Tag Archives: wind power project

Nation says NO to huge wind farms

11 Tuesday Aug 2015

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Wind power project rejected: the people of Nation speak

Council for the municipality of Nation, just east of Ottawa, met last evening and decided to reverse a motion of support for two wind power projects, in St Bernardin and St Isidore. Nation is now Not A Willing Host to wind power projects, making it the 90th community in Ontario to reject wind power proposals. The community group Save The Nation/Sauvon La Nation held a huge public meeting last week, and revealed that council had passed the support motion with no public discussion or input.  The majority of residents are opposed to the power projects on the grounds that the potential for environmental damage is significant, and the impact on agriculture and the social fabric of the communities would be extensive. “We are not for sale,” said Julie Leroux of Save The Nation in an interview. EDF of France had claimed it has spent hundreds of thousands wooing the community, paying for hockey dinners and other events designed to sway farm owners to sign leases for the project. See the story from CTV News here: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/residents-of-nation-east-of-ottawa-fight-wind-turbine-projects-1.2510730 Related story: the town of Essex last night voted not to support a new wind power project, saying they want no more wind turbines. There are now 91 Not A Willing Host communities in Ontario.

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Wind farm documentaries show community impact of power projects

13 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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As the residents of Stormont Dundas and Glengarry come to terms with the proposal for a large wind power project in their communities, they are interested in receiving more information, and learning about the experience of other Ontario communities.

Several important documentary films have been made in recent years.

WIND RUSH-CBC

Wind Rush was aired in 2013 by the CBC and may be viewed online here. In the new documentary film WIND RUSH, produced for CBC Doc Zone by Toronto’s 90th Parallel Productions, the battleground for the pro and anti wind forces is southern Ontario. The government there pledged to wean the province off coal fired generation plants and replace them with green wind energy.

But as soon as the turbines went up in places like Wolf Island, Amaranth and Bruce County, people realized they could hear them. Sometimes it was like a whisper, but other times it sounded more like a jet taking off.

And then it got worse.

New turbines started coming in at two and three times the size of the old ones. And they were even louder. It led to chronic sleeplessness for many people living close by—and that can lead to diabetes, depression and heart disease. Others were affected in their inner ears by low-level sounds that set off their equilibrium. Doctors started seeing patient after patient complaining of the same sets of symptoms. And then people started to realize that no one had done any significant human health studies before giving the green light to the turbine farms.


The Hammonds, wind farmers

WIND RUSH takes viewers to southwestern Alberta, where wind has been an energy staple for more than twenty years. There is plenty of room for humans and windmills to coexist—a stark contrast to Ontario, where the same prairie technology was installed in a dramatically different landscape. The film then moves to Denmark, a country long considered the poster-child for the wind energy movement. But as WIND RUSH reveals, the relationship between the Danes and turbines has soured.

WIND RUSH talks to people on either side of the turbine divide, and then turns to scientists to try and determine what has gone wrong. In the next several years the turbines will double in size again—bigger, louder and more powerful. But without sufficient research have the people who live among the wind farms been forgotten?

BIG WIND-TVO

See this film here.

“Big Wind” explores the conflict over the controversial development of industrial wind turbines in Ontario. It is a divisive issue that at times pits neighbour against neighbour, residents against corporations, and the people against their government.

DOWN WIND-Sun Media

See a preview of this video and purchase/download here.*

The green energy scam: how corporations are making millions while Ontario communities are being changed forever.

*Ottawa Wind Concerns owns a copy of this DVD and would be pleased to offer it in a public showing. Contact us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com

Ottawa Wind Concerns at Agricultural and Rural Affairs today

02 Thursday Apr 2015

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Ottawa Wind Concerns will present an overview of the new Ontario contracting process for wind power at the Agricultural and Rural Affairs committee today.

The group has prepared a presentation that outlines the process for developers, based on the 100-page document from the Independent Electricity System Operator or IESO, and has added recommendations for the City of Ottawa, should a proposal for a wind power project come forward.

