Not what you want in your backyard. Niagara Wind’s 3MW turbines and its cluster of 8 of 77 turbines now crowd the cottages and homes located in the picturesque community of Lowbank in southern Ontario. Lake Erie’s shoreline and its horizon are dominated by towering turbines of multiple wind projects visible from all views. Continued impacts to residents and migrating butterflies, birds and bats await the turning blades with the project’s anticipated start up date of fall 2016.
The discord of wind facilities hits home and personal for those who have had the projects forced onto their communities. In southern Ontario the construction frenzy of the Niagara Wind project consisting of 77 3MW wind turbines continues to defy logic and common decency.
The latest in your face example being the installation of the guard rails that were installed along the narrow rural road edges needed to protect the massive transmission poles for the project.
It has been well over a week since the heritage site of the West Lincoln cemetery was trespassed by the installation of the infrastructure associated with the Niagara Wind project which blocks access. No word as to when this will be fixed. Utter disrespect for those who have loved ones buried there.
No thought has been given to the impacts to the home owners whose front yards are now visually reminiscence of the QEW highway . The guardrails are also creating direct barriers of access for agricultural operations with farm lane entrances narrowed. Moving large slow moving farm equipment onto the public roads will become even more difficult as the option of moving over to allow oncoming traffic to pass has been removed.
Snow removal in the winter months will also be directly impacted by the endless miles of hydro pole bases and the guardrails.
Industrialization of our rural homes.
(Photos courtesy of Smithville Turbine Opposition Party)https://www.facebook.com/Smithville.Turbine.Oppositon.Party/
Conversations surrounding the Huron County Board of Health’s investigation into industrial wind turbines (IWT) are ongoing. Most recently Jane Wilson, President of advocacy group Wind Concerns Ontario, gave a presentation to the board on August 4.
In March, the board had posted an announcement on their website about a study they planned to carryout regarding the health impacts of IWTs, and people began to sign up. However several months later, they paused the study. They said they were unsure of the costs of the endeavor and were concerned they didn’t have the resources to ensure the study was done effectively and is actionable. Not long after, the staff member who was to carry out the study was let go.
This caused ripples through the community and was particularly upsetting for individuals who were strongly advocating for this study to happen.
During the board’s June meeting, the board discussed a potential opportunity to partner with the University of Waterloo (UW) for a study. This was again a strong theme at the meeting on August 4, and two professors from UW were present at the meeting.
Wilson explained that Wind Concerns Ontario is a coalition that is concerned about IWTs’ effects on the economy, natural environment and human health. She gave a ten-minute presentation covering a variety of areas including conclusions of other studies and gaps in other studies and various kinds of noise, both audible and inaudible, and how they affect people.
READ ARTICLE: http://www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com/2016/08/08/president-of-wind-concerns-ontario-appeals-to-huron-county
“WHO publications are frequently relied upon by the global community. Despite the research challenges and variables associated with IWT, there is sufficient evidence that IWTs have negatively affected the health of some members of the rural population globally. This merits taking a precautionary approach until research has clarified the research challenges and knowledge gaps which have yet to be resolved. “
Carmen Krogh BScPharm (retired)
Safety should be paramount no matter what your views are for wind power. Ontario needs to hear from you about the lives being put at risk with the approval of wind turbines being situated near aviation. It isn’t a matter of “if” lives will be lost it is a matter of when.
COPA (Canadian Owners & Pilot’s Association) spell out their concerns and are urging letters be sent to Ottawa to bring some common sense to this issue, for safety sake.
SAMPLE LETTER: for wind project proposed next to the Collingwood Regional Airport:
Click to access LetterCOPAmembersCollingwoodStayner.pdf
Make your voice heard! Contact your Parliamentarian and show your support for COPA and general aviation issues locally and nationally.
Dear COPA member,
Your association is asking you to contact your Federal Member of Parliament to request their support against the proliferation of Wind Turbine tower in the vicinity of airports and aerodromes across Ontario and Canada. This is an issue of SAFETY to pilots and the Minister has the authority to intervene.
Go to this link for background, sample letter and your MP contact information:
http://www.copanational.org/files/LetterCOPAmembersCollingwoodStayner.pdf
Cher(ère) membre COPA,
Votre association vous demande de prendre contact avec votre député(e) fédéral(e) afin d’obtenir son appui pour stopper la prolifération des éoliennes autour des aérodromes en Ontario et au Canada. C’est un enjeu de sécurité auprès des pilotes et du public en général, et le ministre possède l’autorité d’intervenir et d’y mettre fin.
