Category Archives: Government Misrepresentation

Corruption, Cost Benefit, Government Misrepresentation, Green Energy, The problem with Wind Turbines

HEADWIND”21 a film by Marijn Poels

1 Comment

When the crisis became a business

Former London banker Alexander Pohl worked for years for one of the world’s greenest banks. Idealistically driven he financed big wind and solar farms genuinely convinced he was making the world a better place. 

Gradually he woke up to the fact that today’s green is actually an ego-driven, corrupt, and broken system. He gave up banking and emigrated with his family to his little forest paradise in remote, northern Sweden.  The dream was to get back to Nature, start an eco-farm and put as much distance as he could between his family and the industrialization of nature.

Until….. A wind park was planned at the gates of his paradise garden.

Documentarian Poels and Alexander Pohl are taking the journey together…. to ask questions and unravel the green wonderland to its true core …

HEADWIND”21 a film by Marijn Poels

Adverse Health Effects, Government Misrepresentation, Health

Wind Turbine Noise Complaints

1 Comment

Complaint process for wind turbine noise inherited by the Ford government not effective

April 12, 2021

Wind Concerns Ontario has just released its latest report on how the Ontario government has responded to citizen complaints about excessive wind turbine noise from grid-scale wind power projects.

Warning: the contents of this report can make for difficult reading.

The excerpts of comments from people calling into the 24/7 Spills Action Centre telephone line, or sending emails to their local District Office of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks are an alarming demonstration of the desperation felt by families forced with the wind turbine noise—some of them, for many years.

“We ache all over and can hardly function we are so tired. Please tell us what to do. Please respond.”

“Noise described as a ‘whooing’ sound, both heard and felt.”

“This continues to be horrendous.”

“Caller reports a pulsing roar.”

“This is the 65th time they have called.”

“We can’t go on like this.”

Polluted acoustic environment

One complaint documented was from a technician hired to do monitoring of bat populations near Bow Lake, who questioned whether he/she could continue the work due to the “acoustic pollution” from the wind turbines. The wind turbines were “generating unacceptably intrusive and potentially dangerous noise emissions into the natural environment,” the person reported. This is a “polluted acoustic environment.”

This report is based on Incident Reports created in 2018, received as the result of a request under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. The request was filed in January 2019; we received almost 4,000 pages of documents this past March. The report is fourth in a series, examining ministry response back to 2006.

It’s not working

The overarching conclusion from examining the complaint records as a whole is that Ontario’s complaint monitoring process, which the current government inherited from previous administrations, is not working. Key findings:

  • Complaints about wind power projects are part of the process government promised would ensure protection of health and safety. Robust enforcement of the regulations in response to these complaints will fulfill that responsibility.
  • In total, almost 6,000 files of complaints about wind turbine noise, vibration and sound pressure have been released to Wind Concerns by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
  • 39 percent of complaints in 2018 noted adverse health effects.
  • The records show that complaints do not result in real action by the project operators, despite requirements of approvals for the project.
  • The process to accept and record citizen complaints is inconsistent, and information gathered is incomplete.
  • There appears to be no ministry-wide evaluation and review process for citizen complaints about environmental noise produced by wind turbines.
  • The report concludes with recommendations on how the complaint handling process could be improved as an enforcement tool, and could provide opportunities to act on other issues such as electricity costs.

Read the report here: Report on Noise Complaint Response 2018-FINAL.

contact@windconcernsontario.ca

Cost Benefit, Government Misrepresentation, Green Energy

Battery Storage to Save Money & Hell is about to Freeze OVER

1 Comment
Oneida Battery Storage; OES states it has the potential to provide clean and reliable power capacity by drawing and storing renewable energy during off-peak periods and releasing it to the Ontario grid when energy demand is at its peak.

Renewable energy’s Achilles heel is variability and intermittency. Electricity is generated in the wrong place and at the wrong time. The latest push is to use of battery storage to overcome these fundemental flaws. Southern Ontario is part of this global push and Parker Gallant gives his opinion about claims of cost savings.

Battery Storage will Save Ontario Ratepayers as Much as $760 million and Hell is about to Freeze Over|by: Parker Gallant|January 23, 2021

It appears, those who monetarily benefited from the GEA imposed on Ontario’s ratepayers by the McGuinty led Ontario Liberal Party in 2009 are back seeking more ratepayer dollars. 

