Wolfe Island Residents for the Environment

Read Ministry of Energy’s proposed changes i.e. all the legal requirements that will enable wind and other energy projects to be approved and erected without public consultation, under what they are calling “the substituted process”.

All Ministries apparently should abdicate all their regulatory and approval responsibilities in favour of this new “substituted process”, and in this new perfect, energy driven world, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) will become the sole approval authority for siting and environmental issues.  The new “Environmental Assessment Report”, or EAR, as they are calling it, will take care of all these permitting delays by removing municipalities and other stakeholders from the entire process in the name of the public good – ie must have new energy at all costs.  Our democratic rights are being taken away from us. Please write to the Ministry of Energy to make known your position to this proposed change.

http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=electricity.reports
Go to – Agency Review Panel: Phase 2 Report

Visit Wolfe Island Residents for the Environment

Wel’s windfarm critic has plenty of hits at hearing

 Editor:
Meet Sean Cox, a man with attitude. The right attitude. Forget about being polite. Get your message through to the dim witted politicians that are supposed to be looking out for the best interests of their constituents. Take no crap, they work for you. Make sure they understand this fact loud and clear. Call them at home, show up at their doors. Make their lives as miserable as they are attempting to makes yours.

WAKE THEM UP AND MAKE THEM LISTEN

Wel’s windfarm critic has plenty of hits at hearing

[ Alternate short URL for linking • HOME ]

The more Wel Networks’ proposed Te Uku wind farm is investigated, the worse it looks, says one of the project’s most vociferous critics.

Aotea Harbour aerodynamicist Sean Cox the man most responsible for the project’s hearing still running returned to Ngaruawahia yesterday to take another crack at Wel’s application to build and operate a 28-turbine wind farm.

With a mix of pointy-headed science and gratuitous insults, he delivered a 212 hour dissertation on the problems with wind farms, Wel Networks, the Resource Management Act process, and new trends in the energy sector.

Earlier Wel Networks had painted him as an unreliable witness who lacked credibility, but Mr Cox scored plenty of hits in concluding the wind farm was “an economic and power supply disaster”.

“If it had been built a year ago it would not have earned enough in the last year at wholesale power rates to get close to covering its interest payments,” he said.

He believed Wel’s economic modelling took no account of damage from adverse weather, legal action from future realised health effects, obsolescence due to improved alternate technology, or reduced income through technological change or altered government policies.

“Wind power is now obsolete for the North Island,” he said, in tabling economic models for alternate power projects.

And there was an ominous warning for Wel if they did proceed. “Should these turbines be built, they will be the best monitored ones in the world. Every watt of power, every squeak of sound, every whiff of subsonics and every bird they kill will be recorded. Then we will see who was right.”

Mr Cox, a wind farm pioneer and designer of fighter aircraft for British Aerospace, refused to give his full qualifications to the hearing.

“Just call me Mr Cox. Far too much weight is given to qualifications and it disadvantages ordinary people. Take the evidence as I have presented it.

By Bruce Holloway

Waikato Times

Wind turbine noise

A short video

Our Life is Hell

Green energy plan could wither in court: native bands

CBC News

Two native bands are threatening to tie up the Ontario government’s long-range power plans using lengthy court delays.

In a submission to the Ontario Energy Board, people from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territories argued the province has not lived up to its legal requirement to consult with them on the plan’s impact.

The lawyer for the two communities, near Wiarton on the Bruce Peninsula, spoke earlier this week at board hearings into the Ontario Power Authority’s proposal for new energy sources.

Arthur Pape reminded board members of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that Queen’s Park has a legal duty to consult with First Nations on the impact the power plan will have on their lives.

“There’s no way the Saugeen Ojibway could participate meaningfully with government to ensure that this part of the plan could be implemented in a way that protects their rights,” Pape told the board.

Pape says there’s still time to negotiate compensation that may be owed to First Nations for the impact of new wind farms, hydro dams and transmission lines on their hunting and fishing rights and way of life.

But he warned that if the government fails to negotiate, it could mean lengthy delays in getting the plan approved.

“If the government won’t work with them to find a way to accommodate those things, they may find themselves applying to the courts, and asking for the courts to not let this plan be implemented,” he told CBC News.

Neither the government, nor the Ontario Power Authority, which drew up the plan, would comment on Pape’s submissions.

The OPA’s new plan, which calls for the provincial government to spend $26.5 billion on nuclear power plants, still requires regulatory approval.

