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Tag Archives: wind power development

Property in Addington Highlands? Read this ASAP

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

BEARAT, Bon Echo Area Residents Against Turbines, Land O Lakes, NextEra, Ontario Ministry of NAtural Resources, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, wind power development, wind turbines

June 17, 2015

Addington Highlands’ Council voted this week to survey residents on the proposed wind power development that could see 100 or more industrial-scale, or utility-scale wind turbines throughout the area.

If you own property in Addington Highlands, you are eligible to participate and should do so immediately.

Go to: http://www.addingtonhighlands.ca/

For general information on the wind power proposals in the Land O Lakes area, you may wish to join the email list at Bon Echo Area Residents Against Turbines at www.bearat.org

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Wind farm questions at info night in SDG

07 Thursday May 2015

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

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Brinston, Crysler Ontario, Don McCabe, Jane Wilson, North Dundas, OFA, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, power supply Ontario, South Dundas, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, Wind Concerns Ontario, wind farm, wind farm leases, wind farm noise, wind power development

“Why us?” was one of the questions raised, as more than 125 people gathered in the North Stormont Community Arena Hall in Finch on a fine spring evening in the middle of busy planting time, to hear a panel discuss various aspects of wind power in Ontario.

Speakers for the Lions’ Club event were:  Tom Levy, Director of Technical and Utility Affairs, for the Canadian Wind Energy Association/CanWEA, the industry lobby group;  Jane Wilson, president, Wind Concerns Ontario; and Don McCabe, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Tom Levy went over the numbers for wind power in Canada and showed wind power development is growing as a source of power; Ontario currently has over 4,000 megawatts of installed wind power. Wind is cheaper than other forms of power generation, he said, fast to build, emissions-free, and–because power contracts are for 20 years–provides price stability whereas prices for other forms of “fuel” such as natural gas, can fluctuate, he said.

Wilson called for balance in the approach to wind power development in Ontario communities: “If a community wants a wind power project, that’s fine,” she said, “but you have to be assured that no one single person is going to be harmed by it.” Wilson said the recent Health Canada study showed health impacts (“annoyance” is a medical term meaning distress, she said) and called the Ontario setbacks of 550 metres into question.

Quoting a document from CanWEA, Wilson said, “You have a right to ask questions, you have a right to have concerns, and –based on what you learn–you have the right to oppose.” Wilson also mentioned the charge of lease possibility in wind power contracts which meant developers can obtain financing based on the leases on farm properties for turbines.

OFA president Don McCabe pounded the lectern with his fist on the contract issue, saying, Get a lawyer, get a lawyer, get a lawyer. It is up to each property owner to obtain proper legal advice before signing contracts, he said. His view was that farm owners contemplating leases need to get an agreement that will get the most benefit for them.

Mr McCabe made no mention of farm communities, or the effect of farmers’ decisions to lease on their neighbours.

The issue of Ontario’s power supply and electricity bills came up through the evening as Wilson asserted Ontario does not need more power, and has already sold off surplus power cheap in the first quarter of 2015, for a $450-million loss for ratepayers.

McCabe joked that he didn’t think there was excess surplus power at night, and that there was no real surplus of power, only mismanagement “in Toronto.”

The question, “Why us?” was answered by Levy and Wilson. Levy said it was a number of factors that motivated developers to choose an area for power development, including access to the power grid, willing landowners, available wind resource. “Mr Levy hit the nail on the head,” said Wilson; “willing landowners. The real question is, why are power developments not located closer to cities like Toronto where the power is being used?”

The power developer proposing a project for Stormont Dundas and Glengarry, EDP Renewables, will be holding an open house tonight in Crysler at the Community Centre, between 4 and 8 PM.

New wind power contracting process released

13 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Eastern Ontario, IESO, Large Renewable Power projects, law suits wind farms, legal action wind farms, renewable power, wind farm noise, wind farm North Gower, wind farm Otrtawa, wind power, wind power development

The long-awaited resource documents for the new Request for Proposal (RFP) process for Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) were released this week.

