Monthly Archives: August 2017

Adverse Health Effects, Destruction from turbines, fighting big wind., Green Energy, Health

Turbine Protesters Chain Themselves Together to Stop Construction

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Protecting clean water from wind turbine construction has seen residents chaining themselves together in protest to stop further damage of reported turbid drinking water that occurred after the pile driving for turbine foundations in Chatham Kent.  What is it going to take?   It is time to halt the wind project!

By Trevor Terfloth, Chatham Daily News

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

1297986670881_ORIGINAL (1)In In an effort to halt construction of a wind turbine project in North Kent, three protesters chained themselves together in a show of solidarity on Tuesday.

Sheltered from the rain, but weathering the elements, Rick Ball, Lee Montgomery and Yvonne Laevens were at the entrance to the site on Bush Line, near Highway 40 in the former Chatham Township.

“It should have never have gone this far,” Laevens said. “We have to (do this). We’ve tried just about everything else.”

Several water wells in the North Kent Wind project area, currently under construction by Samsung Renewable Energy and Pattern Energy, have been clogged with sediments shortly after recent pile-driving took place for constructing industrial wind turbines.

Tuesday’s protest was peaceful, with Laevens adding that Chatham-Kent police have been “congenial” with the group.

Ball said he appreciated the members of the public who were on hand and hopes the government takes notice.

“Start paying attention to what we’ve been saying for a year and a half,” he said.

Last week, Chatham-Kent council passed a motion asking the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to halt the project until water well concerns were dealt with.

Ball said a halt would allow everyone involved to work together on a solution.

Also part of the council motion was to implement independent water testing for the wells currently experiencing problems.

In a media release, the municipality stated that residents near the North Kent One wind farm project whose wells have water-quality issues will be contacted by Chatham-Kent officials this week to allow them to select a firm to test their well water at no cost.

Municipal chief administrative officer Don Shropshire said the municipality, working with public health officials, have identified 17 labs in Ontario that are licensed and accredited by the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation to test drinking water for microbiological agents, organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, and other particulate matter.

Shropshire said in the release that residents will have the option to choose any of the accredited labs.

“We want to ensure there are no concerns about who does the testing,” he said. “We’ve provided the list but the choice will be up to the residents.”

At a meeting last week between municipal officials and ministry representatives, the province also committed to contact owners of wells which have experienced issues and review those concerns with Samsung Renewable Energy and Pattern Energy.

As for the request to halt the project, the municipality’s release stated “that request is still before the premier’s office.”

In a statement e-mailed to The Daily News on Tuesday afternoon, the company said it was aware of the water well concerns.

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Contracts Cancelled, Cost Benefit, Green Energy, Ontario Wind

End of Champagne Celebrations for wind industry in Ontario?

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niagara wind open house champagne cheer
Wind Works Power Ontario Update – 48MW reach COD, end of Ontario Operations

(via TheNewswire)

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / TheNewswire / August 23rd, 2017 Wind Works Power Corp. (OTC:WWPW -News) is pleased to announce that it has completed its Ontario projects consisting of 24xSenvion 2MW MM100 turbines. Wind Works had developed the projects in Ontario and applied for and received the FIT contracts from the Ontario Power Authority in 2010. Wind Works joined forces with Capstone Infrastructure in a joint venture, which eventually acquired the remainder of the projects after commercial operation was achieved. The projects total 48MW and include the Wind Works projects Ganaraska, Grey Highland ZEP, Settlers Landing, and Snowy Ridge, all of which have achieved commercial operation.

Wind Works has agreed with the government of Ontario to terminate the FIT contract applied for in 2009 and awarded in 2010 to the Cloudy Ridge project. The project received its REA permit from the Government of Ontario in December 2015. Wind Works had furthermore increased the interconnection deposit by approx. CAD $5.5M in December 2015 after HONI had previously changed the POI and PCC of the project due to other projects dropping out. Wind Works had also made down payments for 5 wind turbines from Senvion which have been manufactured and were awaiting onsite transport. Despite the late stage development process, given repeated governmental uncertainties, Wind Works was forced to terminate the FIT contract.

Given that the government of Ontario recently cancelled the previously repeatedly announced second bidding process for up to 850 MW renewable energy, and given the loss incurred by Cloudy Ridge due to repeated governmental uncertainties, Wind Works has decided to terminate any activities in the uncertain and unpredictable Ontario renewable energy market. Consequently, WW has cancelled its previous plans to invest a further $300 Million in Ontario and to focus instead on the US market.

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Environment, Green Energy, Health, Property Rights

Immediate Action promised over dirty well water after turbine construction

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water-wells-first-chatham-kent
Members of Water Wells First, a water advocacy group in Chatham-Kent, blockaded several wind turbine construction sites on August 18 to protest government inaction on pile driving they believe is pushing sediment into their drinking water. (Yvonne Profota)

Chatham-Kent officials say ministry promises ‘immediate action’ on water well issues

‘They took our concerns very seriously and committed to working to deal with the issues’

CBC News Posted: Aug 25, 2017 11:31 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 25, 2017 12:11 PM ET

Staff from Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change will be meeting with well owners in Chatham-Kent after the municipal government demanded construction of wind turbines be stopped until water quality concerns could be answered.