“Our rural communities are completely opposed being industrialized for wind power projects, to produce power Ontario doesn’t need,” says chair Jane Wilson. “Almost 1,300 residents of the North Gower area signed a petition in 2013 to say they do not support a wind power project in their community, due to the economic and social costs.”

Ontario is contracting for 300 more megawatts of wind power in 2015, which will cost Ontario $200 million annually.

U.S.-based EDP Renewables has stated it is planning to propose 30-50 turbines just 30 minutes south of Ottawa, in North Dundas.

Ottawa Wind Concerns is a community group and corporate member of Wind Concerns Ontario.

 

Legal actions against wind farms continue

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy, Wind power

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This is a heavy duty week as Ontario communities fight back against the unwanted incursion of huge wind power generation facilities. As you know, the Green Energy Act removed local land-use planning powers for renewable power projects, so the environmental appeal process and ultimately the courts, along with a noise nuisance bylaw, is the only way communities can act to protect their residents.

(The new procurement process for large-scale renewable power projects still does not allow for a return of municipal planning powers; communities can have a say, as long as it’s not “no” and in fact, the regional energy plans are pre-designed by the province—in other words, if the province decides you’re getting a wind “farm” then you are. But we digress…)

This week:

Manvers/Pontypool: last few days of the appeal of the Sumac Ridge wind power project, part of which is on the Oak Ridges Moraine, a fragile and (formerly) protected environment. The Green Energy Act over-rode the Oak Ridges Moraine Protection Act, along with 20 other pieces of legislation.) The City of Kawartha Lakes is involved.

Plympton-Wyoming: again, the municipality is involved with the appeal of the Suncor Cedar Point wind power generation project. Today, the Environmental Review Tribunal hears a motion for a stay of proceedings, until experts can review the raw data from the Health Canada Wind Turbine Noise and Health study. (No report or article has yet been published from this study; there is only a brief summary and PowerPoint presentation.) The Health Canada study showed that 16.5% of people living within 2 km of a wind turbine were experiencing distress.

Niagara Region: Mothers Against Wind Turbines is a appealing the 77, 3-megawatt turbine Niagara Region wind power project, which will affect over 4,000 homes. Preliminary hearing is tomorrow in Wellandport.

Other appeals have been filed and several judicial reviews are in various stages, as well as private legal actions on property value loss and nuisance. Decisions are expected on the Ostrander Point appeal (lawyer Eric Gillespie), and the Drennan/Dixon appeal (the Constitutional challenge, lawyer Julian Falconer).

Ottawa Wind Concerns has retained a legal firm and is prepared to enact legal actions should another proposal come forward for a wind power project.

Contact us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com Donations welcome at PO Box 3, North Gower K0A 2T0

Developer of North Gower wind farm fails to qualify

04 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Ottawa, Renewable energy

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The Ontario Power Authority released its list of Qualified Applicants for Large Renewable power projects today. The deadline for applicants to apply for qualification was one month ago, on September 4th.

The Government of Ontario will now proceed to contract for more wind and solar power, despite the fact Ontario has a surplus of power and has been selling off power to neighbouring jurisdictions throughout October at a loss of millions of ratepayer dollars.

The company that had proposed a wind power project in North Gower, Prowind of Germany (incorporated as Prowind Canada here) is NOT on the list of qualified applicants.

The chair of Ottawa Wind Concerns Jane Wilson says the community is cautiously optimistic: “The citizens of North Gower, Richmond and Kars demonstrated solid opposition to the project via a plebescite last year, which resulted in a supportive motion unanimously passed at Ottawa City Council. We think any other company looking at coming here will get the message that a huge wind power project close to over 1,000 homes and our school is not appropriate. We continue to stand ready to take every means available to fight another proposal.”

Join our email list at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com
LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicants List PostedThe LRP I RFQ submission deadline was September 4, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. Seventy Qualification Submissions were received by the deadline. Following two months of review for completeness and eligibility, the OPA has now completed its evaluation of all Qualification Submissions and has determined the final list of Qualified Applicants. These entities would be eligible to submit proposals under any future LRP I RFP.

