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Chiarelli and MOE- A Failure to Communicate

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Letter from Bob Chiarelli to MAWT Shellie Correia

Letter from Shellie Correia to Bob Chiarelli

Dear Minister Chiarelli,
 
I am in receipt of your response to my letter to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).  I copied you for information purposes only and was not expecting a response from you.  To be frank, I am not sure why you bothered to write since none of the issues I raised with the CCLA were addressed in your letter.  In fact, I did not even bother to read through to the bottom line.  Like all previous responses from your ministry, your colleagues and government staff continually do, you avoided each of the three issues and instead provided me with the same old ideological green rhetoric.  It may work on people who are uneducated about the Green Energy Act but it does not work on me, people in the Mothers Against Wind Turbines organization, other wind action groups and an ever-increasing number of Ontarians who are waking up to the fiasco of your green energy policies.  
 
I am a mother that has already lost a child and it is my intention to pursue every available avenue to protect the health of my son. You claim to share in my concerns yet your actions and those of the government as a whole do not support that claim.  Your claims of stringent review of applications prior to approval are simply not true.  Residents of this community have presented clear contrary evidence from other wind developments utilizing this same wind turbine and it is dismissed by the Ministry of the Environment. Instead, the Ministry tells us that acoustic audits are usually conducted after the wind turbines have been erected.   Residents of rural Ontario all know what happens as a result of your acoustic audits.  Nothing!!! Residents have pointed out that the application does not comply with your own regulations requiring that the sound power level be rounded to closest number and MOE staff simply avoid addressing that.  They have also avoided addressing the issue of the variances that are required by the standard that you claim to follow.  You have been copied on all of the correspondence regarding these issues.  I am appalled at how the government’s quest for wind power takes precedence over human life and that is evidenced by your approvals for wind farms that are excessively close to schools, airports, public play grounds and even a skydiving facility.  This government has no experience with wind turbines of this size and one would think that you would rely on the experience of wind developments in other locations. One would also think that the specifications from the turbine’s own manufacturer would be key but that is not the case. Instead, the government’s main concern is help ensure approval of applications – at any cost.   
 
You also claim that your policies are protective of the environment but I see no evidence of that.  When the Environmental Review Tribunal ruled in favour of the Ostrander Point wind application, your government lined up with the developer and CANWEA to dispute it.  It is very clear where this government’s priorities lie. 
 
I have read your policies and the documents you refer to and I dispute most of your claims.  Wind energy is not reliable, not affordable and people who have educated themselves are well aware that coal plants will close even if all the wind turbines stop operating tomorrow.  I view your documents as simply more government propaganda that was developed in an attempt to appease the public that are concerned about the ever-increasing cost of electricity.  
 
I note that you have forwarded my letter to Minister Bradley.  Frankly, I would suggest that you tell him not to bother if his intent is to provide me with more of the same old platitudes.  The proof of this government’s approach to wind power, Minister Bradley, is in the number of citizens who can’t sleep at night or that have had to leave their homes.  I will not allow that to happen to my family and it is my intention to continue this fight and expose this fiasco.  
 
Sincerely,
 
Shellie Correia
Ms. Shellie Correia, Co-Chair of Mothers Against Wind Turbines has provided me with a copy of a response she received from Minister Chiarelli yesterday.  It is attached.  Further to that, please review the email chain below.  Is this representative of the stringent processes that you claim are in place and that are supposedly designed to afford the public opportunity for comment?  This is just the most recent example of the dismissive approach that your government has adopted towards residents impacted by wind energy proposals. I can provide you with many more examples and in fact, have done so on several occasions.  Our questions are either evaded, addressed by meaningless platitudes or requests like this are simply ignored.  
 
The response to Ms. Correia is nearly identical to all of the other responses that have been received by members of this community. The assurances are there but the actions do not support those assurances.  We are told that the process provides for meaningful consultation and that public comments are important but we are denied key pieces of information and documentation.  Ms. Shields, as evidenced below, has done everything that she has been told to do but then encountered a roadblock when she identified a key gap in the reports provided by the proponent.  There are other similar gaps in this application.  It is deplorable that an application can be deemed complete based on the proponent’s promises to provide studies at a later date.  How does that meet with your claims of stringent review PRIOR to approval?  
 
I am writing to you to seek release of the documentation that Ministry of Environment staff have still not provided.  Additionally, given that the comment period closes tomorrow, I believe it is incumbent upon you to allow for an extension so that the documents can be reviewed by residents of this community.  
 
