Tag Archives: Wind Concerns Ontario

Environmental and Economic Consequences of Ontario’s Green Energy Act

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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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

 

 

Energy economist: Ontario’s renewables plan ‘not affordable’

07 Sunday Apr 2013

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

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Dozens of residents of Ottawa, North Gower, Brinston and Shanly gathered at Ottawa City Hall yesterday to declare their communities “NOT a willing host” to proposed giant wind power projects.

Energy economist Bob Lyman addressed the crowd, noting that the day before, the Ontario Energy Board announced yet another rate hike, effective May 1st.

“Ontario’s renewable energy plan is unaffordable,” Lyman said. “We’re just beginning to feel the costs, which will amount to billions every year to be paid by Ontario ratepayers.”

Because wind power is produced when it’s not needed, he said, Ontario is shipping power out at “depressed” rates. “Ontario is subsidizing New York ratepayers by $500 million a year.”

Lyman blames the changes to structure in Ontario’s power system: “We’ve come a long way from the days when policy was to ensure that Ontario consumers had reliable and competitively priced supply. Today, the goals of environmental groups have displaced the interests of consumers and industry. It is time to take back Hydro for the consumers of this province.”

Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson said that the Ontario government is not listening to concerns about the rising price of electricity, about health problems, property value loss, or the environment. “Right now,” she said, “the citizens of Prince Edward County are having to raise money to fight their own government, the Ministry of the Environment, which has approved a wind power project at Ostrander Point. The government is not doing its job.”

Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod noted the cost of electricity in Ontario is hurting small and medium sized businesses, while huge corporations are benefitting from wind power subsidies. “The Premier says she is listening,” MacLeod said, “but I’m not sure who she’s listening to.”

The text of Bob Lyman’s remarks is available here: Remarks for April6event-RLyman, 2013-1

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Donations welcome: PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

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[Photo courtesy Lisa MacLeod]

Ottawa NOT a ‘willing host’ event Saturday April 6th

05 Friday Apr 2013

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

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NORTH GOWER-RICHMOND-BRINSTON NOT A “WILLING HOST” to giant wind power generation project.

News conference and peaceable demonstration Saturday April 6th, Ottawa City Hall, 2 PM, corner Elgin and Lisgar Streets, Human Rights monument

Speakers: Lisa MacLeod MPP, energy economist Bob Lyman, Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson

Organized by: Ottawa Wind Concerns, Wind Concerns Ontario, South Branch Wind Opposition Group

Safe setbacks for environment, health demanded now

31 Thursday Jan 2013

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A community group located in Prince Edward County is calling upon Premier-Designate Kathleen Wynne to institute safe setbacks from wind power generation facilities in order to protect the environment and human health. The County Coalition for Safe and Appropriate Green Energy or CCSAGE, released its open letter and a news release today.

The letter is from CCSAGE Chair Garth Manning QC, who says it is abundantly clear that the current setbacks are not adequate and were not based on any scientific evidence. Manning referred to the Auditor-General’s report of 2011, which was critical of the haste and lack of study behind Ontario’s Green Energy Act.

Jane Wilson, President of Wind Concerns Ontario (and Chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns) agrees:  “We’re seeing dead birds by the thousand already, and hundreds of people exposed to the environmental noise from wind turbines in this province are now ill.  It’s time for the government to step up, admit mistakes have been made, and act to protect the health and safety of people, and the future of the environment.”

Two wind power projects are currently proposed for Prince Edward County, one at Ostrander Point, a “globally significant” Important Bird Area, which is currently under appeal by community and naturalist groups. Hundreds of thousands of birds migrate through the area twice a year. Bird deaths at nearby Wolfe Island are higher than the wind developer there predicted.

The Open letter from CCSAGE may be viewed here: http://ccsage.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/open-letter-jan31-lh-1.pdf

A Backgrounder document is also available on their website for media and others.

Contact us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

Wind Concerns Ontario is at http://www.windconcernsontario.ca and windconcerns@gmail.com

 

Dalton McGuinty’s legacy: highest electricity bills in North America

21 Monday Jan 2013

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

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Here, from Parker Gallant, a comment on what Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal government has done to Ontario. We have spent billions on new “renewable” power sources, without actually adding any generation capacity. How does that make any sense?