The plan also proposes doubling the amount of renewable energy on the grid by 2025 and phasing out coal-fired generation by the end of 2014.

Several energy providers are considering building more wind farms on the Bruce Peninsula to bring power to the south of the province.

Much of that energy will require new transmission lines to be built.

Premier, Dalton McGuinty Talks About Renewable Energy For Ontario

Editor:
I would like to thank Lynne, for sending me the Hansard below. Just what is Premier, Dalton McGuinty up to.

According to our Premier, Dalton McGuinty
Ontario Hansard – 19-April2006
“I think the member opposite knows that when it comes to natural gas, prices there tend to be volatile, and it remains a significant contributor to global warming. Wind turbines: We are investing heavily in those, but again, those are an expensive form of electricity and they’re not reliable, because sometimes obviously the wind does not blow. When it comes to solar, those tend to be expensive as well.”

So Mr. Premiere, instead of building a cost effective reliable electrical system for Ont., you have decided to do the exact opposite. Why?

You say, “natural gas, prices there tend to be volatile, and it remains a significant contributor to global warming”.

Building thousands of megawatts of gas plants, will result in a significant, unnecessary cost, with little or no benefit to the environment. Installing the scrubbers on the coal plants would have brought down the emissions very close to that of the, to be built gas plants, at a fraction of the cost. In fact, by not installing the scrubbers on the coal plants you have put the health of the people of Ont. at risk.

You go on to say
Ontario Hansard – 19-April2006
“But we’re not just sitting on our hands as we weigh these important issues before us. Let me tell you about some of the exciting news that we have by way of creating new wind farms in Ontario. We’ve announced three new wind farms in the last month alone. At Erie Shores, there’s a new wind farm with 66 turbines producing 99 megawatts of power for 25,000 homes. The first phase of a new wind farm outside Goderich is now up. That’s 22 turbines producing enough power for 12,000 homes. And the first phase of a new wind farm is now up outside Shelburne, Ontario: 45 turbines producing 67.5 megawatts. That’s enough to power 18,000 homes”.

Your statement above sounds good, but it’s not exactly honest. According to the Independent Electricity System Operator — “For capacity planning purposes, wind generation has a dependable capacity contribution of 10% of the listed figures.”
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
Monday 10 April 2006

According to you, the wind farms listed above, produce enough energy to power 55,000 homes, but the IESO says they have a real capacity to power only 5,500 homes.

How long would a auto company get away with advertising “our car gets 60 mpg”, when in reality it only gets 6 mpg. Not long. So why is the govt. allowed to misrepresent in such an overt manner?
You call wind energy, “expensive and not reliable”. Why are you building them?

A new report predicts that energy costs could rise as much as 70 per cent if natural gas generation replaces the four coal plants. But McGuinty said that’s the cost of cleaner air.

“The single greatest contributor to greenhouse gases in the province of Ontario is coal-fired generation so we’re going to do something about that,” he said.

You also said, “natural gas, prices there tend to be volatile, and it remains a significant contributor to global warming”

I had the opportunity to talk with one of your energy advisors about a year ago. He says that the gas plants are more dangerous to health than coal plants with scrubbers installed. Apparently the particulate from the gas plants is much finer and harder for the body to deal with. I was also told gas plants are great emitters of ground level ozone, which is very hard on people with asthma or other breathing problems.

Our manufacturers in Ont. are losing jobs because of the high dollar, while at the same time, Mr. McGuinty, you are doing everything in your power to drive up the cost of electricity. Any significant rise in the cost of power will drive industry out of Ont., and they won’t likely return.

Mr. McGuinty, you recently went to Ottawa looking for Federal Govt. aid to help the manufacturing sector in Ont., while at the same time you are building an electrical system that is sure to drive industry out of the Province or into bankruptcy.

Who are you working for anyway? The people of Ont. or the Maurice Strong agenda. So far, it looks like Strong has your attention. You are obviously not listening to your own energy advisors.

“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the
industrialized civilizations collapse?
Isn’t it our responsiblity to bring that about?”
– Maurice Strong, former Secretary General of UNEP

Further reading material

T h e E 8 r e c o mm e n d a t i o n s

green-agrenda-quotes

Mr. McGuinty, you already know the devastating affect your “Green” polices are having on people and their property values, and you seem convinced, by your own words, that your energy polices are badly flawed, “expensive and unreliable”.

Yet, you continue down this path of destruction for the Ont. economy. Why?

