Andy Koopal frowned as he looked down at the freshly cut metre-wide tree trunk, recalling the majestic oak that it once supported.

“That tree was over 150 years old,” he said. “It was a perfect healthy tree. There was no need for it.”

He said the tree – likely a sapling when Canada became a country – was one of eight old growth oaks that border his 10 hectares of farmland on Concession 6 in Wellandport, near Side Road 42.

When the Fort Erie resident drove into Wainfleet recently, he said he was shocked to see that all of the trees were cut down and removed.

“I came by here Saturday. Then I saw the damage they did,” he said.

Along with Koopal’s trees, likely hundreds more were cut throughout rural west Niagara to make room for transmission lines feeding into new industrial wind turbines being built near by Niagara Region Wind Farm, said Wainfleet’s engineering manager Richard Nan.

The company is building a 230 Megawatt industrial wind farm, with wind turbines located in Wainfleet, West Lincoln and Lincoln.

Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs said Koopal is one of several residents who have contacted the town concerned about the tree cutting.

Jeffs said the loss of trees “has really changed the landscape out that way.”

“People out there have been calling us and saying they don’t like it and they’re concerned especially with the removal of the trees,” she said. “I know we had some residents call a few weeks back because they’d taken down a whole whack of trees. It’s been ongoing.”

read more: http://www.forterietimes.ca/2016/03/09/cut-trees-anger-property-owners

The Huron County Health Unit is launching an investigation into reported health effects from wind turbines.

This is in response to feedback from a number of Huron County residents reporting negative health impacts from living close to Industrial Wind Turbines.

East Huron resident Gerry Ryan was part of the group that made a presentation of health concerns to the Health Unit last week and he says they were well received by health officials.

“We presented 26 health impact statements, they ranged from sleeplessness to headaches to migraines, bloody noses, heart palpitations right across the board,” says Ryan.

The Health Unit investigation will happen in two phases, the first being the launch of an online survey in May to collect information on the number of complaints and/or concerns from residents.

Ryan and his colleagues are ecstatic that somebody is at least doing something to address the many concerns of numerous residents in Huron County.

“There absolutely is noise but there is also what’s known as infrasound.   Nobody, the Ontario Government, the wind industry is doing anything about the infrasound and they knew it was going to cause problems,” adds Ryan.

Infrasound is sound that is more often felt rather than heard.

Ryan notes that Phase 2 of the Health Unit investigation may involve actual acoustic testing both inside and outside of affected homes.

https://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/midwestern-ontario-news/2016/03/07/huron-county-health-unit-investigating-wind-turbine-health-complaints/

TO: All concerned FROM: Area-wide Concerned Residents of Huron County: Jeanne Melady, Gerry Ryan, Patti Kellar, Carla & Mike Stachura

SUBJECT: Huron County Health Unit – Health Concerns from IWT’s On March 1, 2016, the Huron County Health Unit stated it will investigate the concerns of residents regarding potential health effects of wind turbines, in keeping with their legislative duty to investigate potential population health hazards

read  more: mtgnoteseditsIWTsHCHUreport

MEDIA RELEASE

Municipalities Call for Ontario to Stop Issuing Wind Turbine Contracts WAINFLEET – March 4, 2016 – Fifty-one municipalities have endorsed the resolution passed by the Township of Wainfleet Council in late January 2016 that calls on the Ontario government not to award more Feed-InTariff contracts for power generation from wind.

The resolution was based on December’s Auditor General Report which reported that Ontario has a surplus of power generation capacity and, under existing contracts, is paying double what other jurisdictions are paying for wind power. Adding more surplus generation capacity would add to the already high costs of disposing of surplus electricity.

read more: 20160304MediaReleaseReWindPowerGenerationResolution (1)

The tireless and continued hard work of individuals and community groups are represented in the presentations on pages 49-107 to West Lincoln Council (see agenda-link below).

The people are holding all levels of Government accountable. The end goal is protection of our families, communities and for justice to prevail.