NRStor and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) have teamed up in an effort to obtain a contract from IESO. The latter, SNGRDC already have a significant portfolio of investments in 13 wind and solar projects including the 230 MW Niagara Regional Wind Farm. NRStor was founded by Annette Verschuren, former CEO of Home Depot and NRStor’s claim to fame is “energy storage” and as such they received several contracts from the OPA (absorbed by IESO) under the GEA. A former senior executive of IESO, Kim Warren is one of the three members of their Board of Directors and he presumably still has some pull within IESO.

It should be obvious that both SNGRDC and NRStor have benefited greatly from the contracts they received from the IESO to the detriment of Ontario’s households and businesses of all sizes and sectors—but they want more!

NRStor appear to be a Tesla agent in Canada and it is probable the project currently in the planning stages will use Tesla’s “Megapack” battery storage for the jointly owned “Oneida Energy Storage Project” (OES) which is a proposed 250MW/1000MWh storage facility.

Driving up Electricity Costs with our Tax Dollars

The OES is not the only “energy storage” project in the early stages as TC Energy, who sold their Ontario gas plants to OPG last year are also in the process of seeking a contract to create a “pumped storage” 1000 MW unit in Meaford, Ontario using water from Georgian Bay. Needless to say, the locals in and around the chosen site are fighting hard to preserve the local landscape and the affected area of Georgian Bay! In TC Energy’s case one should suspect they are trying desperately to obtain “carbon credits” to help offset the upcoming rising costs of both the “carbon tax” and the “clean fuel standard” (another tax) the Justin Trudeau Government has undertaken.  Those taxes may make TC uncompetitive with other global energy companies.

The opportunity to make money in the “OES” case is twofold in that they will purchase power when the HOEP (hourly Ontario energy price) is low and sell it back either at a contracted price or when the HOEP is higher during high demand hours. One assumes they also want “carbon credits” they can sell to others for additional revenue.

Insofar as the two partners of the OES are concerned it looks to be simply a means to obtain more ratepayer dollars! In NRStor’s case the benefit will accrue to their new New York owners, Blackstone Energy Partners who purchased them in the spring of 2020 and is itself a subsidiary of Blackstone with $571 billion in assets under management.

 Examining the Project Overview suggests in addition to the promise to save us ratepayers $760 million the energy storage project will also result in a “4.1 Million tonne reduction in CO2”.  Not sure how buying surplus energy in Ontario that is basically emissions free will save those 4.1 million tonnes but if they say it’s a perfect solution, we should suspect both politicians and public bureaucrats will be swayed by those claims.  One wonders if the politicians and bureaucrats recall the words of George Smitherman, former Ontario Minister of Energy when he told us the GEA would only raise electricity rates by 1% and it would create 50,000 jobs! His claims were praised by many ENGO at that time.  Ontario’s ratepayers are well aware neither promise came to pass!

It is evident already that politicians and bureaucrats are excited about the OES project. Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities had the CIB (Canada Infrastructure Bank) sign an MOU with OES and shouted out:   “Renewable energy projects in partnership with Indigenous communities – like the Oneida Energy Storage project with the CIB, Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation and NRStor – are a great example of how our economy will grow in the future and how forward-looking investments can help Canadians achieve their economic and environmental goals,” One should assume the Minister and the bureaucrats at the CIB did not bother to determine the emissions required to manufacture the batteries nor the cost of recycling them!

It also appears from the “Project Review” that perhaps some politicians and bureaucrats in Ontario have also endorsed the project as Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, Minister of Indigenous Affairs issued the following statement: “Ontario is uniquely positioned to take advantage of energy storage solutions and I congratulate the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, NRStor and the Canadian Infrastructure Bank on this important project milestone today.” To top that off IESO receives many laudatory mentions in the OES review suggesting their plan to secure a contract will be an easy one with the help of Kim Warren’s inside knowledge. 

For some reason the review uses 2017 data which is now quite dated.  It also notes; “Ontario’s Auditor General has confirmed using forecast data from the IESO that the province is expected to continue to experience on average 2.8 TWh of Surplus Baseload Generation (SBG) per year from 2022-2032”. Bearing the foregoing in mind, one wonders why adding storage of that surplus, storing it for several hours and then selling it back at a price higher than purchased will somehow save us overburdened ratepayers $760 million? Buy low, sell high, appears to represent an additional cost to ratepayers while rewarding OES!

