Current regulations inadequate to protect health, safety, Ottawa standing committee told today
Turbines and home inside Nation Rise power project
MEDIA RELEASE PUT DISTANCE BETWEEN WIND TURBINES AND HOMES, COMMUNITY GROUP TELLS CITY OF OTTAWA April 7, 2022, Ottawa—
The only way to prevent or mitigate problems with industrial-scale or grid-scale wind turbines is to put distance between the huge, noise-emitting machines, community group Ottawa Wind Concerns told Ottawa’s Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee (ARAC) today.
It is well known that the large, 60-storey wind turbines produce noise which can affect sleep and health; the machines can also pose a safety risk if located too close to roads, and a risk to wildlife such as birds and bats.
Ottawa Wind Concerns board member Mike Baggott of North Gower, asked that City Planning staff adopt a 2-kilometre setback between the power generating equipment and homes.
The recommendation is based on a recent statement by community group coalition Wind Concerns Ontario.
There are more than 2,000 wind turbines in Ontario presently, and the provincial government has more that 6,000 formal Incident Reports, documenting complaints about noise, many associated with health impacts.
Ottawa is currently engaged in developing new zoning bylaws following completion of the city’s new Official Plan. Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt, a member of ARAC, said that there would be opportunity for rural residents to engage in the development of new bylaws to protect citizens, should wind power projects be proposed for Ottawa in the future.
Other jurisdictions choosing greater setbacks between homes and industrial wind turbines; Ontario has not changed since 2009. New setback of 2 km recommended
Turbines more than 600 feet or 60 storeys high in South Dundas [Photo: Tom Van Dusen for OBJ]
March 25, 2022
Complaints about wind turbine noise and environmental damage have never wound down in Ontario yet regulations to protect people and the environment have not changed since 2009, according to a story in this week’s Ottawa Business Journal.
While some landowners in the area signed up for “easy cash” by leasing land for wind turbines, they admit that the machines are noisy and may bother some people.
The need for wind power must be balanced with concern for health and safety, which is why greater setbacks have been recommended by Wind Concerns Ontario. The community group coalition recommends setbacks for any new wind turbines should be a minimum of 2 kilometres.
The Ontario setback currently is just 550 metres.
Other jurisdictions around the world and in the U.S. are now moving to greater setback distances.
Another issue of concern noted in the story was brought forward by Ontario’s MUlti-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group, a collection of municipalities with operating wind power projects and experience with impacts of the turbines.
The group is worried about the increasing number of wind turbine failures and says that setbacks from public roadways and property lines are inadequate to protect safety. The municipalities also say there is no process for alerting municipalities of a failure event, nor are the results of any engineering investigations shared.
After completion of its Official Plan, the City of Ottawa is now working on developing new zoning bylaws. Ottawa Wind Concerns has been sharing information with city staff, and hopes that new setbacks for wind turbines in the Ottawa area will reflect the trends to greater distances.
Ottawa’s rural politicians claim there are no plans for industrial-scale or grid-scale wind turbines, but city staff say the Energy Evolution calls for wind and solar to provide electricity for Net Zero goals.
Photo of Nation Rise turbines: equal to 60-storey office towers. Wind turbines are an industrial use of the land
March 10, 2022
Last November, after STOP THE OTTAWA WIND TURBINES signs dotted rural Ottawa from Navan to Dunrobin, and south to North Gower and Manotick, Ward 21 councillor Scott Moffatt said that Ottawa was not planning industrial-scale wind turbines. He also suggested in one of his podcasts that the signs, put up by Ottawa Wind Concerns and Carleton Landowners,were just frightening people.
Where did the idea come from? The city’s Energy Evolution document contains a model for 3,200 megawatts of renewable power generation, which could mean 710 wind turbines. The document was passed by Council in the fall of 2020 to very little fanfare.
As to a coming rush of huge, noisy wind turbines, Mr. Moffatt wrote in the Manotick Messenger on November 5: “That could not be farther from the truth.”
He went on to say that wind turbines built in other areas would count toward Ottawa’s Net Zero goal. Councillors El-Chantiry and Darouzeagreed, stating during the last meeting for the City’s Official Plan that people were confused about wind turbines.
The fact is, there is a conflict between what City staff are saying, and councillors’ public statements.
On March 7, a hearing was held before the Ontario Energy Board, with regard to the City of Ottawa objecting to a proposal by Enbridge Gas to replace a pipeline for natural gas along St. Laurent Blvd in order to serve its customers.
The City’s objection, they say, is based on the idea that we won’t need natural gas in the coming years because we will rely on power from renewable sources instead.
