Tag Archives: Richmond wind farm

Wind Concerns Ontario asks Ombudsman to look at wind power approval process

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Wind Concerns Ontario has sent a letter to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, asking that aspects of the approval process for wind power projects be looked at. The Ombudsman’s office has now had its role expanded to be able to look at issues of municipal concern, which may allow it to address the request of many municipalities throughout Ontario facing wind power developments and who are without any say in the siting of these projects. The Green Energy and Green Economy Act passed in 2009, over-rode 21 others Acts in Ontario, and removed local land use planning powers for Ontario municipalities with regard to renewable power projects. In the wake of municipal objections ever since, the Ontario government now says it will offer municipalities more “say” but still no veto.

That’s unacceptable says Wind Concerns Ontario, which refers to important issues:

  • documentation provided to the Ministry of the Environment is being “deemed complete” and then going to public comment; community groups performing audits on this documentation are finding, however, that the documents are often not complete and sometimes absent altogether—not acceptable
  • land leases are signed between the power developers and landowners, which means municipalities and residents can have no idea where turbines are going to be located until too late; this has the effect of halting real estate sales and “sterilizing” development
  • wind power developers (e.g., Samsung in Southgate) are now offering significant sums of money in return for municipal approval and other items such a building permits, road use, etc.
  • landowners are not being provided with the full range of information on the potential negative effects of having wind turbines on their properties

See the news release and link to the letter to the Ombudsman here.

In other news, the community near Woodstock Ontario, facing an 18-MW Prowind wind power project, has also filed a letter of complaint with the Ombudsman, citing deficiencies in documentation, and changes being made to documents AFTER the public comment period has closed. See the East Oxford Community Alliance story here. Prowind is the Germany-based developer that proposed a wind power project for the North Gower-Richmond area of Ottawa, which would have placed 10 turbines on local farm properties within 3 km of more than 1,000 families. The project is now on hold, waiting for the new large-scale renewable power procurement process to begin.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

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How will wind developers rate in new procurement process?

01 Saturday Feb 2014

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

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Large (over 500 kW or 1/2 a megawatt) renewable power projects will soon be required to go through a new process in Ontario. The details are not final (yet the province is holding little dog and pony shows for “engagement”) but one of the ideas is that power developers must now “qualify” to be able to submit a bid to create a power project.

The presentation the Ontario Power Authority delivered on January 22nd via a webinar is here: http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/sites/default/files/planning/LRP-Presentation-January-22-2014.pdf

Pay close attention to the map on page 12–there appears to be “no limit” for Eastern Ontario.

“Community engagement” is a mandatory requirement in the new process but there is still “no veto,” as the OPA says clearly.

Throughout the summer there will be “ongoing engagement activities” scheduled. This is when the so-called charitable organization, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association or OSEA, at the behest of the government, and paid to do this, will travel through Ontario to tell us how wonderful wind power is. As to community concerns, if you follow our Twitter (@northgowerwind) you will have seen our conversations with OSEA Board member and Ottawa resident Chris Young. Concerned about your property values? Health? In Mr Young’s opinion, you should get out your roll of aluminum foil and refashion yourself a hat because you’re nuts. Health claims are “bogus” and concerns about property values (amply demonstrated by research studies in Ontario) are the result of a “whipped up frenzy.”

The process starts this month. We will try to keep you informed but why not sign yourself up for emails from the OPA by registering here.

We have been fighting for our community for four years; 2014 is going to be a year of dramatic events.

Donations welcome for our post office box, communications, public meetings, and legal advice. PO Box 3 North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

 

City wants say on windmills:Ottawa Citizen

14 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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From today’s Ottawa Citizen, an account of yesterday’s vote at Council on Councillor Scott Moffatt’s motion, acknowledging the 1200+ signatures on the petition from North Gower, and telling the province the City wants a stronger role indecisions about siting wind power generation projects.