Vous trouverez au lien suivant une lettre-type, les instructions pour contacter votre Membre du Parlement et de l’information supplémentaire.
One of the stated considerations for the Niagara Wind facility’s renewable energy approval (REA) was to take into consideration the negative alterations and visual impacts to heritage sites. The project was to take measures to minimize adverse effects to the view, such as to the local cemetery located on Port Davidson Road in West Lincoln, Ontario.
“In order to avoid direct impacts on views of the West Lincoln McCaffrey Cemetery (CHR-14), it is recommended that any overhead transmission infrastructure installed along Port Davidson Road in the vicinity of the cemetery be installed along the eastern side of the road”
Click to access Heritage_01_Main-Report.pdf
But someone clearly forgot to consider the impacts of blocking access to the cemetery with newly installed guardrails, now required because of the Niagara wind project’s transmission lines. This oversight is just one of many and disrespects the community and those who have family members buried in the cemetery.
“If we had 30 kids in Ontario with the measles, we’d have a health crisis. With 60,000 households in Ontario who were disconnected from hydro, that’s a crisis. And in rural Ontario, when that disconnection means you can’t use your well, that’s a public health crisis”
By Denis Langlois, Sun Times, Owen Sound
Friday, July 29, 2016 3:39:26 EDT PM
Soaring hydro costs have created a crisis situation in Ontario that is especially concerning in rural areas like Grey-Bruce, says the head of one of the local agencies that is helping people to keep their lights on.
Francesca Dobbyn, executive director of the United Way of Bruce Grey, which has released a report on utility assistance provided to households in the region over the past year, pointed to national news reports that quote the Ontario Energy Board as saying nearly 60,000 residential customers were disconnected in 2015 from hydro services due to non-payment.
That number was confirmed by The Sun Times Friday.
“If we had 30 kids in Ontario with the measles, we’d have a health crisis. With 60,000 households in Ontario who were disconnected from hydro, that’s a crisis. And in rural Ontario, when that disconnection means you can’t use your well, that’s a public health crisis,” she said in an interview.
The local United Way’s report found that from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, the United Way, along with Bruce and Grey counties, Y Housing and the Salvation Army in Wiarton distributed nearly $750,000 to help people with hydro or natural gas arrears or to purchase wood, oil or propane to heat their homes.
That figure rises to more than $1 million, the report says, when factoring in the staff time and resources provided by the agencies.
Dobbyn said while that number alone is startling and points to a “crisis brewing in our region,” it doesn’t include the financial assistance provided to people by other sources, such as churches or other organizations or by family members or friends.
The report says electricity costs have climbed by 100 per cent in the past decade.
Rural residents have been hardest hit, Dobbyn said, because they are charged higher delivery costs by utility companies.
Rural residents, on average, pay almost double the delivery rates compared to households in “urban high density” areas, according to the United Way report.
An average household in a low-density area is charged about $84.46 for delivery, distribution, connection, network and other fees, the report says, while homes in high-density areas pay about $44.50. And that’s without using any energy at all, it says.
Homes that use baseboards for heat pay about $80 a month in hydro rates on top of the delivery fees.
“And that’s before turning on a light or using a microwave or any other source of electricity,” Dobbyn said.
The numbers, she said, show that even while conserving energy in the home, people in rural areas are still facing high monthly hydro bills.
“Our clients, our families are not wasteful. They do everything they can to reduce consumption, they unplug everything and we often advise them to turn breakers off in an effort to reduce their bill,” she said……….
READ ARTICLE: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2016/07/29/rural-ontario-in-crisis-due-to-high-hydro-rates-local-united-way-head-says
When you finish reading these comments and events of the past several months concerning wind turbines, ask yourself, “Don’t any of these issues raise a red flag?” If you feel that most, many or even just some of these raise red flags, then why would the present Almer and Ellington Township Board officials even consider installing 500’ tall wind turbines so close to our homes without more research?
If wind turbines were placed safely away from people who haven’t signed wind leases, residents wouldn’t be challenging this project. Many of our township officials have continuously dismissed, discounted, distorted, deflected and denied residents’ concerns for months. These issues listed above certainly raise red flags! You can help change that at the upcoming primary election on August 2nd. This primary election on Tuesday is more important for our townships than the November 4 general election.
