Chip Martin – October 19, 2013 – The London Free Press

FOREST – From pickups to tractors and manure wagons, nearly 200 vehicles blocked off a 30-kilometre stretch of Hwy. 402 Saturday.

In what is believed to be one of the largest demonstrations against wind turbines in rural Ontario, the eastbound lanes of the freeway were shut down from Hwy. 21 near Forest to Centre Rd. at Strathroy

“Premier Wynne, you will learn we are a tough crowd when we are pissed off,” activist firebrand Esther Wrightman of Kerwood told a rally of about 300 participants afterward.

“Ms Wynne, we will not be bullied and terrorized any more,” Wrightman told a crowd that drew participants from Niagara Region, Grey County, Haldimand, Chatham-Kent and elsewhere.

Conservative MPPs Monte McNaughton, Bob Bailey, Lisa Thompson and Lisa McLeod told the protesters their party would dismantle the Green Energy Act, which has helped kill 300,000 jobs in the province, they said.

OPP closed access to the major artery and provided an escort for the rolling protest that stretched as far as the eye could see.

The demonstration started about 10 a.m. and took more than two hours to reach Centre Rd. and a closing rally beside the Gemini Sportsplex.

Neil Switzer, a member of a Niagara Region group opposed to wind turbines, said the protest “is very encouraging because it brings people together from all over the province”

“And this is also a show of support for Esther Wrightman,” he said.

He said he has been fighting turbines for three years and is most concerned about how government won’t listen to reason and keeps promoting wind energy.

Link to story: London Free Press – 402 Anti-Wind rally

October 19th, 2013

Campaigners for and against wind turbines and solar energy came face to face during separate demonstrations on Truro’s Lemon Quay.

Residents from across Cornwall, including members of the Green Party and Friends of the Earth, turned out carrying placards carrying anti and pro renewable energy messages.

Those joining the rally against such schemes claimed they were ruining the county’s unique landscape.

They argued turbines, many hundreds of metres tall, were too noisy and had a detrimental impact on people living nearby. Others claimed solar farms took up too much land.

St Endellion residents joined the demonstration upset at a 25,000 solar panel 40 acre scheme at Treswarrow Farm in Port Isaac, close to the Grade 1 English Heritage listed St Endellion Church.

Farmer, Mark Symons, of Trevanthon Farm, St Endellion and St Endellion Parish Council voted against the plans because of the loss of agricultural land.

Clean Earth Energy Limited (CEE), which submitted the application says it will provide a community fund of £6,000 per year for the 20 years; worth £120,000 in total, that the solar farm is expected to operate. A committee will be established to distribute the fund annually, to worthy causes within the local community.

Also on the Lemon Quay were campaigners bearing leaflets saying ‘ Please in my Back Yard’. They arrived in force to back renewable technology, which Chris Jones, of Ladock and Grampound Road Transition Group, said was long overdue.

Speaking at the end of this morning’s rally he said: “We are here to hand out cake and to gage peoples’ views on renewable energy.

“Cornwall needs to dramatically reduce its Co2 emissions. Cornwall needs to own the renewable energy we produce here.”

He also gave his support to Cornwall Council’s project to look at installing solar farms on its own land, including a site near Newquay airport.

The group’s campaign leaflet stated: “The tide of history is sweeping away the dirty and increasingly expensive energy sources of the past…Fracking is a sign that cheap and easy-to-get fossil fuels are no longer available..Wind and solar solutions are providing increasing energy security for future generations.”

Original link: http://m.thisiscornwall.co.uk/story.html?aid=19960045

Be there Saturday, to defend your community. Post a banner on your vehicle, saying where you are from!

The theft of home equity!