Officials in Chatham-Kent sat down with ministry representatives after reports five water wells near the North Kent Wind project had become clogged with sediment residents claim are caused by pile driving. The government maintains it requires pile driving companies to complete vibration testing and water quality monitoring while work is going on.

Members of Chatham-Kent’s council said the ministry will take “immediate action” after the Thursday meeting….

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Cost Benefit, Property Rights, The problem with Wind Turbines, Turbines & Property Devalue

Oops it has happened again!

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Wainfleet has a turbine missing its blade or what the wind industry likes to call “a rare event” or in fanciful terms, a component liberation.

Turbine 5 haunts the horizon in the  Wainfleet Wind Energy project.  The installation  is comprised of 5 Vestas V100-1.8 MW which have a hub height of 95m and a rotor diameter of 100m.   This smaller project began commercial operation in 2014 and  is one of many wind projects for the rural area of southern Ontario. Only three years old and a broken blade already needing to be removed.   Nothing new to see here, just a whole lot of useless mess to get rid of.

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Wainfleet Wind Energy turbine 5 missing a blade, 3 years after being erected. Ontario, August 2017

Adverse Health Effects, Animals and turbines, Fighting the NRWC Wind Project, harm to wildlife, Health

Save the Birds & Bats the wind turbines have to go!

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Niagara Wind’s Enercon Industrial wind turbines & others from adjacent complexes disturbing human, plant and animal life in Lowbanks, Ontario.

Adverse Health Effects, Environment, Health, Property Rights

Protesters Block Turbine Sites

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honk
Honk: if you agree Clean, Safe Water matters!

Protesters blocked the entrances to three wind turbine construction sites near Chatham Thursday morning.  Five families are now reporting dirty water in their wells after pile driving for the construction of industrial wind turbines began.

Source: Fight to save water wells

“At the press conference were the people whose wells have been affected in the North Kent Wind 1 project area – Theresa Pumphrey, Paul and Jessica Brooks, Valerie and Wayne Brooksbank, and a representative for Mark Moir (Countryview Line).

Visibly upset, the property owners talked about the impact on their families’ health and fear about the black shale that is visible in the water that is known to carry arsenic, mercury and other harmful chemicals in it.”

chatham protesters

 

Source: Protesters block turbine construction

Adverse Health Effects, Animals and turbines, Aviation, Direct Effects, ERT Appeal, fighting big wind., harm to wildlife, legal challenges

Fairwind Project Approval Revoked

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Collingwood_Airport_12[7] As described in greater detail below, the Approval Holder has proposed an amendment to the REA to include additional curtailment measures designed to reduce little brown myotis mortalities. The Tribunal finds that these additional measures, provided they are amended to require that they be implemented from sunset to sunrise, is likely to significantly reduce little brown myotis mortality over the life of the Project. However, as neither the Approval Holder nor the Director has proposed effective means to mitigate the serious harm to human health, as found by the Tribunal in its October 2016 Order, the Tribunal concludes that the decision of the Director should be revoked. As such, an amendment to the REA to address harm to little brown myotis via an amended mitigation plan is rendered unnecessary.

READ FULL DECISION & ORDERS HERE : 16-036 WIGGINS V. ONTARIO (MOECC)

brown bat
little brown myotis

 

Cost Benefit, Government Misrepresentation, Health, Property Rights

Public need all the facts on well water

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Aug 14 • Letters to the Editor •
Sir: Mayor Hope, you and Chatham-Kent council are playing a game. A very dangerous game that is affecting the life style as well as the very livelihood of some of your constituents.

Mayor Hope, you and most of your councillors do not know what is going on within Chatham-Kent, especially in regard to the wind farm sites in the former Dover and Chatham townships. This is proven by the fact that most of you have never visited any of the reported problem sites to see firsthand what the affected families are experiencing. You are making decisions based on what you hear from the wind companies, their associates and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change – all of whom have biased opinions based on profits or their lack of willingness to admit that they made errors.

In addition, you as mayor and council, who have invested $8 million of the Chatham-Kent taxpayers’ reserve fund, are in conflict of interest with regards to any decision made on wind farms or any conflicts arising form them.

You, Mayor Hope, indicated that, “the group (WWF) had a chance to meet with the MOECC ‘and they turned it into a circus.’” You were not there!

Do you recall that the MOECC, having been given a list of questions over one month before the meeting and not answering one of them being a circus? Do you consider the MOECC not giving WWF a promised copy of the minutes of the meeting that they promised part of the circus? Would those minutes have exposed their incompetence?