The OES appears to be simply another Trojan Horse* that will serve to further undermine the Ontario economy!

* The Trojan Horse is a story from the Trojan War about the subterfuge the Greeks used to enter the independent city of Troy and win the war.

Credit: Parker Gallant

The sales pitch;The tech is finally ready and a big energy storage project is set to unlock benefits for all Ontarians|Toronto Star|January 23, 2021

Adverse Health Effects, Environment, Government Misrepresentation, Green Energy, Health, The problem with Wind Turbines

Green Energy & false promises

2 Comments

“It was kind of crushing to discover that the things I believed in weren’t real, first of all, and then to discover not only are the solar panels and wind turbines not going to save us … but (also) that there is this whole dark side of the corporate money … It dawned on me that these technologies were just another profit center.”

Greenwash

New Michael Moore-backed doc tackles alternative energy

by: LINDSEY BAHR, Associated Press|Posted:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “What if alternative energy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? That’s the provocative question explored in the documentary “Planet of the Humans,” which is backed and promoted by filmmaker Michael Moore and directed by one of his longtime collaborators. It premiered last week at his Traverse City Film Festival.

The film, which does not yet have distribution, is a low-budget but piercing examination of what the filmmakers say are the false promises of the environmental movement and why we’re still “addicted” to fossil fuels. Director Jeff Gibbs takes on electric cars, solar panels, windmills, biomass, biofuel, leading environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club, and even figures from Al Gore and Van Jones, who served as Barack Obama’s special adviser for green jobs, to 350.org leader Bill McKibben, a leading environmentalist and advocate for grassroots climate change movements.

Gibbs, who produced Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11,” didn’t set out to take on the environmental movement. He said he wanted to know why things weren’t getting better. But when he started pulling on the thread, he and Moore said they were shocked to find how inextricably entangled alternative energy is with coal and natural gas, since they say everything from wind turbines to electric car charging stations are tethered to the grid, and even how the Koch brothers are tied to solar panel production through their glass production business.

“It turned out the wakeup call was about our own side,” Gibbs said in a phone interview. “It was kind of crushing to discover that the things I believed in weren’t real, first of all, and then to discover not only are the solar panels and wind turbines not going to save us … but (also) that there is this whole dark side of the corporate money … It dawned on me that these technologies were just another profit center.”

Both know the film is going to be a “tough pill to swallow.” It was a difficult eye-opener for them as well……

READ ARTICLE

Although the findings will be disheartening, both Gibbs and Moore say they hope that it inspires people to reset and start thinking differently.”

“Now we can begin to come up with the right solutions that might make a difference … The film doesn’t have the answers but it will get us asking a better set of questions,” Gibbs said. “I really do trust that when millions of people are discussing an issue, answers will emerge … This is what we do as humans, we solve problems, but we’ve got to have the right questions.”

Cost Benefit, Government Misrepresentation, Green Energy, The problem with Wind Turbines

Pickering Wind Turbine to be removed

2 Comments

What goes up will come down

opg pickering turbine
Ontario Power Generation Pickering wind turbine to be dismantled in 2019

End of life for the Pickering wind turbine. Ironically its demise serves as a metaphor for  illusions peddled that wind turbines are a viable means for on demand electricity generation.  Waiting for the winds to be just right (not too fast or slow, or no wind)  turbines fueled by the wind produce out of sync with demand.  It is also plagued by generation that is variable and intermittent in nature.  Introducing wind powered generation creates  increased need for fossil fuels (usually gas) for back- up generation capacity that can be there when needed.  Turbines have an eye watering, otitic throbbing 20 years or less operational life cycle.

Credit: Ontario Power Generation|News Update May 30, 2019

Later this year, Pickering residents will see a change as they stroll along the Waterfront Trail at Alex Robertson Park. Ontario Power Generation’s wind turbine has reached its end of life and will soon be dismantled.

While the turbine has produced clean, renewable energy for many years, it’s important that we make smart investment decisions that will return good value for Ontario. And because the cost to replace the turbine’s older parts is too high, and leaving the turbine in place but not operating would present a safety concern, we’ve made the decision to move forward with dismantling it.