“With more than 1,200 signatures, the petition is a strong message that politicians say is worth listening to,” says the Citizen.

Note also comments from former Green Party candidate now Ottawa Councillor David Chernushenko: “I’ve always felt people need to have a say…legislation that prevents them…is not healthy in any way.”

City wants a say in where windmills will be located

By Derek Spalding, OTTAWA CITIZEN November 13, 2013
City wants a say in where windmills will be located

Communities need to be consulted about windmill projects near them, city council says.

Photograph by: Tyler Brownbridge , Windsor Star

OTTAWA — City council is urging the Ontario government to give municipalities more say in choosing locations for proposed windmill projects in their communities.

Coun. Scott Moffat drafted the motion that council supported on Wednesday asking for legislative changes that would guarantee local residents have more influence about projects pegged for their neighbourhoods.

The province has already promised to add stringent public consultation requirements to its Feed-in Tariff program, which encourages the development of renewable energy with government funding. Anyone looking to build a project would have to have “significant municipal engagement,” when responding to request for proposals (RFPs), said provincial Energy Minster Bob Chiarelli, just a couple hours before the council meeting.

“The bottom line is it will be very difficult for an energy proponent to be successful in the type of RFP that’s being created without a significant municipal engagement,” he said.

His government has faced public opposition from around Ontario for such projects.

More than 70 communities have joined a coalition of “unwilling hosts” for wind projects, declaring they do not want such developments. The Ottawa motion does not put the city in this same group, but instead asks the government to ensure residents have a say in choosing the location for such projects.

Moffat introduced his motion at council a day after receiving a petition from residents of North Gower, a community in his Rideau-Goulbourn ward, who oppose the large-scale wind-power project.

With more than 1,200 signatures, the petition is a strong message that politicians say is worth listening to.

“What you need is the ability for communities to be engaged in the process, and right now that’s not really happening,” Moffat said. “Mr. Chiarelli seemed to indicate that there would be a process going forward that would allow for community engagement and put it upon the wind developer to have community buy-in.”

Chiarelli said the substance of Moffat’s resolution reflects what the province has been doing over the past few months. Earlier this year the Ontario government removed larger projects from the Feed-in Tariff program and added the RFP process, but details about exactly is required for public consultation have yet to be identified.

Coun. David Chernushenko, a strong wind-energy proponent, supported Moffat’s motion.

“This offers the opportunity now for people to make a real decision about what’s going to affect them,” he told his council colleagues. “As much as I am troubled by the anti-wind hyperbole, I’ve always felt that people need to have a say and legislation that prevents them from having that say is not healthy in any way.”

Chiarelli also confirmed communities will not be able to outright reject projects.

“There is no veto. We’ve said that very, very clearly,” he said. “There is no veto because there are circumstances in the energy planning of Ontario where a veto might be totally unadvisable, but the general thrust is that there must be an engagement with the local municipality.”

dspalding@ottawacitizen.com

Motion passes at Council; energy minister repeats: no veto

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

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

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In a surprise move by Ottawa City Council today, Council voted to hear the actual Motion presented by Ward 21 Councillor Scott Moffatt in his required Notice of Motion … and passed it. The motion made note of the petition filed with the City on behalf of North Gower residents, declaring the community Not A Willing Host to a proposed 20-megawatt wind power project, and then asked the province for a substantive role in siting power projects.

Energy Minister (and former Ottawa Mayor) Bob Chiarelli, who was at Ottawa City Hall to talk pipeline, told The Ottawa Sun that Ottawa could not unilaterally veto a wind power project. Both Minister Chiarelli and Premier Wynne have been saying for weeks that the province will give municipalities more “say” in siting power projects.

One thousand, two hundred and twenty-eight area residents signed the petition in a two-week petition drive; over 800 Ottawa area residents also participated in an online poll with 94.56% saying “No” to the Ottawa area wind power project.

