge, hiding things and driving its own agenda on the taxpayer’s back. It’s got to stop.”

Despite several attempts to reach Bradley, he did not provide comment on the recently revealed document. His press secretary did provide the following: “The ministry is aware of health concerns and has reviewed literature on the potential impacts of wind turbines, including the 2010 report from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health which found there is no scientific evidence of a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.

“The ministry will continue to review emerging scientific and engineering studies to ensure Ontario’s requirements remain in line with the best available science.”

The FOI documents pertain to an abatement plan the ministry put in place in relation to the Melancthon project. The ministry worked with both the municipality and wind developer to address concerns which resulted in several turbines being shut off at night and sound barriers being built around a transformer.

Hudak says it appeared ministry staff were trying to be forthcoming in their reports but that the government withheld that information.

“We need a moratorium on these projects,” said Hudak. “It’s been a position that I took up shortly after I became leader in 2009 for a number of reasons.”

Hudak’s issues with the Green Energy Act range from “expensive studies which fail basic economic sense” to how it strips away the decision-making powers of local governments.

Hudak and his PC government have called for several moratoriums on wind projects. In April 2010, at Queen’s Park, Hudak brought forward a bill to halt industrial wind turbine development. In March 2011, he was joined by West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner and Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs at West Lincoln township hall to renew that call. This past June he was joined by his federal counterpart in the riding, MP Dean Allison, in demanding an immediate moratorium on industrial wind turbine development until a federal health study is complete.

Several other PC MPPs, including Thompson, have tabled similar motions.

The PC party will be introducing another motion when legislature resumes, both Hudak and Thompson confirmed.

“Lisa Thompson, in her capacity, brought forward motions in legislature for a moratorium. We will do that again, now that the house is back in after four months of inaction,” said Hudak, who has met with new Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“We discussed ideas for job creation and balancing the books. One recommendation I made was a moratorium on these types of projects,” Hudak said. “I’ve brought it to the premier, I hope she takes my advice.

“I’m not going to give up,” said Hudak. “I’m going to keep fighting for what I think is the right thing to do.”

…..

Note that in the North Gower-Richmond area (which is only the beginning if this project were to proceed, as one of the landowners has land from Richmond to Osgoode) more than 450 homes would be within the 2-km Turbine Zone.

Join our email list! ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

MP demands halt to local wind project, says science lacking in decision

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bart Geleynse Jr, CanWEA, cost benefit wind power, Feed In Tariff Ontario, Health Canada wind turbine noise study, health effects wind farms, infrasound wind turbines, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower wind farm, North Gower wind power project, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, Prowind, Richmond wind farm, Richmond wind power project

Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre rose in the House of Commons yesterday to present a petition to the House on behalf of residents of North Gower and Richmond (communities within the City of Ottawa) where a 20-megawatt wind power project is proposed.

Poilievre’s petition demands a halt to the wind power generation project until the results of the Health Canada study on noise and infrasound has been completed, anticipated for the end of 2014. “Decisions must be science-based,” he told the House.

He noted that Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced the revised study design February 10th.

Ottawa Wind Concerns is grateful for the MP’s support on this issue, and for bringing forward a solid foundation for the community’s concerns about this project, which will expose the people living in 450 homes to noise and vibration. In 2010, Rogers TV host Mark Sutcliffe asked then-company representative Bart Geleynse Jr whether the turbines in North Gower-Richmond area project would make noise. “Of course they will,” said Geleynse, “they’re power plants!”

Indeed.

And they don’t belong so close to families.

The wind power development lobby group CanWEA this week put out a news release saying that a survey showed 80% of the residents of Denmark questioned about wind power said they were not bothered by the wind turbines. In fact, 17% of the respondents said they were disturbed, with about 4% saying they were disturbed to a “major extent” and 5% “moderately” disturbed. In other words, almost 10% had their lives disrupted and their health affected by wind turbines.

“North Gower and Richmond are quiet communities that don’t deserve to be turned into a wind power factory,” says Jane Wilson, chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns. “The community doesn’t want this, our MP and MPP supports us and so do many on Council. It’s a completely inappropriate land use.”