Thank you 
 
Bonnie Tuson
To:  Sarah Raetsen, Senior Program Support Co ordinator, Approval Services Unit, Ministry of the Environment
To:  Agatha Garcia Wright, Director, Environmental Approvals Branch, Ministry of the Environment
 

Dear Sarah, Dear Agatha,

 
First, let me say how extremely disappointed I am that you have ignored my requests for the 2013 field notes which include Stantec field surveys for turtle habitats, snake habitats and bat maternity colonies. I have requested this data on December 18, 2013, January 3, 2014, January 23, 2014 and January 28, 2014.  Today is our last day to submit comments to the Environmental Registry.  We have requested extensions to this deadline, but all requests have been denied.
 
If your intention is not to provide the complete set of field notes that are related to this REA project for public review, please explain why these are not provided.  While I realize that these specific studies were “committed” to be completed during the pre-construction phase of the project, the current Natural Heritage Assessment report does disclose that these would be completed in 2013. What is the reason for withholding this information from the public when the public specifically requests it? 
 
Please do not ignore this fourth request.  
 
Loretta Shields
Niagara Peninsula Field Naturalists
 Date: Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: NRWC project – 2013 Field notes not posted online for several natural feature habitatsDear Sarah,

 
I sent the email below to your attention last Friday. I have not heard back from you and our time regarding commenting to the Environmental Registry is running out.  Can you please tell me whether we can expect the 2013 field notes to be posted on the web?   If the intention is not to provide the complete set of field notes that are related to this REA application to the public, please explain why these are not provided to the public for review.
 
Thank-you,
 
Loretta Shields, Niagara Peninsula Field Naturalists member

Smithville, Ontario

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 9:07 AM

Dear Sarah, Dear Agatha,
Regarding the NRWC wind project that is posted on the Environmental Registry, I am still waiting for the 2013 field notes to be posted online by NRWC, as requested in my email of January 3rd (below).  Can you please tell me when we can expect to have these notes posted on the web?  We only have 8 days left to submit comments to the Environmental Registry.  We are seeking an extension for the comment period because these notes have not been made available to the public.  If your intention is not to provide the complete set of field notes that are related to this REA application, please explain why these are not provided to the public for review.
Thank-you,
Loretta Shields, Niagara Peninsula Field Naturalists member
 Date: Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 2:46 PM
Subject: Fwd: NRWC project – Field notes not posted online for several natural feature habitats
To: sarah.raetsen@ontario.ca, agatha.garciawright@ontario.ca

Dear Sarah, Dear Agatha,
 
I sent you the email below on December 18th.  I haven’t seen a reply back yet, so I thought I would resend the email to you.  I have been reviewing the NRWC Natural Heritage Assessment report, and there are several field notes that are missing from the NRWC REA documents that are posted on their website.  These include the migratory bird field notes, bat maternity habitat assessment forms, stick nest search survey forms, winter raptor roost surveys, amphibian habitat surveys, and surveys conducted for turtle/snake habitats.  Also, it is our understanding from reading the NHA report that supplemental surveys were conducted in 2013.  These field notes are also missing from the website.
 
For a proper consultation with the public, it is imperative that we have these documents for review.  Only 28 days remain until the comment period under the Environmental Registry remain.  Please provide us with these documents as soon as possible, and please consider an extension of 180 days to this review period to allow for the proper consultation that is required for a project of this magnitude. 
 
Thank-you for your consideration and time,
 
Loretta Shields
 Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 8:01 AM
Subject: NRWC project – Field notes not posted online for several habitat surveys
To: sarah.raetsen@ontario.ca, agatha.garciawright@ontario.ca

Dear Agatha, Dear  Sarah, 

 
I have been reviewing the REA documents posted on the NRWC site.  I see three separate files for field notes, which consist of 2011, 2012 ELC and Woodland and Wildlife Habitat assessment forms and also ELC/ Woodland and Wildlife Habitat assessment forms associated with the proposed transmission line. 
 
What seems to be missing, however, are the migratory bird field notes, bat maternity habitat assessment forms, stick nest search survey forms, winter raptor roost surveys, amphibian habitat surveys, and surveys conducted for turtle/snake habitats.
 
Could you please forward the files or weblinks that are associated with these surveys?  
 
Thanks very much,
 
Loretta Shields
Smithville, Ontario

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