Those RFQ Applicants that are not listed on the LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicant List are reminded that they would not be eligible to submit a proposal under any future LRP I RFP but may qualify to participate in any future round of LRP procurement.

More information and the LRP I RFQ Qualified Applicant List are available on the LRP Website.

Next Steps in the LRP Process

The OPA is working to finalize the draft versions of the LRP I RFP and LRP I Contract and anticipates they will be posted in November. Once the documents have been posted, municipalities, communities, stakeholders and other interested parties will be invited to review them and provide feedback. A webinar will also be scheduled to discuss the draft documents – details on the timing of the webinar will be posted with the draft documents.

Interested parties should subscribe to the LRP subscriber list to ensure they are kept aware of any updates relating to the LRP.

Ontario Power Authority

Have your say in Ottawa Public Health survey

31 Thursday Jul 2014

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

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Ottawa Public Health is asking members of the public for help as they determine their priorities for 2015-2018. You may take the survey and provide responses here.

If a wind power project is to accepted and approved for any area of Ottawa, it would be appropriate for the City of Ottawa and its public health department to have made provision to protect residents. Some suggestions might be

-pre-operational noise measurements

-pre-operational baseline health survey of residents within 3 km

-post-operational health assessments

-measurement of noise AND infrasound to ensure compliance with regulations (note: there are presently NO regulations concerning infrasound and the province will not have a protocol until 2015)

The Green Energy Act removed local land-use planning powers for municipalities facing renewable power projects, but municipalities remain responsible for protecting their residents from “nuisance” and harm.

Ottawa should be prepared now to address this, should a wind power project come forward.

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

We write to OFA rep Straathof

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Health, Renewable energy, Wind power

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We learned this week that Ontario Federation of Agriculture Executive Member Debra Pretty-Straathof made remarks that our community is “split” over the proposed wind power development.

Really.

So, Ottawa Wind Concerns wrote to Ms Straathof to correct her. Here is an excerpt of that letter.

It is possible you have not seen the news stories about this particular project, and in specific, the fact that the majority of voting age residents last year signed a legal petition which was then presented to and accepted by the City of Ottawa at Council; Council then went on to pass a resolution of support, and to demand that local land-use planning powers be returned to Ontario municipalities.

The petition was the result of a three-week long campaign, which began with a public meeting attended by 300 communities members; in the weeks that followed, dozens of community members gathered signatures on the legal document, and we held a final public event which again, attracted hundreds more residents. The signatures on the petition numbered more than 1,230—this was equal to the TOTAL NUMBER of residents [in North Gower] voting in the municipal election in 2010, according to our Councillor.

The event was reported on by the Ottawa Citizen, the CBC and CFRA, among other media outlets such as the local community papers.

It will also interest you to know that our MP Pierre Poilievre prepared his own petition back in 2012, gathered hundreds of signatures from North Gower residents, and then rose in the House of Commons to present it, and demand that the North Gower wind power project not be approved, or at least wait until the results of the Health Canada study are known.

Our community has been involved in the fight against this inappropriate wind power project for more than four years. Here’s why:

  • Ontario has a surplus of power generation and does not need this wind power project.
  • The project as proposed before the pause in procurement of large scale power projects, was to be a 20-megawatt facility with 8 wind turbines; the turbines would have been within 3 km of more than 1,000 homes—this is completely inappropriate siting.
  • According to property value research done in Ontario, the projected property value loss for the North Gower area would be $134 million. This would pose a hardship for residents, particularly young families and seniors, for whom their home is their prime investment.
  • Reports of health effects due to the environmental noise produced by these machines are mounting throughout Ontario, as you must know; if only 10 percent of North Gower residents were affected, that would still be hundreds of people, many of them children. As proposed, this project would have meant that some children would be exposed to the noise 24 hours a day.

Again, the message this community has given is clear and without argument: a wind power project so close to the village and area residents is not appropriate, not necessary, and not wanted.

Any opinions to the contrary are uninformed.

We have not had the courtesy of a response from the OFA rep as yet. OFA members may wish to write to her themselves and express concern at her lack of awareness on this important issue.

Email us at ottawawindconcerns@gmail.com