Did you know?

The turbine has operated for almost 20 years
At full power, it could produce enough energy to power about 330 homes
While located beside the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, it’s actually operated and maintained by our Niagara Operations team

Once work begins it will take about two weeks to dismantle the wind turbine. We’ll publish the date here once it’s been determined.

opg pickering nuclear
OPG Pickering nuclear power plant

Adverse Health Effects, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Environment, Government Misrepresentation, Health

Pressure on for Health Hazard Investigation

2 Comments

water dirty Reports of contaminated wells and turbid drinking water that came with the construction and operations of wind facilities have not been investigated for alleged health hazards.  Multiple case histories hanging in limbo crying out for immediate action such as the ones made known in the K2 and Niagara Wind projects.

Chatham Daily News|June 5, 2019|by: Ellwood Shreve

Pressure applied at Queen’s Park for C-K water wells probe

Mitchell’s Bay-area resident and cancer survivor Marilynn St. Pierre travelled to Queen’s Park Wednesday to ask the Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government to honour a promise to look into water problems in the north area of Chatham-Kent.

“My water supply is horribly polluted with black shale,” St. Pierre said. “Premier Ford knows this. In fact, Mr. Ford took decisive action to solve this problem.”

The citizens group Water Wells First began raising concerns three years ago about the potential impact the construction and operation of the North Kent Wind farm would have on water wells because of the Kettle Point black shale geology and shallow aquifer in the area.

Since that time, several property owners experienced well water problems, including significant amounts of sediments that have clogged up the flow of water during construction and after operation of the wind farm began. The group says this particular shale is known to contain metals such as uranium, arsenic and lead that are harmful to human health.

But the developers of the wind farm – Korean industrial giant Samsung and its American partner Pattern Energy- have stated the wind farm has had no impact on area water wells. This claim was supported by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change under the previous Liberal government.

St Pierre, a cancer survivor, said Ford committed to undertake a health hazard investigation into this problem in Chatham-Kent.

“I am fearful that cancer will return if the health hazard investigation isn’t done soon and we don’t get the answers we need,” she said.

Essex NDP MPP Taras Natyshak pressed Minister of Infrastructure Monte McNaughton to provide answers over the ongoing well water concerns in McNaughton’s riding, during question period at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.

Natyshak reminded McNaughton that Ford promised those affected “by this contamination” that he would conduct a health hazard investigation immediately.

Noting, “immediately has come and gone,” and more than a year later, people are still waiting for this investigation, the MPP called on McNaughton to make good on this promise “to ensure these Ontarians have clean and safe drinking water.”

McNaughton responded the government has been working hard on this issue and there will be more to say.

Then he took aim at Natyshak, calling it “ironic” that the Essex MPP and the NDP voted in favour ofthe  Samsung agreement to allow the wind farm to be built in Chatham-Kent.

“We were left with this mess. We are going to clean it up. They caused this problem. We’ll take no advice from that member opposite,” McNaughton said.

Natyshak said in an interview that McNaughton “dodged the question and went straight to the rhetoric book they rely on when they don’t have a straight-up answer for people who are concerned about issues in their communities.”

He said McNaughton knows this issue well so “for him not to be prepared to give us any hope or any inkling that his ministry and himself actually have a plan on this is quite disappointing to the folks who made the trip up to Toronto (Wednesday).”

When asked in an interview if there will be health hazard investigation, McNaughton said, “Absolutely.”

When asked if it would be done within the year, he said, “We’ll be making it public very soon what process has been going on for the past 10 months and what will happen in the future.

The minister also stated: “I want to be clear that we’ve been taking these concerns very seriously.”

McNaughton said the government’s first step was to cancel the Otter Creek Wind project, slated for to be built north of Wallaceburg on the same Kettle Point black shale.

“We didn’t want to make the situation any worse,” he said, adding the government also scrapped the Green Energy Act, resulting in the cancellations of 758 wind and solar contracts.

Joel Gagnon, head of the heavy metals lab at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute of Environmental Research, said he was asked to get involved about a year ago.

“The purpose of the investigation is to look at research questions that we can address within the confines and within the mandate of a university,” he said.

Having found residents in the area had in excess of 100 years of good quality water, he said the problems experienced with the water wells were predicted with the construction of the wind farm.