But here’s the kick: by the end of 2016, Ontario consumers will be paying $2,055 a year MORE for power because of the McGuinty government’s policies.

Read the article, originally published in the January 18 Financial Post, here:

http://www.freewco.blogspot.ca/2013/01/ontarios-power-trip-mcguintys-legacy.html

Ottawa’s own Robert Lyman has already had a comment:

I was glad to see the article that Parker Gallant published in the National Post. For the first time that I have seen, it draws together the costs of the decisions taken by the McGuinty government in the electricity field since it came into office. The results are striking.
The “bottom line” is that the costs to the average Ontario homeowner, which have doubled since 2004, will double again by 2016. Over the next four years, the additional costs per ratepayer/taxpayer will be about $2,050. The cost of wind turbines is only one part of that cost, but it alone will add $2.5 billion per year to the costs of the electrical system. All of this, on a net basis, has not added one bit to Ontario’s generation capacity, as the province has essentially shut down the inexpensive coal plants and replaced them with the super-expensive wind and solar plants and the “smart meters”.
This analysis, never before assembled (to my knowledge), provides a powerful case against the electricity policies of the current Ontario government.
Of course, this just deals with the costs to consumers and small- and medium-sized business; never mind the dropping property values in rural communities invaded by wind power companies, the reduced appeal of Ontario tourist destinations and–most horrific of all–the damage to the health of some Ontario citizens forced to live near these power projects.
Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and follow us on Twitter at northgowerwind.
For more news and comment daily, go to http://www.windconcernsontario.ca and follow Wind Concerns Ontario on Twitter at WindConcernsONT

Ostrander Point project approval:contemptuous, reprehensible

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Wind power

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Citizens of Prince Edward County were stunned when, just a few days before Christmas, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment announced it had approved the Ostrander Point wind power project.

Ostrander Point is at the southern tip of Prince Edward County and is considered an “Important Bird Area” which, according to Nature Canada, is “globally significant” for the number of migrating birds passing the area each year in the spring and fall.

The Ontario Government doesn’t care.

The Ministry of the Environment doesn’t care.

They don’t care that Ontario’s own Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller not too many months ago, advised the government not to locate wind power generation projects near the 70 or so Important Bird Areas in the province.

Stunning.

Of course, groups are lining up to file an appeal (how contemptuous is this government of democracy? The 15-day appeal period comes at the most holiday-intensive time of the year and actually only affords EIGHT business days for citizens to respond) including Prince Edward County itself.

And of course, the Legislature is pro-rogued so that not even our MPPs can stand up in the House and object.

What can you do?

Learn more about the project and Prince Edward County at

http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

http://appec.wordpress.com/

http://pointtopointpec.ca/

Write to the Minister of the Environment, Jim Bradley and complain. You can email him at:minister.moe@ontario.ca

and write to Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller at commissioner@eco.on.ca

Consider joining one of the community groups in Prince Edward County (see the link to APPEC, above) and join Wind Concerns Ontario (link above)

and donate to Ottawa Wind Concerns.

PO Box 3, North Gower ON  K0A 2T0

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca to join our (confidential) email list for bulletins.

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South shore, Prince Edward County

How “green” is this?

14 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Renewable energy, Wind power

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Perhaps you are aware of the 60-megawatt wind power project proposed for Manitoulin Island. Northland Power recently got its approval and the latest development is that the citizens’ group there, Manitoulin Coalition for Safe Energy Alternatives or MCSEA, has withdrawn its application for an appeal. “The deck is stacked against us,” said leader Raymond Beaudry. He pointed to the dismissal of an appeal of the huge Samsung project in Chatham-Kent, saying that the “test” to prove irreversible harm to the environment was impossible.

Construction on the Manitoulin project is underway right now, with mature trees being felled like matchsticks to make way for the huge access roads needed to build and maintain the project.

This first phase is 60 MW or about 24 turbines but plans mean the island–known to native peoples as Great Spirit Island–could eventually have 600 turbines.