You indicate that you do not release all of your correspondence to the public. Perhaps you should. How many things are you hiding? Did you ever think that in the letter, received by Freedom of Information, that Mr. Murray’s reply might have been important information? In Mr. Murray’s reply letter it states, “The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality because it captures the potential impact that a vibration from a wind turbine could have on a water well. The ministry is aware that some residents are concerned that wind turbine vibration may shake sediment loose in a water well. These particles could have a chemical make-up of heavy metals that are naturally occurring in the area; however any existing heavy metals in the rock particles do not dissolve with vibration. Should a wind turbine vibration cause elevated turbidity in a water well, the wind farm company would be required to implement a contingency plan that is to include, as a minimum, remedial measures to be undertaken by the company, at the company’s expense, to resolve any impacts to wells or well water resulting from the construction, operation, or decommissioning of the facility.”

Mayor Hope, don’t you want your constituents to know that there can be heavy metals in their well water?

All of the affected wells in Dover were once clear water producers and now carry particles that the MOECC refuses to analyze for chemical content. Particles of 30 to 40 microns in size or larger can be seen by the human eye. Particle smaller than that cannot be seen.

In tests done to date by well owners in Dover Township, it indicates that almost half of the particles carried in the water are less than one micron in size. These particles can penetrate skin and walls of body organs. Approximately another 25 per cent of the particles are less than two microns in size.

These particles may carry the heavy metals, to which former Minister Murray refers, such as uranium, arsenic and lead. This is why, Mayor Hope, you should have released Minister Murray’s letter to the public, so the public could have been made aware.

According to the MOECC turbidity measurement, on which the MOECC hangs its hat, this water should be safe to consume. Why do they not take a total analysis and find out what is dissolved in the water and what are the particles carried by the water and if it is safe to drink.

I strongly suggest that the mayor and all of council visit one of the affected sites. If you find it too humbling to visit with one of your constituents, then go without using any of your water for drinking or cooking and think about what effect contaminated water could have on you when you bathe or wash your clothes. Perhaps all other people who are not sure of the effect of not having potable water should also try this for a period of time.

Water wells have gone for decades producing clean, clear water. Common sense would indicate that after the wind farms drove piles in Dover Township and ruined wells there, we would stop building wind farms. We now have piles being driven in Chatham Township and wells are now being ruined there as well. Obviously, there is a direct correlation between pile driving and a negative effect on water wells.

When will those with some authority ever wake up?

Is the solution bigger turbines in the Otter Creek Wind Farm? What would you expect to happen there?

Water security, Mayor Hope, is not a circus or a game. At the Windsor meeting with the MOECC, which you did not attend, it was the citizens of Chatham-Kent that were trying to protect the water security of the municipality, not you.

Mayor Hope, in the future when you receive information about public health, share the information with the public.

Peter J Hensel

Dover Centre

Published: The Chatham Voice.com

randy hope

Adverse Health Effects, fighting big wind., Health, legal challenges, Noise, Property Rights, Turbines & Property Devalue

The Definition Of ‘Nuisance’

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Words and their meanings have powers that can impact our very well- being.  Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty II, of the Justice of the Superior Court ordered the cessation of the operations of the wind turbines in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  In giving his judgement he discusses findings and reasons while interpreting and applying the meanings of the words injurious and nuisance.

“Despite the Town’s insistence that Barry Funfar is hypersensitive to sound, it is clear that he is no lone voice crying in the wilderness.  Other residents of the neighbouring area have registered similar complaints which was the very reason the Town commissioned the HMMH study in the first place.”

falmouth_vermont-1473171761-2525

The Falmouth Enterprise  August 11, 2017

A neighbor of the town’s turbines e-mailed us last week to say that we have been misleading the public by stating in recent stories that Judge Moriarty ruled that the turbines were a nuisance to the Funfar property. A nuisance, he wrote, is generally thought of as a neighbor mowing the lawn on a Sunday morning, whereas Judge Moriarty defined nuisance not only as an inconvenience but also a danger. He attached a copy of the judge’s decision for our reference.

In fact, Judge Moriarty went into a good deal of detail in a five-page discussion of his findings and decision.

First, he pointed out that the Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision that the turbines constituted a nuisance could not be overturned, as the board would have had to have been unreasonable or on legally untenable grounds. The appeals board found that the turbines were a nuisance to the Funfars’ property because, based on a DEP sound study, they directly affected the health and well-being of the Funfars. “The decision here was hardly arbitraray and capricious,” Judge Moriarty wrote.

But the issue here, of course, is the definition of nuisance. Judge Moriarty pointed out that nuisance is difficult to define and, as much testimony as there was about sound levels, none of it applies to the definition because there are no numerical standards. “The issue is,” he wrote, “whether, on the facts found, the operation of the wind turbines was offensive because of injurious or obnoxious noise or vibration, a nuisance in violation of the by-law.”

He pointed out that, while the town argued that Mr. Funfar was hypersensitive to sound, “it is clear that he is no lone voice crying in the wilderness. Other residents of the neighboring area have registered similar complaints…”

The judge discussed the definition of “injurious,” at some length and concluded that “the physical effects of the turbine-generated sound upon Mr. Funfar have been certainly harmful and have tended to injure him.”barry funfar

There should be no mistake among the residents of Falmouth; when the appeals board and Judge Moriarty called the town turbines a “nuisance,” they did not mean it in the way of ants at a picnic or a dog barking in the night.

Judgement Town of Falmouth vs Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals et al