Almer/Ellington concerned citizens,
Jan Daniels, Andrew DeGroot, Norma Freville, Bonnie Kata, Wayne Koper, Jeri Koper, Shelby Koper, Dirk Lowry, Kris Lowry, Jim Mewhiney, Joyce Mewhiney, Jane Montei, Jerry Montei, Larry Robinson, Sharon Robinson, Rosemary Segroves, Donna Stephens, Norm Stephens, Eric Zbytowski
Published in Tuscola County Advertiser (USA) July 30, 2016: http://www.tuscolatoday.com/index.php/2016/07/30/none-of-these-raise-a-red-flag/
Robert Bryce has prepared a spreadsheet summarizing activities in the USA relating to municipalities which have stopped industrial wind turbines, required setback provisions or other requirements for wind facilities.
VIEW DOCUMENT:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f3aXyeXbwvvRGFw87V-l-jC4rMLy6MZHGOh1OBMKe4Y/htmlview?pli=1
Where does the money go? Global News has presented a series of stories over the past few weeks painting a troubling picture of rural Ontario residents struggling to pay soaring electricity bills. In a particularly telling interview, Ontario’s new Energy Minister, Glenn Thibault, was forced to admit he didn’t know how many residents have had their electricity disconnected because they couldn’t pay— nor was he aware if anyone in his department was keeping track of this information.
Thibault’s suggestion? Residents should conserve electricity. Besides, his government has a new support program designed specifically to help low-income Ontario residents pay their electricity bills. Relief of sorts perhaps, but more along the lines of putting one’s thumb in a dike, rather than addressing the bigger issue.
All it really does is transfer these costs to the taxpayer.
So where is the money going? Many millions, indeed billions, of dollars are being extracted from customers and taxpayers to fund rising electricity costs. Is it paying for research and development into electricity storage so that perhaps one day, intermittent generating sources (i.e. wind and solar) might serve a useful purpose? Is it being used to offset the hardship faced by low income Ontarians? Is it funding Ontario infrastructure development or green transit plans? No, no and no.
Maybe it is funding a network of charging stations across the province, including one planned for the King Street parking lot in Picton? No. Perhaps it is helping to pay the $14,000 subsidy Ontario pays purchasers of electric cars? No.
As it turns out, much of this money is going into the pockets of a few developers, investors, pension funds and corporations. It’s called profit—and a handful of companies are profiting handsomely from your electricity bills.
Scott Luft has been poring over the mounds of data produced by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and other sources for the past six years. Luft’s research and analysis, compiled on his website coldair.luftonline.net, is an important resource for anyone interested in understanding what has gone so terribly wrong with Ontario’s electricity market. Luft has methodically revealed, and laid bare, the destructive politically driven management of Ontario’s electricity system and shows why residents will be paying for these decisions for decades to come.
According to Luft’s analysis, Ontario electricity customers have subsidized wind and solar energy producers by $6.4 billion over the past decade. Worse, the rate of subsidization is climbing rapidly. We are on track in Ontario to subsidize wind and solar producers by more than $2 billion in 2016 alone.
This is money going directly from consumers into the bank accounts of producers. This doesn’t include the many millions of dollars Ontario spends, or forgoes, each year offloading excess electricity to New York or Michigan from intermittent wind and solar generators it can’t control. Or the amount we pay smelters and mineral processors to spare them the high cost of Ontario electricity.
How did we get here?
Through the 1990s, Ontario dabbled in renewable energy but couldn’t persuade investors and the capital markets to participate with them. They increased incentives and tax breaks but investors stayed on the sidelines.
Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals came to power in 2003 promising to close Ontario’s coal-fired generating facilities and replace this capacity with electricity generated from renewable sources, including wind and solar. While he successfully closed coal-fired plants, it was gas and nuclear-powered generation, not wind and solar, that filled the gap. (Luft’s charting, based on IESO data, illustrates this clearly).
Still, investors remained stubbornly on the sidelines. So McGuinty doubled down and doubled down again. Eventually, he would agree to pay wind and solar producers as much as 25 times the market price for electricity for up to 20 years—if it appeared to be green. That did the trick. Now, long queues form seeking to join the gravy train each time the wicket opens for the province to buy more power.
Despite a decade of rapid and ill-planned expansion of industrial wind and solar facilities across the province, these generators produce a paltry portion of the province’s electricity—at an extraordinarily high cost. They did, however, provide one important advantage for McGuinty and, later, Kathleen Wynne. The massive turbines and acres of solar panels have proved to be helpful political emblems signalling to urban voters their government is green.
It has won this praise at a very high cost. Sadly, it is Ontario’s rural poor who are paying it.
Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. 