“There’s good scientific evidence to link turbine installation and operation to groundwater impacts,” Gagnon said.

He said the impacts on water quality are quite diverse.

“We’re looking at excessive amounts of suspended sediment comprising Kettle Point black shale,” Gagnon said.

He added there is excessive biomass production which leads to foul smelling and tasting water, along with excessive gas production, which contains radon.

Collectively, Gagnon said people are being exposed to dermal, ingestion and inhalation hazards for a cocktail of what could potentially be toxic metals as well as radon gas.

“The health risks here are undefined and unconstrained and need to be looked at,” he said.

Kevin Jakubec, a founder of the Water Wells First group, who was also at Queen’s Park Wednesday, said, “Patience with Premier Ford delivering and making good on his promise of an investigation is now completely exasperated.

“To date, no experts or resources have been brought into Chatham-Kent to deal with the water problem by the Ford government.”

When asked if the Ministry of Health has had people on site, McNaughton said: “We’ll be providing an update very, very soon.”

Jakubec points to a 2016 joint report from Cancer Care Ontario and Public Health Ontario that said Ontarians are getting cancer each year from environmental carcinogen exposures.

“The report specifically acknowledged the heavy metal arsenic,” he said. “Arsenic causes a cancer burden on Ontario’s beleaguered health-care system each year.”

eshreve@postmedia.com

Over a year and counting …….

“This a serious issue here and I give you my word, we’re going to address it. I can’t stand wind turbines; I can’t stand how they are destroying areas and communities and I’m going to do everything I can to halt any other wind turbine farms and I’m going to address the ones that are going in. You have a huge supporter here,” Ford said to Jakubec after hearing his questions. “As for the local MPPs, when you aren’t in power, your hands are certainly tied. When we are in power June 7, we’re going to address it. It will be my number one issue. And what I say I’m going to do, I do. No one has been more vocal about these wind farms than Doug Ford – no one. I’m giving you my word.”

Doug Ford (now Ontario’s Elected Premiere) , April 26, 2018

Source:   Well group wants more out of Ford

Adverse Health Effects, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Direct Effects, ERT Appeal, Government Misrepresentation, Health, Noise

K2 Wind Out of Compliance

1 Comment

k2 wind a
K2 wind turbines

K2 Wind  under an issued provincial order by Ontario is to immediately comply with noise performance limits for operations of its industrial wind turbine installation.

[210] Mr. James, an expert called by the Appellants, provided a number of critiques of the noise assessment models used to predict sound levels produced by the Project. Mr.James agrees with the proposition that was put before him that the Approval Holder’s noise assessment reports comply with the MOE Noise Guidelines. He states, however, that there are serious issues with the Noise Guidelines themselves such that, by complying with the Guidelines, the actual level noise levels emanating from the Project will be underestimated.

ERT Decision 13-097/13-098, February 2014 READ HERE

k2 wind map
K2 wind turbine locations Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Ontario

Adverse Health Effects, Cost Benefit, Environment, Government Misrepresentation, Health

Nation Rise Wind set to break ground

1 Comment

The Ontario government promised to repeal the Green Energy Act  which permits renewable energy projects but that promised has failed to halt  Nation Rise Wind.   The project was appealed at the Environmental Review Tribunal and remains strongly opposed by concerned citizens.   The project developers are giving a time line of June 2019 to break ground for construction even as the project remains under Ministerial appeal.

National Valley News|May 17, 2019

June groundbreaking on Nation Rise wind project turbines, developers tell council

BERWICK — The 30-megawatt Nation Rise wind project is set to break ground on turbine foundations next month in the rural countryside here — right around the same time the Doug Ford Conservatives celebrate one year since their election on a platform staunchly opposed to such initiatives under the previous Liberal regime’s Green Energy Act.

Ken Little of EDP Renewables, associate director with EDP Renewables Canada — the company that is (now) minority stakeholder and developer of the 28 to 33 turbine project — apprised North Stormont council of the ironic construction timeline in a presentation this week.

Little said that site-clearing and preparation will continue through the end of May with a possible start on an access road into a planned electrical substation by then as well. Construction on the actual turbine foundations and the substation, west of Crysler, will begin in June, he reported to a packed Council Chambers, where a large number of the public overflowed available seating into the hallway outside the room. The developer sees the turbines in place and sending power into the grid by December.