Here is a photo of the destruction going on this week. This type of impact on the environment is irreversible. In 20 years, when the whole wind “scam” will be over, and the profiteers long gone, the damage will live on.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca and donate, Please! to PO Box 3, North Gower ON K0A 2T0

Please look for news daily at http://www.windconcernsontario.ca

ManitoulinTreeRemoval

Ottawa Wind Concerns chair awarded Jubilee medal

23 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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Member of Parliament for Nepean-Carleton Pierre Poilievre gave Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals to four community members  last evening. The MP said that too often, politics and media concentrate on urban life when he said, the rural communities are in many ways the backbone of Canada.

One of the awards went to Ottawa Wind Concerns chair Jane Wilson, who is also the president of Wind Concerns Ontario.

Mr Poilievre said in specific that the award was to acknowledge advocacy work to protect the health and safety of people living near industrial-scale wind power projects.

Several months ago, Mr Poilievre launched a petition to be taken to the House of Commons to ask for a halt to the Ottawa wind power project based in North Gower-Richmond, to wait until the results of health impact studies are available. (The petition is still availble for signing–contact us, or drop into the MP’s office at 250 Greenbank.)

He also commissioned an economic review of the project by the Library of Parliament, which found that the cost to taxpayers in Ontario for the power project would be $4.8 million, per year.

We are going to fight ON. And ON. It is not fair that an entire community should be affected by the decision of a few landowners to put profits before their community.

To donate–we need funds for ongoing legal advice–please send a cheque to PO Box 3 North Gower ON   K0A 2T0. To have your name added to our (confidential) email list, email us at ottawawindconcerns@yahoo.ca

MP Poilievre commissions Library of Parliament research: what wind power costs YOU

17 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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A news release from Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre today, see below. This pertains to the 20-MW proposed project in North Gower. Savings of the “cost premium” amounts to $3-4.8 million per year–this is in line with the $500,000 per turbine, estimated as a subsidy for turbines by Wind Concerns Ontario.

Now remember, Mr McGuinty wants to have 10,700 MW of wind power running in Ontario. You do the math.

Pierre Poilievre, M.P., Nepean-Carleton

News Release

Contact: Austin Jean

T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

August 17, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marlborough Moratorium Makes Cents

North Gower, ON — Nepean-Carleton MP, Pierre Poilievre, released information from the Library of Parliament confirming that a moratorium on the Marlborough Wind Turbine Project could result in an annual savings of up to $4.8 million on Ontarians’ energy bills. Due to its unreliability and set-up costs, wind-generated power in Ontario is far more expensive than alternatives like conservation efforts or refurbished nuclear plants. Poilievre has been calling for a moratorium, while Health Canada (a federal department) conducts a study into the safety of wind turbine noise.

The Marlborough project proposed for the outskirts of North Gower is expected to produce approximately 60 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, at a cost of 13.5 cents/kWh, a price the Ontario government has guaranteed for 20 years.  In comparison, the Ontario Power Authority purchases electricity generated from coal, natural gas and nuclear plants at a cost of 6 to 9 cents/kWh.  A moratorium on this industrial wind turbine project would allow the Power Authority to purchase the same electricity at roughly half the price from these cheaper energy sources while Health Canada conducts its study.

“The planned industrial turbines near North Gower should be put on hold until the results of Health Canada’s federal study are published,” said Poilievre. “Not only would this ensure the safety of these residents, but it would save money for the power system and its consumers.”

In 2011, wind-generated energy accounted for an average of 2.7% of the total power grid in Ontario, costing taxpayers $519.5 million. The same amount of energy from natural gas generation plants would have cost $96.2 million less.

For further information, please contact:

Austin Jean
Office Manager

Pierre Poilievre, M.P. Nepean-Carleton
T: 613.990.4301 | F: 613.990.4333 | E: poilip1@parl.gc.ca

See the note from the Library of Parliament, HERE

Library of Parliament research[1]

Please see the petition under Important Documents. If you are copying it, it MUST have both pages on a single piece of paper to be legal.

Ottawa resident alleges fossil fuel industry ties

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Health, Ottawa, Wind power

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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