Addington Heights pressures placed on municipal affairs for wind power projects and the records of inducement are revealed in documents obtained through FOI requests.

http://www.bearat.org/news/2016/2/27/freedom-of-information-requests

“NextEra and RES Canada officials are seen repeatedly in emails to leverage the community vibrancy funds as inducements to cause municipal officials to undertake official acts with their power under the Municipal Act in exchange for those inducements.”

DONATE HERE http://www.wait-pw.ca/

WAIT-PW members and Supporters Update:

We are scheduled to go to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on April 19th in London, Ontario.

Our lawyers at Falconers represent one of the top law firms in Canada on defending Human Rights. We are presenting a unique legal argument with the potential to affect the operations of the Suncor/Nextera industrial wind project, past industrial wind project approvals and future project approvals. We do not know if we will be successful; however, if we do nothing, we are accepting the status quo and sending the message to wind developers and our provincial government that we are ok the decisions they make on behalf of our local communities. The provincial government is set to release more industrial wind project approvals in March. Suncor and Nextera have submitted bids to the provincial government for additional wind projects in our County. We have an opportunity to make a difference on April 19th in London.   Continue reading Defending Human Rights to Ensure Wind Turbines DO NOT CAUSE HARM. WAIT-PW Heading to Ontario Superior Court of Justice on April 19th 2016 →

APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW – AN EXPLANATION.

YOU CAN HELP!

CCSAGE NATURALLY GREEN has commenced an Application for Judicial Review (JR) of the process by which a Renewable Energy Approval (REA) was issued in Prince Edward County. The Application is for the purpose of asking the Supreme Court of Ontario the following questions:

(A) Is the REA issued to White Pines (wpd Canada) to construct an industrial wind turbine factory of 27 turbines and associated transmission and collector lines the result of institutional bias in the Green Energy Act (GEA) and/or operational bias by the various Ministries?

(B) If the GEA is essential, is it fair to place the burden entirely on the minority who live in rural areas in Ontario?

Two other important issues that will be raised in the process are:

(C) Is the GEA necessary or even desirable?

(D) What will Ontario be like after IWTs cover rural areas and will it be worth saving? Continue reading Application for Judicial Review – An Explanation →

https://mothersagainstturbines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/accidents.pdf

These accident statistics are copyright Caithness Windfarm Information Forum 2015. The data may be used or referred to by groups or individuals, provided that the source (Caithness Windfarm Information Forum) is acknowledged and our URL http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk quoted at the same time. Caithness Windfarm Information Forum is not responsible for the accuracy of Third Party material or references. The detailed table includes all documented cases of wind turbine related accidents and incidents which could be found and confirmed through press reports or official information releases up to 31 December 2015. CWIF believe that this compendium of accident information may be the most comprehensive available anywhere. Data in the detailed table is by no means fully comprehensive – CWIF believe that it may only be the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of numbers of accidents and their frequency. Indeed on 11 December 2011 the Daily Telegraph reported that RenewableUK confirmed that there had been 1500 wind turbine accidents and incidents in the UK alone in the past 5 years. Data here reports only 142 UK accidents from 2006-2010 and so the figures here may only represent 9% of actual accidents. The data does however give an excellent cross-section of the types of accidents which can and do occur, and their consequences. With few exceptions, before about 1997 only data on fatal accidents has been found. The trend is as expected – as more turbines are built, more accidents occur. Numbers of recorded accidents reflect this, with an average of 21 accidents per year from 1996-2000 inclusive; 57 accidents per year from 2001-2005 inclusive; 118 accidents per year from 2006-10 inclusive, and 163 accidents per year from 2011-15 inclusive.

read more: https://mothersagainstturbines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/accidents.pdf

VICTORY!  White Pines Wind Power Renewable Energy Approval Revoked by Tribunal!!

We just received word that the decision has been released in the White Pines wind power project appeal in Prince Edward County.

The appellants WON the appeal, for the environment and their community.

The Tribunal found there would be serious and irreversible harm to Blandings turtle and little brown bats.

This is a major victory for the Save the South Shore coalition of community groups, the community, everyone who supports this fight, and lawyers Eric Gillespie and Chris Paliare.

Bravo!!!