Wind Concerns Ontario is again undertaking a review of the documents (the basic LRP/RFP is 100 pages long) but the following are changes from draft documents released last fall:

  • the number of required public meetings is now one, not two (this was a request from the wind power industry)
  • the requirement for consent from abutting landowners has been dropped to 75% from 100%

The point system for community engagement is also now known. The points  for Rated Criteria are 80 points for community engagement and 20 for aboriginal interest.  There are two levels of possible support from the Project Community – a Municipal support resolution or a Municipal Agreement. If there is an agreement but no support resolution, the proponent could get 40 of the 80 points.  Failing that,  they could claim 30 points if they have support from 75% of the landowners for abutting properties to the project and the connection line.

Deadline for submissions is September 1, then proposals will be evaluated and successful proponents notified November-December, 2015.

Ontario communities should know within the next few weeks whether a wind power developer plans to submit a proposal for a utility-scale wind power development.

The Government of Ontario has still never performed a cost-benefit analysis or impact study for large-scale wind power development, or of its renewable energy policy in general, despite the advice of two Auditors General to do so.

Eastern Ontario has a “green light” for renewable power generation projects. Already, EDP Renewables has announced plans to develop more turbines in South Dundas and North Stormont. The company that previously put a proposal forward to do a 20-megawatt wind power project in North Gower-Richmond did not qualify for the 2015 contracting process, but 41 companies did qualify. In a recent edition of the Ontario Farmer, a North Gower area farm owner said he though wind power was a waste of money but that if he were offered money he would put them on his property (though not where he lives).

Ottawa Wind Concerns remains active in monitoring any proposals that might come forward, and we continue to have a law firm on retainer.

ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter @northgowerwind

Onshore, offshore: tell us any wind farm makes sense

12 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by ottawawindconcerns in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, CAPE, noise impact wind farms, offshore wind, offshore wind power, onshore wind power development, Ontario, wind farm, wind farm noise, wind farms Ontario, wind power development, wind power generation

For some reason, there is a sudden buzz about offshore wind power in Ontario. Last week, the province put out two Requests for Proposal pertaining to offshore wind power generation. One of them was for a “noise impact” study, which is flawed from the very request because it asks for a proponent to do a literature review only, on audible noise only, and not to do any actual noise measurements, despite the fact that the Wolfe Island wind “farm” could provide very interesting data. As well, none of the studies already done on offshore wind “farms” are likely to deal with freshwater, and the attendant problems such as ice.

This week, the Canadian Physicians for the Environment or CAPE, put out an op-ed to Ontario newspapers, saying they want Canada to not lose opportunities for jobs in clean energy technology, and that “far” offshore wind power development should be explored.

Wind Concerns Ontario was quick to point out two things: first, the push for “far” offshore wind power development is an admission that there are serious problems with onshore wind power development, and second, there still have been no studies done on a cost-benefit analysis, an options analysis, or a true, comprehensive impact analysis for wind power development.

Here is the story from today’s London Free Press on the “far” offshore idea.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Don’t look for ‘justice’ in wind turbine debate

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anne McNeilly, Ben Lansink, David Cooper, Dr Hazel Lynn, Feed In Tariff Ontario, FIT Ontario, Green Energy Act, health effects wind power, health effects wind turbine noise, health effects wind turbines, infrasound wind turbines, Ken Lewenze, Port Elgin turbine, property value loss wind power, Toronto Star, wind power development, wind power Ontario, wind power scam

This commentary, written by a journalism prof, is an excellent summary of the issues around the wind power scandal in Ontario … and a question as to why the Ontario media in the main, doesn’t “get it.”

Check out the original here, and feel free to comment at The Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/04/09/dont_look_for_justice_in_ontarios_debate_on_wind_turbines.html

Don’t look for justice in Ontario’s ‘debate’ on wind turbines

It’s wealthy corporate behemoths supported by the government against vulnerable people with limited financial resources.
Don’t look for justice in Ontario’s ‘debate’ on wind turbines

David Cooper / TORONTO STAR

Anti-wind-turbine groups converged on the convention centre in downtown Toronto last week to protest wind farms, a story largely ignored by the mainstream media. (April 3, 2013)

By: Anne McNeilly Published on Tue Apr 09 2013

When there’s social injustice, you don’t expect large corporations, the provincial government and a union like the CAW to be climbing into bed together to ignore the problem. But slap a motherhood label on the issue, such as the so-called “Green Energy” Act, and all of a sudden it’s OK to ignore the very real hardships, both health and financial, happening to people in non-Liberal ridings.