In answering a question from Energy Probe at the hearing as to whether and where wind turbines might go, Climate Change manager Mike Fletcher answered:
“The city’s plan does not propose to install 710 large scale wind turbines in the City of Ottawa.”
But…
“Any Ottawa wind turbines of any size that were built would be located in appropriately zoned areas of community respecting required setbacks.”
So, no, or…yes?
Mr. Fletcher then went on to say that the city has consulted with a planner with regard to setbacks to determine siting for wind turbines. From the transcript, Mr. Fletcher said:
So a land use planner was involved in looking at this issue and considered guidance on setbacks and a setback is — as I recall it being described, a setback is the distance from mostly from buildings where people are living or working.
And there are zoning considerations as to where — where turbines could be located. So prime agricultural land would not be a non-associated use for a wind turbine.
So, the city is involved in developing setbacks “as to where turbines could be located”. That’s reasonable; it is good to be prepared, but are they actually planning for wind power?
Later, answering a question put from Enbridge Gas’ lawyer, Mr. Fletcher confirmed the sources of renewable energy:
[Enbridge Gas lawyer] And the next line is 4.3 gigawatts of other planned renewable capacity. And is that roughly the accurate figure?
MR. FLETCHER: That’s correct.
MR. ELSON: And I understand that that renewable capacity includes some wind and some solar?
MR. FLETCHER: Well, it is predominantly those two, actually.
Again, we ask the City of Ottawa to be transparent with the residents of our rural communities.
It is worth noting that counsel for the parties objecting to the pipeline replacement would not allow the city staff to answer a more definitive question on wind turbines:
ENERGY PROBE: I am trying to understand what will be considered. It is appropriate uses — okay. So if the farm is not using power from the wind turbine, then the turbine cannot be located there. I asked couldn’t it be located in a farm that is not in that category, but is — in fact there is opposition from the farmer?
[COUNSEL FOR OBJECTORS]: We are objecting to the question; we will not answer it. I am instructing the witness not to answer it.
Everyone wants the best for our environment, and to take action that will be effective against climate change, but we also know that industrial-scale wind turbines are inefficient and unreliable, and cannot be used as baseload power.
Moreover, they use up a lot of land and are considered a “low-density” power source.
Because of the subsidies required, electricity bills will increase as will “energy poverty.” That will harm people and businesses. Industrial-scale wind turbines emit noise which can be pollution at certain levels; stringent setbacks are required to protect health and safety. Ontario’s current setbacks are only 550 meters and have not been changed since 2009.
Ottawa Wind Concerns is an incorporated, not-for-profit group, with a membership list of several hundred residents of rural Ottawa communities and other stakeholders. We are a community group member of the Wind Concerns Ontario coalition.
A roadside sign in rural Ottawa: wanting the best for the environment, not harm to people and wildlife
March 7, 2022
We listened in on a “virtual” Technical Conference at the Ontario Energy Board this morning, and we are glad we did.
The consultant acting for Energy Probe appeared to ask questions about application 2022-0293, in which the City of Ottawa objects to a natural gas pipeline replacement on St Laurent because, according to the Energy Evolution document which they offer as evidence, Ottawa will be using 90-percent less natural gas.
Instead, the plan proposes, the City will be using electricity from various sources including, a model for 710 wind turbines.
We have been clear: we think Energy Evolution is a deeply flawed document that does NOT do what people want it to—fight climate change.
The proposal of hundreds of wind turbines is choosing an intermittent, unreliable energy source that will cause electricity bills to rise, will harm the environment and people, and will NOT help the environment.
That’s clear.
So the Energy Probe consultant chose to use a posting on our website that makes reference to a document by the ICSC, critical of the Energy Evolution plan.
Instead of answering questions about our concerns about wind turbines and the Energy Evolution plan, counsel for one witness, the School Energy Coalition , responded with the claim that Ottawa Wind Concerns is a “climate change denier organization.”
That is demonstrably untrue.
It’s also slander.
We have filed a letter of complaint with the Ontario Energy Board demanding that the comments be struck from the record.
Our position is that we want the best for the environment.
We want energy sources that work, not harm.
This is an egregious tactic employed to silence communities and citizens. It may be worth noting that the lawyer in question, Mr Jay Shepherd, is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA).
Community group files request for review with Municipal Affairs ministry
Official Plan says no industrial wind turbines permitted on valuable agricultural land but it also says its Energy Evolution document drives city actions. That document calls for hundreds of turbines. [Illustration: City of Ottawa Climate Change newsletter]
February 24, 2022
Community group Ottawa Wind Concerns has filed a comment on the city’s Official Plan with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs over concerns about where the document ranks in Ottawa’s planning structure.
