What is the real cost of an Environmental Review Tribunal?

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc has launched both a health appeal and an environmental appeal against the Ministry of the Environment (now the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change) in the decision by the MOE to approve the Niagara Regional Wind Corporation industrial wind project.

Help tip the scale and donate to the Legal Fund.
Help tip the scale and donate to the Legal Fund.

The process is an interesting statement on the evolution of justice with respect to the renewable energy initiative, a politically motivated initiative that has been touted as the saviour of the planet through reduced CO2 emissions. The preliminary hearing to determine who can speak and on what topic was held Dec 19, 2014 in the Wellandport hall.

The first thing you notice, beyond the hard chairs and the poor acoustical system, is the abundance of legal council. There are three lawyers on the tribunal panel. They have been assigned by the Ministry of the Attorney General office to preside over this case.  We are informed that the purpose of the hearing is for the tribunal to review the directors decision and consider ONLY whether engaging in the renewable energy project in accordance with the Renewable Energy Approval (REA) will cause serious harm to human health or serious and irreversible harm to plant life, animal life or the natural environment.  So the scope has been limited and concerns about economic impact, democratic rights, anything beyond serious harm to human health and serious and irreversible harm to plant life, animal life or the natural environment are beyond the jurisdiction of this tribunal.  It seems a little backward that the people that live in the community have to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the engagement in a politically motivated initiative will seriously harm their health and/or their environment. Continue reading What is the real cost of an Environmental Review Tribunal?

St. Anns – 24 turbines less than 5 km surrounding Atkins Pony Rides

468563_356701661043095_1185570960_oBelow is the submission made by Sue and Leon Atkins, which received applause by the more than 100 local residents who attended the Preliminary Hearing of the ERT appeal for the NRWC project in West Lincoln which was held in Wellandport Dec 19/2014.

The Atkins who own and run Atkins pony rides were granted presenter status.

Sue Atkins Quoted a notice she look a picture of while attending one of the NRWC community information presentations held in our area a while back.

“NRWC QUOTE:  If there are MORE than 5 turbines within 3 km of a noise receptor or if any turbines have a sound power level greater than 102 decibels,greater set back distances must be met and or noise studies must be completed.”

Then she asked. “Has anyone completed these noise studies? Has anyone meet these set back distances?”  Her response was “NO!”   There could also be heard murmurs of “NO” through out the audience in response to her questions as well.

As she points out below, 7 turbines are within 2 km of their farm.  10 are within 3 km and 24 within 5 km.   Sue Atkins is well within her right to question how this is possible in light of the NRWC PUBLIC notice reassuring residents that what is about to happen to them wouldn’t happen to anyone.   

Thank you to the Atkins for standing up and fighting !!  If you want to help the Atkins then helpMothers Against Wind Turbines Inc.. and donate to their Legal fund so we can keep this fight going for as long as we can!!  These are real members of our community, your community, coming forward and fighting!  Fighting not only for their livelihoods, their health, their home but fighting for everyone who potentially will be negatively affected by the NRWC project.

Human and animal alike…continue

to read Sue Atkins submission. 

Continue reading St. Anns – 24 turbines less than 5 km surrounding Atkins Pony Rides

Wind turbine fears discussed at preliminary hearing

DONATE TO THE LEGAL FUND TODAY!!!  These are Real members of our Community.

Sue Atkins says she has acoustic neuroma — a benign brain tumor that develops on the main nerve leading from the inner ear.

 

Members of Mothers Against Wind Turbines, from left, Catherine Mitchell, Marianne Kidd, and Linda Rogers, discuss their appeal of a planned wind turbine project in West Niagara. ALLAN BENNER Tribune Staff
Members of Mothers Against Wind Turbines, from left, Catherine Mitchell, Marianne Kidd, and Linda Rogers, discuss their appeal of a planned wind turbine project in West Niagara. ALLAN BENNER Tribune Staff

 

 

Although it’s non-cancerous, she says it is continuing to grow and has resulted in hearing loss and the possible need for surgery. It has also made her particularly sensitive to infrasound, like the sound created by the huge spinning blades of industrial wind turbines.