“We did have the ability to start construction in limited fashion for May 9th,” Little explained, clarifying this month’s activities have so far involved “people … more or less identifying areas for work to begin.” But with geotechnical approval received this week, “we’ll be moving into more fulsome construction in the next one to three weeks, in terms of starting access roads” and crew facilities, he added.

Though it has “a lot of approvals to go forward now from the Ministry of Environment,” Little conceded the company still awaits some local and South Nation Conservation permits before installing “individual and specific components” of the wind farm. “So while we may have some approvals, if there’s other local permits that we need to have required for that, we will seek to have those permits prior to starting construction, obviously to make sure we’re in compliance with any local regulations on that,” he pledged.

No mention was made of the project opponents’ last-ditch appeal to Ontario’s Minister of Energy to quash the project, whose ruling had yet to be received on the evening of the May 14 council meeting. The Ford government to date has killed more than 750 pending Green Energy Act projects signed by the previous Wynne Liberals.

Little was accompanied at the podium by EDPR’s Tom LoTurco, director of development for the Eastern US and Canada. A couple more of their company colleagues also watched from the sidelines.

See their presentation on the construction schedule, followed by council questions below

READ ARTICLE

Contracts Cancelled, Cost Benefit, Environment, Government Misrepresentation, Health, Ontario Wind

Fury in rural Ontario over Wind Contract

2 Comments

no_wind_400x400

 

“You gave us hope; we gave you a majority government.  Then the change came; the promises were forgotten.”

 

 

May 8, 2019|National Valley News
Letter to The Editor:

This is an open letter to Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and to Greg Rickford, Minister of the Environment.

Rod, we the citizens of North Stormont and all those already impacted by industrial wind turbines, know that you and Greg were informed of the facts, as were all other Ontario MPP’s.  We know this because every MPP was given a DVD done by Dave Hemingway, of Goderich, a follow up to the TVO documentary Big Wind.

Your DVD, if you chose to watch it showed honest, hard-working, tax-paying people explain — as they drove through their area on a school bus — how their health, water, sight, mental health, income were all negatively impacted by industrial wind turbines.

Under the McGuinty and Wynne governments thousands of documented reports were filed, with file numbers, describing negative experience and all were ignored.

In 2014 EDP Renewables of Portugal, Spain came into North Stormont, southeast of Ottawa.  Landowners were offered thousands of dollars a year to sign land leases.  Like so many others the landowners that chose to sign contracts only saw dollar signs.  They did not consider the impact on their family members, their children, their neighbours, the animals, the water; simply dollar signs.

Since the beginning the municipal council and residents have repeatedly said the project was not wanted.  The people learned about infrasound, low frequency vibration, shadow flicker and flashing lights.  They petitioned, voted twice to be non-willing hosts, talked/wrote/faxed multiple MPP’s of all political stripes.  All to no avail under the previous government’s Green Energy Act.

During this time the number of industrial wind turbine health-related reports throughout Ontario continued to increase.  Fresh well-water sources were contaminated and destroyed; you both know of this as I personally handed you the proof.  Wind Concerns Ontario filed legal charges against the minister responsible for so much suffering.  You both know, nothing was done.

The people of North Stormont saw the rushed, irresponsible approval of the Nation Rise Wind project (I will not call it a “farm”) pushed through during the caretaker period of parliament.  It was done, like the others, without a cost analysis or proof that the power was required.

The approval came with 60 pages of conditions. The proponent had not included any potential environmental impact information as required; no mention of highly vulnerable aquifers, West Quebec Seismic Fault, leda clay, bird migratory path but it did include gas wells that North Stormont does not have.  Why wasn’t the project cancelled on this alone?

An appeal was immediately filed with all residents involved knowing there was no chance of winning. Under the Green Energy Act, as you know, the residents must provide irrefutable proof that damage will occur and, we all know too, that is an impossible task.

The people of North Stormont did this to postpone the project start until after the June, 2018 election.  We were thrilled to hear Doug Ford repeat over and over, “Help is on the way.”  He said to me personally, “Turbines are done.”

We knew the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PCPO) had opposed industrial wind turbines since 2012 when Lisa Thompson introduced her private member’s bill asking for a moratorium on all industrial wind projects until the root cause of the health and water concerns was determined.