“Our worry is that Ottawa’s expressed view that the Energy Evolution document and climate change plan overrides all policies and action means statements in the Official Plan could be subject to amendment at any time,” chairperson Jane Wilson wrote in the group’s submission, filed yesterday.
“What we have is an Official Plan that looks like an Official Plan, but it also appears to have a back door through which the City can make changes and take action by using another plan—one that did not go through any public engagement process.”
The intent of an Official Plan in Ontario is that it is the single document which outlines the direction for the city, Wilson says. In the case of the City of Ottawa, this direction may actually be subordinate to the Climate Change Strategy and the Energy Evolution document.
The community group comment referred to page 23 of Ottawa’s new Official Plan where the city asserts: “The policies of this [Official] Plan should be read as supportive of the Climate Change Master Plan.”
And, on page 26, the City states, “The Climate Change Master Plan and associated Energy Evolution and Climate Resiliency strategies provide the analysis and action plans for City-wide action.”
Ottawa Wind Concerns said the group is worried about how this affects policy on renewable power generation facilities, specifically large or industrial-scale wind turbines.
The Energy Evolution document calls for the possibility of hundreds of wind turbines in the city’s rural areas in a model of how Net Zero might be achieved, while the Official Plan makes statements about industrial-scale wind turbines not being permitted on valuable agricultural land.
“Essentially, it looks like the City is saying, its Energy Evolution document trumps everything. We’re saying, that’s not how a municipality is supposed to use an Official Plan.”
The contents of the Energy Evolution document, approved by Council in 2020 with no public input, are not widely known among Ottawa’s citizens.
There has been criticism from media and analysts who have read it.
Local media branded the strategy document “an expensive pipe dream,” with its $57B (estimated) price tag. Political commentator Randall Denley said the Energy Evolution report was “only the beginning,” and promoted “unachievable goals.”
“How high are they prepared to raise taxes,” he asked, “and what existing services will they cut to fund their quixotic effort to save the planet?”
The City of Ottawa has a history of passing zoning amendments that result in public concern. For example, a zoning amendment was passed without the knowledge of even the local councillor for a large warehouse and truck depot in Barrhaven. That move caused newspaper columnist Kelly Egan to remark, “You know who doesn’t get what they want at city hall anymore? Ordinary people.”
Ordinary people in Ottawa’s rural communities sent emails and made telephone calls to councillors when the wind turbine model in Energy Evolution became known, and STOP THE OTTAWA WIND TURBINES signs went up from Kinburn to Navan, and south to North Gower and Manotick.
City councillors maintained that the Energy Evolution statements were just a “model” but the motion of wind power is present in many City documents and wind turbines are prominent in City banners and graphics. A recent submission to the Ontario Energy Board dated January 17th contained the whole Energy Evolution document, including the wind turbine model, as supporting evidence for the City’s objection to replacement of a natural gas pipeline.
“Everyone wants what’s best for the environment,” says Ottawa Wind Concerns Chair Wilson, “but the fact is, we should be making choices about what is shown to be effective and successful. Ontario is an example of how intermittent weather-dependent wind power doesn’t do anything for the environment, but it does have a huge impact on electricity bills and on communities. Giving the Energy Evolution strategy importance over the Official Plan means decisions can be made on what looks good, not what really is good.”
The community group has asked the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to look at both the Energy Evolution document and the draft Official Plan together, to make sure provincial directives are being followed.
Ottawa Wind Concerns filed its comment with the Ministry and was advised Thursday that the comments were accepted and reviewed, and will be posted publicly.
More analysis on the Energy Evolution document, coming soon.
An official plan describes your upper, lower or single tier municipal council or planning board’s policies on how land in your community should be used. It is prepared with input from your community and helps to ensure that future planning and development will meet the specific needs of your community.
An official plan deals mainly with issues such as:
where new housing, industry, offices and shops will be located
what services like roads, watermains, sewers, parks and schools will be needed
when, and in what order, parts of your community will grow
The Ottawa Energy Evolution strategy official banner: with turbines. [Source: City of Ottawa]
January 12, 2022
Although Ottawa City councillors are saying that the City is not planning wind turbines, is not looking for locations to site turbines, and is not talking to developers, a look at various City documents would persuade you otherwise.
For example, several illustrations that are used for City newsletters and pages on its website clearly depict wind turbines as does, for example, the graphic that accompanies the Energy Evolution strategy document (see above).