Last year, MP Poilievre asked the Library of Parliament to look at the cost to taxpayers of the North Gower-Richmond power project, and discovered the cost in subsidies to ratepayers would be $4.8 million per year (a conservative estimate, we’re told).

In fact, subsidies to the wind power developers run $500,000 per turbine per year. Worse, Ontario doesn’t need any more power, and the intermittent nature of power produced by wind turbines is having a destabilizing effect on the grid, say Ontario’s electrical engineers, in their 2011 report.

The video of Pierre Poilievre’s statement in the House is here: http://www.pierremp.ca/petition-calls-for-a-moratorium-on-local-wind-project/

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

 

What kind of person…?

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andy Braid, cost benefit wind power, health effects wind power, health effects wind turbine noise, infrasound wind turbines, Manotick Messenger, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower, North Gower wind power project, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, wind power project Ottawa

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

Citizen writer owes us all an apology

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Dalton McGuinty, Health Canada wind power study, health effects wind farms, Henri Garand, indirect health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, Kate Heartfield, Lisa MacLeod, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower wind farm, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, Richmond wind farm, wind farms Ottawa, wind power projects Ottawa

August 17, 2012

Yesterday, writer Kate Heartfield, who claims to live in the south Ottawa area near to the proposed wind power generation project, published an opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen that she thought was a colossal joke. Doing absolutely no research herself on the whole issue of wind power generation, she took aim at Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre for what she felt was inadequate references for the petition he circulated to constitutents last week.

(The petition states that there is evidence for health effects from wind turbine noise and vibration and that Health Canada is now doing a study; Premier McGuinty of Ontario ought to halt approvals on the North Gower-Richmond project until results of the study are in. For a copy of the petition, please see our documents tab.)

She also claimed that the group of international scientists working on this issue were “amusingly” named the Society for Wind Vigilance  ( a five-minute read would have revealed what an important group of scientists and health care professionals that is), she denigrated well-known and peer-reviewed independent health researcher and former health policy analyst and editor Carmen Krogh as “a retired pharmacist” and finally, claimed that for 20% of the population to have health effects from wind turbine noises was neither here nor there.

If you are a regular reader of these pages and our former blog the North Gower Wind Action Group blog, you’ll know what a puff piece Heartfield’s article was–there is plenty of evidence to show that there are health problems, and that research needs to be done to develop policy for health and safety because, clearly, Ontario’s 550-meter setback based on noise modelling (not reality) is not safe.

Our final comment is, Since when is a health issue the basis for humour? We note that it took just nine complaints about Jeeps in the U.S. to result in a recall of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Now you have hundreds of noise complaints in Ontario, and yet the government still approves these projects? How many people have to become ill before it is too much? And before people like Kate Heartfield can take seriously the damage that is being done?

We are grateful for the continuing support of MPP Lisa MacLeod and MP Pierre Poilievre. Thanks too to all those who wrote in and congratulations to writers Mike Baggott, Judi Atkinson, Francesco Macri, and Henri Garand, for having been published in the Ottawa Citizen today.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

MP Pierre Poilievre releases petition vs North Gower wind project

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Dalton McGuinty, Health Canada wind power study, health effects wind farms, health effects wind turbine noise, indirect health effects wind turbines, moratorium wind power projects, no community support for wind turbines Ottawa, North Gower wind power project, Ottawa wind concerns, Pierre Poilievre, Richmond wind project, sound pressure wind turbines, wind farms Ottawa

Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilivre has prepared a petition for everyone concerned about the health impacts from the proposed North Gower wind project. The signed petitions, which asks that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty not approve the project until the results of a Health Canada study are released and evaluated, will be taken to the House of Commons.

Here is an excerpt from the news release from Mr Poilievre’s office.