 

Wind power projects cause radar “dead zones”: report

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

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

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Here from today’s Ottawa Citizen. (Note that no comments are being allowed these days for wind power stories. If there were, we would have added that wind power projects also limit access by air ambulance services to the communities forced to “host” them.)

Wind farms creating ‘dead zones’ for military radar, report warns

By DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN November 12, 2013
Wind farms creating ‘dead zones’ for military radar, report warns

Wind mills rise over Lake Erie on June 4, 2013 in Lackawanna, New York, near the U.S.-Canada border. Wind farms are sprouting up around the world, but aviation specialists are raising concerns that the giant turbines are creating blackout zones for air-traffic control radar.

Photograph by: John Moore , Getty Images

The construction of large wind farms could drive up the cost of air travel and cause delays in launching fighter aircraft on missions to protect Canada, Canadian Air Force officers are warning in a newly released report.

There are a number of proposals underway to build wind farms, including three near a military airbase in Bagotville, Que., five in Nova Scotia, two in Ontario and one in Saskatchewan, the report prepared in November 2012 for then-defence minister Peter MacKay pointed out.

Wind farms are sprouting up around the world, but aviation specialists are raising concerns that the giant turbines are creating blackout zones for air-traffic control radar. The spinning blades of the turbines are being detected by the radar, presenting false images or generating so much clutter on radar screens that controllers are losing track of airplanes as they fly near the wind farm sites.

The wind turbines can also interfere with weather radar, U.S. researchers have warned. The rotating blades can show up on radar as incoming weather, such as an area of precipitation.

“An entire farm will create areas where we cannot reliably observe or control military/civilian air traffic,” the briefing for MacKay, obtained through the Access to Information law, pointed out. “NORAD quick reaction aircraft would need to be rerouted or launch delayed if aircraft were known to be still flying through the dead zone.”

“Wind farms could be accepted if DND and NavCanada altered civilian and military air routes, airspace structure, and/or air traffic procedures, all of which will cause increases in fuel consumption, flight duration and cost of air travel,” it added.

Military officers say a proposed wind farm near North Gower isn’t an issue for the Royal Canadian Air Force. But a 175-turbine wind farm to be located in an area south of the Bagotville airport is a problem. The RCAF, which originally objected to the farm, is now trying to work with the developers to find ways around the issues.

RCAF spokesman Maj. Steve Neta said DND is supportive of the development of commercial wind farms and other sources of renewable energy that do not adversely impact military readiness or training.

“Commercial wind turbines in the vicinity of Canadian Forces bases and installations have the potential to pose a flight safety risk or otherwise impede flight operations and training,” he added in an email.

But Neta said the RCAF is confident it can deal with any effects on operations created by the proposed Bagotville wind farm. “Possible technical and operational mitigation measures are being assessed, and continue to be developed to alleviate the potential interference that wind farm projects may create,” he added.

The RCAF is looking at possible refinements to the current area surveillance radar facilities. “However we expect that new radars being developed will incorporate technologies that will enhance visibility around wind turbines,” Neta said.

In March, Canada awarded a contract to European defence firm Cassidian to equip RCAF airfields with latest-technology airport surveillance radar. The company noted that its radar system is equipped with specific data processing software so it is able to track air traffic even in wind farm shadows.

Last week the German Air Force announced it had completed successful testing of a new air defence radar installed at a site surrounded by a large wind farm.

Other federal departments have remained mostly silent on the Bagotville wind farm proposal, preferring that DND to take the lead, according to another 2012 briefing note for MacKay.

In late October, nearly 300 people came to a recreation centre in North Gower to oppose construction of eight to 10 wind turbines north and west of the village.

Opponents of wind farms say sound waves that are at too low a frequency for the human ear to hear can cause insomnia, dizziness, headaches and other health problems. The industry says there is no health impact. Construction could begin in the fall of 2014, but the proposal by Prowind Canada is on hold for now.

with files from Tom Spears

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Delivered!!!