And then there is the little matter of the Official Plan Open House virtual presentation held back in June last year in which Manager of Planning Policy Alain Miguelez declared that Ottawa was going to be incorporating renewable energy including wind turbines which would be “directed” he said to Ottawa’s rural areas.
When a citizen participant voiced concern at that event, he responded, “The energy [we need] has to come from somewhere.”
Somewhere indeed.
Almost a year ago, a City staff manager wrote to the Ontario Energy Board as followup to consultation on Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and objected to the fact that the OEB consultant had not mentioned wind power.
“The DER mandate should include all forms of zero-emission DER’s [sic] including wind and hydropower. The ICF paper only discussed solar and battery storage,” Mike Fletcher, Project Manager Climate Change and Resiliency wrote in his letter of February 21, 2021.
“Ottawa has vast rural areas and Energy Evolution requires that we consider wind and hydropower opportunities to meet our renewable energy generation targets,” he said. (Note he said targets, not “models” as is now being claimed.)
So, which is it? Ottawa is not at all considering unreliable, intermittent wind power—which is completely inappropriate in low-wind Eastern Ontario as evidenced by recent poor performance during a cold snap—or, wind power is a key component in the City’s renewable energy plans?
The citizens of Ottawa’s rural areas deserve to know.
Not working. [Photo: D. Larsen for Wind Concerns Ontario]
January 11, 2022
Ottawa’s Energy Evolution Wishbook puts forward the idea that the City can subsist on renewables going forward, and calls for 3200 megawatts of new power generation—wind, solar, hydro, and battery storage–by 2050 to achieve “Net Zero.”
Today is a good lesson in why that proposal is wishful thinking and not based on reality.
It is the coldest day of the winter so far. Ontario demand for power as at 11 a.m. is 20,169 megawatts.
Wind throughout the entire province is supplying 983 megawatts.
Here in “low wind resource” Eastern Ontario, the 100-megawatt capacity Nation Rise power project at Crysler (Crysler-Finch-Berwick) is providing TWO megawatts of power.
TWO.
It stands to reason that any wind turbines operating just 40 minutes north inside the rural areas of Ottawa would not be faring any better.
In short, wind power is a no-show, exactly when you need it.
This is a simple fact of Ontario’s climate and the fact that we have very little wind during the summer and winter which, incidentally, is when we have extremes of temperature. (See Wind: Ontario’s High-Cost Millstone)
Ottawa’s Energy Evolution document needs a re-think and a rewrite, now, with a dose of reality added.
City Councillors say no, no, no, but illustrations on City publications say yes, yes, yes
That’s a turbine, right? [Ottawa Climate Action newsletter]
December 9, 2021
After emails and telephone calls to their offices during the development of the new Official Plan this fall, which allowed wind turbines on prime agricultural land, Ottawa City Councillors claimed that the City has “no plans” for wind turbines.
Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt, also the Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, wrote in his constituent column in the Manotick Messenger that:
“A big part of that [the city’s climate action plan] will be renewable energy One of our Modelling documents shows what that looks like and includes mention of 700 industrial wind turbines. This has led some to believe that the City is planning on developing that many wind turbines in rural Ottawa. That could not be farther from the truth.”
But then, there is this: an illustration from the City’s Climate Action newsletter, which clearly depicts a wind turbine.
And, the City’s Planning department has this illustration on slide 10 of a recent public presentation, designed to show its various functions. It includes wind turbines as an example of land use planning.
Mr. Moffatt also said that the City was not “finding locations where wind development could occur.”
An email from staff, however, says this:
“Staff are currently undertaking a preliminary assessment of renewable energy generation potential within the rural areas identified in the new Official Plan to better understand how the potential compares to the Energy Evolution model requirements. This study is expected to be complete this summer …”
It is also worth noting that an illustration of the site plan for the Tewin development also features a depiction of wind turbines. (Apologies for the size of the image.)
The debut of Official Plan discussions shocked more than a few people back in July when Manager of Planning Policy Alain Miguelez revealed in an online public meeting that wind turbines were coming to Ottawa’s rural area—being “directed” there, he said. Because, he said, Ottawa was estimating an increase in population and as power demand rose, “that energy has to come from somewhere.” In other words, the rural communities.
In subsequent presentations staff tried to assure residents that they would “get it right” by developing protective zoning bylaws for wind turbines.
But councillors still say that’s not happening, and anyone who says it is, is fear mongering. The City did revise the renewable energy part of the Official Plan so that it now says “large-scale” wind turbines will not be permitted on “agricultural resource areas,” but that does not prevent applications for Official Plan amendments.
Councillors also say that while Ottawa is not actively planning wind turbines (in spite of Planning staff public comments and various illustrations that indicate the City is open to wind power), if proposals were to come along, Ottawa cannot say “No.” This is not correct, but more on that later.
Why the concern? Wind turbines are a highly invasive form of power generation, using a significant amount of land , creating noise pollution, and posing a serious risk to wildlife including birds and bats. Ottawa’s Energy Evolution plan does not include any mention of developing new nuclear, despite the fact that the federal government has spent millions on new nuclear, and Canada is a global leader in clean, reliable, emissions-free nuclear energy.
Mega-warehouses, truck centres, new subdivisions approved: it’s time Ottawa residents, especially rural citizens, knew more about the planning process in Ottawa. Here’s your chance…
A large distribution centre was the subject of a zoning amendment in Ottawa. Citizens appealed. What do we need to know about this process?
November 25, 2021
The news in Ottawa is full of reports about new developments that may, or may not, be what citizens want. A new truck distribution centre was approved just off the south end of Merivale, despite a jam-packed road system and nearby homes; a developer wanted to remove trees from a site near Hunt Club and Riverside to accommodate a new car dealership; the quiet village of North Gower might see a huge truck distribution centre and warehouse in an area people thought was “highway commercial” off the 416, and might only see a gas station and convenience store.
In all these cases, the proposed developments went through the planning process at City Hall. Citizens learned about the approvals afterward (in one case, the Merivale area truck centre, the City councillor was sandbagged, too) and were told, it’s done.
The new Official Plan was recently approved in Ottawa but most people had no idea what was in it, particularly not the echoes from the City’s “Energy Evolution” strategy, which called for massive amounts of wind power in one of its “models.” (And still has a target of 2025 for 20 megawatts of wind power.)
The City is now sponsoring a “primer” on planning to be held December 2nd and 6th via Zoom presentation.
It’s time we were better informed, more aware of what changes are being proposed at City Hall, and how to get involved in the process because surely, there is more to come.
See the details and registration information here.
Earlier draft failed to include statement on protecting prime farmland from industrial uses like wind turbines
November 1,1021
Ottawa City Council approved the draft Official Plan last week, on October 27th, and included a new paragraph relevant to wind power development in the rural areas of the City.
Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt acknowledged last week in his constituent newsletter that the change had been made. The new paragraph in Section 4.11 of the Official Plan reads:
“6) Large-scale provincially regulated wind turbines are not permitted on lands designated Agricultural Resource Area. This policy does not apply to small-scale wind generation associated with a permitted principal use.”
Ottawa Wind Concerns (OWC) noted previously that there appeared to be no express intent to protect prime agricultural land in the Plan, dealing with “renewable energy facilities” which would include large-scale wind power. The community group had consulted a municipal law specialist lawyer who confirmed the group’s concern.
OWC filed a 30-page submission to the Joint Planning and Agricultural Affairs Committee, of which Councillor Moffatt was Co-chair, in advance of the Official Plan being submitted to Council. A motion requested that protection of prime agricultural land be expressed in the Plan (as is directed by Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement).
When Councillor Moffatt put forward the new paragraph at the Joint Committee meeting reviewing the Official Plan, other councillors said they had had many calls and emails about wind turbines, and welcomed the new addition.
“This is an important step forward,” says Jane Wilson, chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns. “The previous version of Ottawa’s Official Plan stated that large-scale wind turbines could go in Ottawa’s rural areas, including our best farm land. Power generation from wind is an industrial land use, and not appropriate for valuable food-producing land.”
But it’s not the end of the fight for Ottawa’s rural communities.
“Turbines or wind power generators are not an appropriate land use near homes, either,” Wilson said. “That will be addressed next.”
The community group has asked specifically that the Plan include a requirement that any form of renewable energy generation undergo a full cost-benefit and impact analysis. That was not included in the addition to the Official Plan but will be important in the development of zoning bylaws, Wilson said.
Councillor Moffatt claimed in his newsletter that
“… there are no planned industrial wind turbines within the boundaries of the City of Ottawa at this time.”
In the Ottawa climate action strategy focused on energy use, however, there is a list of 20 projects to be worked on before 2025—Table 7 in the document states that the City must install 20 megawatts of wind as well as new hydro, solar, and electricity storage.
Also in the document is a statement that the energy “model” should include 3,218 megawatts of wind power as part of “minimum results” to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
Ottawa Wind Concerns 