The PCPO’s strong opposition continued throughout the Wynne years and finalized in the loss of Liberal party status in the June 2018 election.

The people of North Stormont believed Doug and his party as well as so many others in rural Ontario.  You gave us hope; we gave you a majority government.  Then the change came; the promises were forgotten.

People cried at Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker’s constituency meeting.  Even after Doug’s written promise of a Health Hazard Study into the Chatham-Kent contaminated water issue during the election, nothing was done. It gets worse; local word is that the municipal, provincial and federal governments are going to pay — with taxpayer dollars — to install piped water from Lake Erie under the guise of increased infra structure, totally ignoring the destruction done to fresh well water source.

Jim McDonell, MPP for Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry with Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, introduced ERO 013-4265 — as you know — which grandfathered “existing and in process renewable energy projects” under the old Green Energy Act just two days before a small group of Jim’s constituents met with you and your assistants.

Then came the first PCPO budget where you embedded Section 17 in Bill 100 which, depending on whose interpretation, reads that no one can challenge the actions of the government retroactively.

What has happened?  Where are all those MPP’s who promised to stand up for the people: Monte McNaughton, Sam Oosterhoff, Sylvia Jones, Toby Barrett,  Rick Nicholls, Lisa Thompson, Jim McDonell,  Bill Walker etc.?

Christine Elliott sat in Shawn and Trish Drennan’s house for hours and learned firsthand of their horrific experience with the K2 project and the formation of Lake K2 (also given to you).  The Drennans are now sleeping in their basement trying to avoid infrasound.

Christine Elliott, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health has now put forth “mental health” legislation.  How would this legislation help the Drennans and the thousands of others; walking away from one’s home is not easily done?

Amherst Island wind project was pushed through ignoring most, if not all, of the contract guidelines.  Complaints by residents are being filed but …

Rod, before any final decision is made on the Nation Rise Wind project, I would like to remind you, again, in Ontario peoples’ lives young and old, physically and mentally have been destroyed, agricultural animals impacted, fresh groundwater sources contaminated/destroyed and for what? intermittent, unreliable, costly wind power that only increased Ontario’s debt exponentially.

Remember too the people of Ontario already impacted by industrial wind turbines support the people of North Stormont in their hope of the cancellation of Nation Rise.  People from around the province signed our last petition.  Calls and monetary donations have been given.

We are supported by so many except, it appears, the decision makers.  I will quote what Monte McNaughton said during Lisa Thompson’s Private Member’s Bill of  2012:

Monte McNaughton,  (at 1510)

I oppose the heavy-handed approach that the Dalton McGuinty government is taking by forcing these wind turbines on rural Ontario.  This approach is not democratic and it’s not productive. I’ve said it before, but truly, the greatest injustice facing rural Ontario today is that Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government sit here, in Toronto, at Queen’s Park, and dictate to rural communities where and when they must install industrial wind turbines.

Has anything changed?

It appears as if the only “group” that does recognize the inherent damage of a wind project but is choosing to not act politically is the present government, the same government that campaigned on “Help is on the way.” “Reviewing all existing contracts line-by-line and cancelling all those in non-compliance.” Addressing the thousands of documented reports, ensuring Ontario’s ground water will be protected.

Rod, your Ministry wrote and published Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-In-Ontario Plan.  I quoted from it when we met Dec. 5, 2018.

Is your Ministry along with the PCPO MPP’s willing to agree to the highly probable destruction of another Ontario well water source supplying fresh water to the majority of Eastern Ontario, knowing that three wells turned cloudy after simple bore hole sampling was done by EDP?  What will it cost the government to bring “piped” water to the majority of Eastern Ontario?   Is the present government “playing the odds” on the lives and water of Eastern Ontario?

The residents and Municipal Council of North Stormont, those already forced to live with industrial wind turbines and so many others as well as myself and my family ask you to please put the people you promised to help and the fresh well water sources FIRST.  “Promise made. Promise kept.”

You have been informed by myself, family, friends and other citizens of Ontario. As such this letter is “on notice” that the continued development of the Nation Rise Wind project is considered negligent, harmful and in bad faith.

Please put an immediate moratorium on the Nation Rise Wind project until the health and water issues across Ontario can be addressed.

Ruby Mekker
Finch