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

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

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Our petition to the City of Ottawa, asking that North Gower be declared Not A Willing Host to a proposed wind power generation project, was delivered to the Clerk’s Office at the City of Ottawa at precisely 11 .am. today. The petition carried 1,228 signatures, which represents a clear majority of the voting population of the North Gower area.

We also carried out an online poll open to all residents of Ottawa; the results were that of 866 people responding, 94.56% said they do NOT support the wind power project.

Why are we doing this? Because the application process for large-scale power projects will be announced soon, and we expect that community support will be a key requirement for proponents of power projects. By expressing our deep concerns about the impact of this power project on our community with this petition, the City of Ottawa gets the message as to the level of support (none!) in the community that would actually have to live with it.

What’s next? Councillor Scott Moffatt intends to put forward a Notice of Motion at tomorrow’s Council meeting, for a motion to be heard November 27th, asking the province to give municipalities a greater/substantive role in determining the location for such power plants; the North Gower Not A Willing Host clause is included in the preamble to the motion. (The motion is not, however, a Not A Willing Host motion for the City of Ottawa.)

What you can do now: talk about this with your friends, family and co-workers. Ask them to vote FOR the motion that asks for a return of local land use planning powers, that were removed by the Green Energy Act. If people don’t know who their councillor is, send them to ottawa.ca for the list.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations needed to help with this fight: PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Why we are doing the Not A Willing Host campaign

08 Friday Nov 2013

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

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Apparently, there are some people (not many; very few in fact) who question working toward declaring North Gower and the parts of Richmond that would be affected by the proposed wind power project Not A Willing Host.

It is a valid question and here are some points.

Q:Is the Not A Willing Host action simply a symbol? There is nothing in the Green Energy Act that says it will do anything.

A: That’s right BUT if we all simply sit quietly by and do nothing, nothing will happen. The fact is, the 73 Not A Willing Host communities represent a significant portion of the Ontario communities that are vulnerable to wind power development. The changes to the government’s stance on how much “say” communities have is directly related to these actions by municipalities, in their resolutions and motions at Council, their meetings, work through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, and more. The result of doing nothing is to get nothing.

Q: The North Gower project has been on the books for years and has never gotten anywhere; why think it will now?

A: We have written confirmation from Prowind that they fully intend to apply once the subsidy program application process reopens, if they are able to meet the requirements. The new process has not been revealed, but we believe that key components of it will be community support, and community ownership. To demonstrate as best we can the lack of community support can be effective.

To quote the lawyer for the couple in France whose legal action against a wind power project that caused noise and visual pollution,

“Today we are saying no: justice has been done and this shows all those who suffer wind farms with a sense of powerlessness that the fight is not in vain, that one can have one’s life respected–one’s right to peace.”

Democracy doesn’t just happen: we have to make it work.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

 

November 5 update: What YOU can do today

06 Wednesday Nov 2013

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

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Our volunteer canvassers are out EVERY NIGHT and we are delivering paper petitions daily to the citizens of the North Gower area who will be affected by the proposed wind power generation project, should it be approved and constructed.

STATUS of the project: all large wind power project applications are on hold until Energy Minister Chiarelli announces the new application process, expected to be January. Prowind has told us they plan to reapply, once they’ve seen the new requirements.

KEY: community ownership and approval will be a factor. That’s why our Not A Willing Host effort has meaning: we will show that this is NOT a “willing host” community for very good reasons. We must speak up and take action: doing nothing results in nothing.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

-attend the last public signing of the petition Saturday November 9, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Alfred Taylor Recreation Centre

-download the petition here NG-PETITION-final

The petition MUST have your signature on an actual paper document, and be witnessed; return it to us at PO Box 3 North Gower ON  K0A 2TO or email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com for pickup

-email us for a petition to be delivered to you

-plan to attend the Not A Willing Host event in Toronto at Queen’s Park later this month, details to follow

-our online poll is still active for another day or two. Please have residents of Ottawa go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LZSDL9N

The petition will be taken IN PERSON to the City Clerk at the City of Ottawa.