What’s more surprising about the wind-turbine debacle, though, is the relatively low media profile that Ontario residents who are being negatively affected by the monster machines are receiving. News outlets and publications usually lap up stories of social injustice. The problems associated with lead paint, urea-formaldehyde foam insulation, asbestos and cigarettes are all famous for the media attention they received that led to change.

But it was difficult even to find news stories last week about the wind turbine protest at the energy conference in downtown Toronto. People from across the province pooled their resources to hire buses to come to the city to try to draw attention to their plight. If there was a broadcast or a print story, I didn’t hear or see it.

And despite public outrage and protests, the Canadian Auto Workers’ union last week started operating a monster wind turbine, built with government subsidies, in its Port Elgin convention centre parking lot that violates the 550-metre Ontario setback regulations. Residents, particularly children, are already experiencing the sleepless nights, anxiety and migraines being experienced by others around the province. Who cares? Certainly not CAW president Ken Lewenza, who has secured a seat on the province’s wind gravy train. When I recently suggested to a colleague who works on a documentary radio show in Toronto that the problems with turbines were worth a story, she responded: “I think they (wind turbines) are beautiful.” And that was that.

On one “side” of the wind-turbine debate are wealthy corporate behemoths supported by a government that removed the democratic rights of its citizens, without debate, to launch a misguided and ill-advised initiative that’s going to cost taxpayers’ into the billions. On the other “side,” you have vulnerable Ontario residents with limited financial resources who have had their democratic rights trampled and monster industrial monsters rammed down their throats.

Many are sick, although they are having trouble getting urban residents and to believe it, and many now own property where the value has been cut by as much as half. To ignore a situation where one “side” holds all the financial and political power while the other side struggles to make their voices heard, but not from lack of shouting and protesting, is a grave injustice.

So why are those who have found themselves living next to these industrial “farm” factories not getting more attention? Is it because of the greater good? If only that were true. Anyone who has done even five minutes of research knows that turbines are never going to solve the province’s or the world’s energy problems, despite the propaganda being spun by the wind companies and the province with its “Green Energy” Act, a brilliant piece of propaganda.

The fact is, is that the energy produced by turbines can’t be stored and they produce a fraction, (an estimated 20 per cent or less) of what they are capable of at times of the year when their energy is most needed, winter and summer. The auditor general outlined last year how the province “leapt before it looked” into this billion-dollar boondoggle that’s already costing taxpayers plenty.

A roundup of peer-reviewed health research, which is difficult to link to due to academic pay walls, from a variety of medical and science researchers can be found in the August 2011, 31(4) issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and SocietyAugust 2011, 31(4) issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, and is easily available at any public or university library. In addition, the medical officer of health in Grey Bruce, Dr. Hazel Lynn, submitted a report to the Ministry Health in February that found that there is, indeed, a link between health and wind turbines. Hard data on how property values have been cut by as much as half can be found in a report done by Lansink property and appraisals here: http://mlwindaction.org/2012/10/04/new-ontario-wind-turbine-property-value-analysis-ben-lansink-aaci-p-app-mrcs)http://mlwindaction.org/2012/10/04/new-ontario-wind-turbine-property-value-analysis-ben-lansink-aaci-p-app-mrcs)

Curiously, or maybe not, is that when energy issues arise in Liberal ridings — a planned natural gas plant, for example, in Oakville, or offshore Toronto turbines that would have obstructed “the view” of Scarborough Liberals — the projects are quickly quashed. So far, Premier Kathleen Wynne, nicknamed McWynnty by those in turbine-infested locales, has had little to say beyond acknowledging, sort of, that there’s maybe a problem and that municipalities should be more involved in the siting process for wind turbines. Well, yes.

Let’s be clear. People forced to live beside wind turbines are emphatically not anti “green” energy — what they are opposed to are industrial machines that are ruining their lives, while the government, and the media, turn a blind eye to the problem.

Anne McNeilly is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at Ryerson University who likes to vacation in Bruce County, at a place that is more than 550 metres from the nearest turbine.

 

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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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