Reeve outraged by MPP’s comments

Editor
It’s about time the Reeve gets outraged at Carol Mitchell and the McGuinty Govt. Carol Mitchell and the Liberal govt. lied to the people of ACW from the outset and continue to do so. After all the problems with Kingsbridge l, does the Reeve finally have the backbone to tell Mitchell and her lying co-conspirators to piss off once and for all. Carol Mitchell thinks that everything David Suzuki says is true. Isn’t that right Carol. Carol, you are just another Suzuki Sheep. Suzuki is a fraud,
Suzuki Says “Sorry, intelligence was never my strong suit.”
and so are you and your Liberal bandits. Lose the smile and hang your head in shame for what you are doing to this province.

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek is outraged at comments by
Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell

By Sara Bender
Signal-Star Publishing
Wednesday December 12, 2007

Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek is outraged at comments by Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell regarding the township’s wind turbine setbacks.
Mitchell made comments last week on FM 101.7 radio stating that the township is “dragging their feet” by not passing their wind turbine bylaw. She said “the township should move so the Kingsbridge II wind project can begin.”
Firstly, Van Diepenbeek said the township is not passing a wind turbine bylaw but rather a consolidated bylaw for the three wards. He said the township’s consolidated bylaw is not ready to proceed yet and will still have to go through a public process before it can be passed.
“We are not going to pass one part of the bylaw now; we want all of the consolidated bylaw complete,” he said. Van Diepenbeek said Mitchell should know that it is not the township “dragging their feet” but the Ministry of Environment. He said Mitchell was with council when they met the minister several months ago and they have been waiting for information since then so they could move forward.

Globalization : Policy Regime Changes
Complete Restructuring of Energy Sector
PEmerging global energy (and infrastructure)
transnationals that can work within and between
global regions (Hydro Quebec,Enron, others)
P Postwar utility: vertically integrated monopoly
(VIM) : energy production, transmission and
distribution in one firm P Neoliberal idea: divide VIM into different functionally specialized firms
P New functionally specialized firms form an energy sector that is integrated by a market
P All firms/markets within energy sector would need arms length regulation
P New organization provides opportunity structures for transnational investmentGlobalization Electrical Energy

Goderich Signal Star

ACW Council waits for wind word from ministry-Update

Posted on September 6, 2007.

EPCOR is not responding to the public’s concerns.

Posted on January 27, 2007.

Wind Turbine Setbacks-UPDATE Sept.11 2007-

Posted on January 25, 2007.

Best slogan gets a Free Coffee

Posted on January 7, 2007.

Kirby Mountain: U.K. Noise Association: 1 mile setback needed for wind turbines

Posted on December 2, 2006.

 

 

 

 

The Dangers of Wind Power

From the Editor:

Ontario and most jurisdictions in North America seem unwilling to learn from the mistakes of others. It is very easy to build clean cost effective electrical systems but our governments keep on chasing the wind dream. The dream will turn out to be a nightmare for the system operators, the farmers who lease their land, the people living near the wind turbines and last but not least the ratepayers who will get hammered with ever rising hydro bills.

The fields will end up as junk yards of rusting broken down turbines . The investors will come out on the good end because the wind industry is a tax scheme not an electrical system.

The report below should help you understand the reality of the wind industry. 

 

[ News Watch Home ]

Wind turbines continue to multiply the world over. But as they grow bigger and bigger, the number of dangerous accidents is climbing. How safe is wind energy?

It came without warning. A sudden gust of wind ripped the tip off of the rotor blade with a loud bang. The heavy, 10-meter (32 foot) fragment spun through the air, and crashed into a field some 200 meters away.

The wind turbine, which is 100 meters (328 feet) tall, broke apart in early November 2006 in the region of Oldenburg in northern Germany — and the consequences of the event are only now becoming apparent. Startled by the accident, the local building authority ordered the examination of six other wind turbines of the same model.

The results, which finally came in this summer, alarmed District Administrator Frank Eger. He immediately alerted the state government of Lower Saxony, writing that he had shut down four turbines due to safety concerns. It was already the second incident in his district, he wrote, adding that turbines of this type could pose a threat across the country. The expert evaluation had discovered possible manufacturing defects and irregularities.

Mishaps, Breakdowns and Accidents

Read the full report 

Wind Farms Fail Once Again in Ontario

From the Sygration website

Ontario Generation for 2007-07-24

All power production in Ont today. Once again wind fails. 400 MW capacity producing next to nothing.The graph starts at 1am. McGuinty is too stupid to be the leader of this province. I don’t have much faith in the other parties either. They have all become corporate puppets.

This is your province and your country please get involved. It is your children and grandchildren that will ask you why you were so apathetic.

click on the link to view the “Great Saviour” wind power stats for today. Be sure to click on pic to enlarge it.

sygration-ontario-generator-report

Anne Murray lends voice to opponents of N.S. wind farm

By DARRELL COLE The Canadian Press | 5:41 PM

GULF SHORE — Nova Scotia’s songbird wishes a proposed wind farm in Gulf Shore would just fly away.

Singer Anne Murray, who has a summer home in the area, is joining other residents in opposing the construction by Atlantic Wind Power Corp. of 20 to 27 100-metre-high wind turbines in the province’s northwest corner.

“I just think it’s too close. It’s in all our backyards,” said Murray, who grew up in nearby Springhill. “I think wind power is a good thing, and I am all for them when they’re in the right place. I don’t believe these ones are in the right place.”

The project is presently undergoing an environmental assessment. Depending on how that goes, construction could begin in 2009.

Area residents have been fighting the project since it was first proposed and urged Cumberland County to set the distance between the turbines and their properties at a minimum of two kilometres. Instead, the municipality passed a bylaw setting the distance at the greater of three times the height of the turbine, or 500 metres.

Company president Charles Demond has said a two-kilometre setback would kill the project.

Murray feels the concerns being raised by the Gulf Shore Association and area residents aren’t being taken seriously. She believes there are too many unanswered questions surrounding the placement of turbines close to homes, including the effects of noise, vibration and shadow flicker.

“Some people think this is just a bunch of hysterical people opposed to change, but nothing could be farther from the truth,” she said. “These people are in favour of wind power, but the bylaw passed by the county doesn’t set the distance far enough between their homes and these turbines.

“I’m all for progress and I’m all for change, but not this close.”

Murray said she’s also not opposed to using her celebrity to help project opponents because she feels this wind farm will have a “catastrophic” impact on Pugwash and the Gulf Shore area.

The Amherst News

Frey & Hadden, Wind turbines and health

From the editor

It appears from all the research that has been done on wind turbines and wind farms that not only is the wind industry not telling you the truth, neither is your govt. When I say your govt., I am talking about all govt. bodies that are involved in the promotion and licensing of wind farms. The evidence is in. The question at this point in time is really very simple. Are you going to stand up and be counted or are you going to do nothing?

Thousands of lives have already been ruined by poorly sited wind farms, you may be next. Both the wind industry and your government knew and continue to know that these wind farms are sited too close to people. It is about economy of scale. Never forget “By the people for the people”

I don’t remember it being changed to
“By the government for the corporations.”

The wind companies are in the process of sucking billions of dollars from taxpayers pockets and your govt. is helping them.

Is Democracy still alive in the so-called free world?

Leave a comment

The document below says it all

Frey_&_Hadden,_Wind_turbines_and_health

Wind turbines are large industrial structures that create obtrusive environmental noise pollution when built too close to dwellings. This annotated review of evidence and research by experts considers the impact of industrial-scale wind turbines suffered by those living nearby. First, the paper includes the comments by some of the families affected by wind turbines, as well as coverage in news media internationally. The experiences described put a human face to the science of acoustics.

Second, the paper reviews research articles within the field of acoustics concerning the acoustic properties of wind turbines and noise. The acoustic characteristics of wind turbines are complex and in combination produce acoustic radiation. Next, the paper reviews the health effects that may result from the acoustic radiation caused by wind turbines, as well as the health effects from noise, because the symptoms parallel one another. Primarily, the consequent health response includes sleep deprivation and the problems that ensue as a result. In addition, this paper reviews articles that report research about the body’s response not only to the audible noise, but also to the inaudible components of noise that can adversely affect the body’s physiology. Research points to a causal link between unwanted sound and sleep deprivation and stress, i.e., whole body physiologic responses.

These injuries are considered in the context of Human Rights, where it is contended that the environmental noise pollution destroys a person’s effective enjoyment of right to respect for home and private life, a violation of Article 8 of the European Court of Human fights Act. Furthermore, the paper considers the consequent devaluation of a dwelling as a measure of part of the damage that arises when wind turbines are sited too close to a dwelling, causing acoustic radiation and consequent adverse health responses.

The review concludes that a safe buffer zone of at least 2km should exist between family dwellings and industrial wind turbines of up to 2MW installed capacity, with greater separation for a wind turbine greater than 2MW installed capacity

Frey_&_Hadden,_Wind_turbines_and_health_2-07.pdf