 

Property values “plummet” near wind power, says US appraiser

16 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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Here from Wind Wise Massachusetts:

Studies Show Land-Based Wind Turbines Cause Property Values to Plummet; Wind Wise Massachusetts Claims Study Showing Otherwise is Misleading

Published Monday, Sep. 16, 2013

 

FALMOUTH, Mass., Sept. 16, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A national study that claims there is “no statistical evidence” that real estate prices near wind turbines are negatively impacted is misleading because it lumps homes close to the turbines with those miles away, according to Wind Wise Massachusetts (WWMA).

“The report’s own data found that homes located within one mile to the turbines decreased in value by 28 percent compared to homes located within 3 to 10 miles from the turbines,” according to Virginia Irvine, president of WWMA (windwisema.org), a statewide alliance of grassroots environmental groups and individuals.

“The study’s authors are just perpetuating the myth that wind turbines are not responsible for significant property losses,” she said.

“The report is also comparing apples with oranges as less than 2.5 percent of the more than 50,000 home sales analyzed in recently released Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study were within one mile of the turbines and some were as far as 10 miles away,” Irvine said.

In the widely publicized report, the authors stated in the abstract that “…we find no statistical evidence that home values near turbines were affected in the post-construction or post-announcement/pre-construction periods.”

The report -– A Spatial Hedonic Analysis of the Effects of Wind Energy Facilities on Surrounding Property Values in the United States –- was published by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in August.

Irvine said independent, comprehensive appraisals have found that land-based wind turbines can cause property values to plummet within two miles by 15 percent to 40 percent.

“There is a major difference between turbines in a power plant 10 miles from homes in the country to those that are less than one mile from homes in residential communities,” Irvine said.

“But the sad fact is that whether a wind turbine is near a solo home in the country or in a more heavily populated area, the homeowner is going to see a significant loss in the value of his home,” she added.

“Wind turbines near residential areas are devastating to home values,” according to Michael McCann, president of McCann Appraisal of Chicago.

He said his paired study analysis of homes near wind turbines in more than two dozen communities throughout the country “consistently have found homes losing 25 to 40 per cent of their value.

Contact:  Barry Wanger for Wind Wise Massachusetts, Wanger Associates, 617-965-6469, Barry@WangerAssociates.com

SOURCE Wind Wise Massachusetts

Prowind: we want you to be “comfortable”

19 Friday Jul 2013

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

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In the article on the proposed wind power project for North Gower-Richmond appearing in today’s Ottawa Citizen (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Wind+power+projects+harmful+cancelled+plants+critic+contends/8678755/story.html), wind power developer Prowind (based in Germany) representative Rochelle Rumney says the project is “on hold” until the new application process is announced by the Government of Ontario.

Taking a cue from the province, which is making lots of noise about “community engagement” while still NOT returning local land-use planning powers removed by the Green Energy Act, Rumney told the Citizen writer that Prowind wants to work with the community to “try to have everybody be comfortable with the project.”

Comfortable.

Really.

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that Prowind has concealed the true locations of the turbines and to this date, does not depict the turbines just north-west of a housing subdivision on its website?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that by conservative estimates (and this has been accepted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice) property values could decline by 22-50% ?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that, again by conservative estimates, if only 10% of the residents within 3 km of the turbines were to experience sleep disturbance and other health problems, that would mean over 100 people could be affected?

How do we get “comfortable” with the fact that a few people who live here can do this to the rest of their community?

This community has options, none of them comfortable, but they will be pursued.

Just a reminder of who we’re dealing with, here again is the photo of Prowind’s stunning Head Office in Hamilton, Ontario.

Prowind HQ-Hamilton

Donations welcome to cover costs including legal fees: PO Box 3, North Gower ON   K0A 2T0

Ottawa Wind Concerns Inc. is a corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario.