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Ontario families fighting massive legal bill from wind-farm companies

A demand that four Ontario families pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs to billion-dollar companies is a thinly disguised warning to anyone pondering a challenge to industrial wind farms in Ontario, the families say.

In asking the courts to set the legal bill aside, the citizens say the award would cripple them financially and undermine access to justice, even in important public-interest cases.

Court documents show the companies – K2 Wind, Armow, and St. Columban – are seeking $340,000 in costs from the Drennans, Ryans, Dixons and Kroeplins, who lost their bid to scuttle three wind-farm projects.

The families, who worry wind turbines near their homes could harm their health, had challenged the constitutionality of Ontario’s approvals process before Divisional Court. They are now hoping the province’s top court will hear the case, potentially adding more litigation costs.

Shawn Drennan said his $240,000 bill was excessive given that he was only looking to protect his rights. Continue reading Cost awards now an issue for ontario families fighting wind companies →

We “edited the title” so that we can remain neutral and non- partisan.

1NextEra

February 23, 2015

Mayor and Members of Council c/o Fran Urbshott, Administrator / Clerk 2340 Egremont Drive, RR#5 STRATHROY, ON N7G 3H6 Dear Mayor and Members of Council Congratulations on your 2015 election (or re-election) to the council for the Township of AdelaideMetcalfe. Your successful election campaigns are to be commended.

We want to take this opportunity to introduce you to NextEra Canada Development and Acquisitions, Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC and provide you with information, more generally, about our wind energy projects. We are currently exploring development of a wind energy project in your municipality called the Hardy Creek Wind Energy Centre.

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing forms of energy generation on the planet with approximately 4% of installed electricity generation capacity by the end of 2014 and it is growing rapidly. Here in Canada, we are setting records for new installations every year, and now also provide nearly 4% of our electricity generation capacity from wind energy. Ontario is leading the way with currently 7% of its capacity corning from wind energy. This has not only provided the Province with clean, renewable source of energy for decades to come, but has allowed us to eliminate coal as a form of energy generation, a form with serious health and environmental concerns. It is estimated that the elimination of coal generation in Ontario will save approximately $3 billion a year in healthcare costs. Equally as important, it has resulted in billions of dollars in investment, manufacturing and construction jobs, and significant economic contributions to local landowners, First Nations, and municipalities. Continue reading MORE turbines for Middlesex & Lambton by NextEra! (edited title) →

The mandate of any politically elected government is to serve and protect all the people in their jurisdiction. One of the key requirements is wise use and investment of the funds, so financial competence is necessary for good stewardship. With this in mind, I thought I would look for 12 of the most costly financial decisions/mistakes over the last 10 years. Since the Ontario Provincial Liberals have been the only party in power in the last 10 years, they can be held accountable for the outcome of these decisions.

#1 Provincial Debt – Ministry of Finance – $143.35 billion increase since 2003
The projected budget for Ontario for 2014-15 is $127.6 billion in expenses with $117 billion in revenue so with deficit financing the government will add $10.6 billion to the Ontario provincial debt. This is in addition to the existing $276 billion provincial deficit, approximately $20,500 per person.

Ontario’s net debt – the difference between total liabilities and total financial assets – has more than doubled under the Liberal leadership. In 2002 -2003 the net debt was $132.65 billion but has increased to $276 billion by 2014, so the Liberal government has added $143.35 billion to the provincial debt

The negative consequences of a large debt load include debt-servicing costs which divert funding away from other government programs; a greater vulnerability to any interest-rate increases; and a potential credit-rating downgrade which could make it more expensive to borrow. Our children and grandchildren will pay more taxes and have fewer options because of this increasing debt load.
#2. Feed in Tariff (FIT) subsidy paid to multinational industrial wind energy corporations – Ministry of Energy – $1.6 billion per year for FIT contracts for wind energy plus $2 billion per year for discounted surplus hydro, so over the 20 year contracts $72 billion

The Renewable Energy Initiative as structured by Energy Minister George Smitherman will cost the rate payers of this province $1.6 BILLION per year in Feed in Tariff (FIT) contracts for wind energy for the next 20 years. We have the highest electricity rates in North America – a fact that is driving commerce and industry out of this province. Continue reading The Dirty Dozen – 12 costly mistakes made by the provincial government in the last 10 years →

This list below was created by a New Yorker to help a community based NY citizens group fight a Lake Ontario near shore industrial wind turbine project proposed for in Niagara and Orleans counties, New York.

But it can assist most citizen groups across America, Canada, Mexico, and Central America to protect their communities which are under siege from huge IWT projects.

 Mary Kay Barton: put together the bullet-point summary on wind (below) for people whowanted a quick list of the facts. Most of the bullet points contain links to references for those who are so inclined to do further research.

I put together the bullet-point summary on wind (below) for people who wanted a quick list of the facts. Most of the bullet points contain links to references for those who are so inclined to do further research.

ANY ALTERNATIVE ENERGY THAT WISHES TO BE GRANTED THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING IN OUR COMMUNITY, MUST SCIENTIFICALLY PROVE THAT THEY ARE A NET SOCIETAL
BENEFIT. NO SUCH PROOF EXISTS FOR INDUSTRIAL WIND ENERGY. Continue reading We support alternative energies — but not indiscriminately →

A groundbreaking study has revealed the correlation between infrasound produced by wind turbines and people’s health problems. World renown acoustical engineer Steven Cooper was retained by the operator of the Cape Bridgewater wind project in Victoria, Australia to do a sound study. He is responsible for getting better noise regulations at airports world wide. Victoria is the state that instituted a 2 km setback for wind turbines from homes after seeing the devastating effects on people’s lives (Amendment VC82).

It is proven science that infrasound can cause serious harm to the body. The French scientist Vladimir Gavreau and his staff were plagued with nausea and gruelling headaches in the building they were working in. Investigators came in to check out the problem, and they fell sick. One day Gavreau noticed a rippling effect in his coffee that came and went. When they left the building, the symptoms disappeared. Finally, engineers found an improperly installed fan motor was generating an inaudible 7 Hz sound through the ventilation system. Realizing how effective it was, they tried making a weapon out of it. There were accidents causing symptoms that lasted for days.

In a study entitled Sick Building Syndrome: Acoustic Aspects published in Indoor and Built Environment, Burt Tyrrell of the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology found the same 7 Hz frequency present in an office building. Headaches, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, to name a few, were symptoms of the office workers Continue reading Infrasound is the Root of Wind Turbine Health Problems →