Poilievre launches petition to stop local wind turbine project

Nepean, ON

—Pierre Poilievre, Member of Parliament for Nepean-Carleton, announced that he has started a petition calling on Premier Dalton McGuinty to put the safety of North Gower residents first. The petition asks for a halt to the construction of industrial wind turbines in the community until the Federal Health Canada study can determine whether or not they are safe. This follows his open letter to Premier McGuinty and his public call for a moratorium several weeks ago.

“Since my public call for a moratorium on the wind turbine project proposed for North Gower, many of my constituents have been contacting me to voice their support,” said Poilievre. “The Premier and his Ministers of Health and Environment have both agreed to consider my request and I think that a petition will show them just how much support that a moratorium would have from the general population.”

Last week, the petition was mailed to thousands of households in the village of North Gower and the surrounding areas. Poilievre is also inviting anyone wishing to sign the petition to drop by his constituency office at 250B Greenbank Road, located just north of West Hunt Club Rd.

The Marlborough Wind Farm, initiated in 2008 by Prowind Canada, proposes 10 IWTs in close proximity to the village of North Gower and Poilievre believes that the majority of the villagers will be supportive of this call for a moratorium. There is too much information that is unclear when it comes to the potential health effects caused by noise pollution from industrial wind turbines.

In several locations across Ontario, noise from turbines has caused residents who live close to them to report serious health problems, including sleeping disorders, anxiety drugs and vertigo. Even Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer has admitted that the government does not have enough data on turbine noise and its health consequences.

….

We support this 100 % and ask that everyone sign the petition, and have their friends, neighbours and other concerned individuals sign it. The petitions may be sent to the MP postage-free.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

Get the petition HERE: Wind Farm – petition

Ottawa resident alleges fossil fuel industry ties

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Andy Braid, health effects wind power, health effects wind turbine noise, Lisa MacLeod, Manotick Messenger, moratorium wind power projects, North Gower wind power project, Pierre Poilievre, Richmond wind project, sound pressure wind turbines, Wind Concerns Ontario, wind farm North Gower, wind farm Ottawa, wind power project Kars

In the August 8th edition of The Manotick Messenger, Kars resident Andy Braid has a letter complaining about the paper’s coverage of the joint news conference held by Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod and MP Pierre Poilievre, calling for a moratorium on wind power project approvals until a proposed Health Canada study is done.

While complaining that citizens are “brainwashed” and practically calling CFRA listeners mouthbreathers, Braid actually claims that community groups opposed to industrial wind power projects are associated with the fossil fuel industry.

Alleging that a community group is “friends of the fossil fuel industry” Braid says:”It’s nothing short of surreal to watch the remarkably well-funded Wind Concerns Ontario whipping up paranoia amongst rural residents about the possible health implications of living too close to a propeller on a stick, all the while completely ignoring the proliferation of cellphone towers that are microwaving their children on a daily basis.”

We will not entertain Mr Braid’s fantasies further but simply use this letter as an example of how successful the huge wind power generation lobby group — worldwide –has been in marketing its utterly useless product.

Facts:

  • There is no evidence anywhere that wind power projects reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Wind power actually requires back-up from traditional power sources, which is why Ontario is trying to build new natural gas plants. (Except the voters in key ridings don’t want them.)
  • The environmental noise and infrasound does cause health effects–that has been proven.
  • The fact that health problems may result from other sorts of power generation and–perhaps–cellphone towers is NO EXCUSE to inflict giant power generating machines on communities.

Mr Braid might be interested to know, however, that the reality of the proposed project for the North Gower and Richmond areas of Ottawa is that the proponents originally intended the project to go all the way over to Osgoode. In other words, through Kars. So, Mr Braid may have to read a little more widely and open his mind more, when he himself is faced with a giant, noise and vibration-producing, property value destroying “propeller” next door.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and follow us on Twitter at northgowerwind

We are a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario; for more news daily, visit http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

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  • Is the $57B Energy Evolution plan dead?
  • Ward 21 council candidates pledge review of Ottawa Energy Evolution plan

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Bob Chiarelli electricity bills Ontario Green Energy Act IESO Ontario Ottawa wind concerns wind farm wind farms wind power wind turbines

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