But the rural St. Anns farm she shares with her husband Leon and their 29 ponies and horses will be within five kilometers of 24 huge industrial wind turbines if a provincially approved Green Energy Act development by Niagara Region Wind Corp. is allowed to proceed.

“We are really concerned at the fact that our small parcel of property is going to be surrounded by these wind turbines,” she says.

Continue reading Wind turbine fears discussed at preliminary hearing

Environmental tribunal a step to real law

Please consider donating to the MAWT Inc. legal Fund – we can only fight as far as the money allows us!  

It’s a battle they probably won’t win.

But it could be a necessary step towards winning the war.

download (1)There were more than 150 people at the Wellandport Community Centre Friday, and that was just for a preliminary hearing to determine who would speak and about what during an Environmental Review Tribunal looking into concerns about a large wind turbine development, scheduled to start a month from now on Jan. 19.

Although Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. president Marianne Kidd fears the tribunal hearings to come may prove to be a “kangaroo court,” she said“there’s nowhere else to go.” Continue reading Environmental tribunal a step to real law

Preliminary Hearing, Dec 19, 2014. Please come show your support.

For Immediate Release:

Wellandport, West Lincoln.

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc.  is going to Court.  Opposition to  the approval  issued for the Niagara Regional Wind Corporation project will be heard at the Environmental Review Tribunal.

It is a very busy time of the year for most families, but the Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. continues to be hard at work over the Christmas holidays.  On Friday December 19th 2014  the legal battle against the Niagara Regional Wind Corporation  project  located in West Lincoln, Wainfleet, Town of Lincoln, Region of Niagara, Haldimand begins.  The problems surrounding the NRWC project are many but simply put  it is that the turbines are too close to where rural people live, work and play.  The most vulnerable members of our communities needing protection will be the children.

The renewable energy project has proposed 77 wind turbines comprised mostly of the large 3MW rated capacity size.  The turbines have hub  heights ranging from 124- 135m tall  and blades which will create a rotor diameter of 101 m .  These will be some of the largest turbines to ever be introduced so closely to people and their homes in North America.  Children of host “wind farm” properties are not being protected to the same level  of regulatory protection as other children.  Lease holders can agree to have closer set back distances and noise level exposures from the industrial wind turbines placed on their properties.  Money is being exchanged that puts children’s well- being at an increased risk of potential adverse effects affecting health and safety, for a financial benefit.  

Recently Health Canada released its preliminary summary report wind turbines and health that stated  16.5% of residents within a 2km exposure zone were negatively affected.   It is important to note that these were smaller turbines that were studied.  Using that figure, the Niagara Regional Wind Corporation alone  could be creating adverse health impacts for at least 2 000 or more residents within the project boundaries. 

The issues  and controversy surrounding wind power electrical generation are varied but they will have an  impact for everyone.  We would welcome your presence and continued support as the hearing proceedings get underway.

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc.

Details about the appeal notices can be reviewed on the Environmental Registry – Search for EBR 012-0613:  http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTIxMTM5&statusId=MTg2NTk5&language=en

Preliminary Hearing:

A Preliminary Hearing will be conducted by the Hearing Panel on:

Date: Friday, December 19, 2014

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Location: Wellandport Community Centre,

5042 Canborough Road (RR#63)

Hearing:

Date:  Monday,  January 19, 2015

Time:  10:00 am

Wellandport Community Centre:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?name=Wellandport+Community+Centre&address=5042+Canborough+Rd&city=Wellandport&state=ON&zipcode=L0R&country=CA&redirect=true

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc:  https://mothersagainstturbines.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MothersAgainstWindTurbines

Email:  mothersagainstwindturbines@gmail.com

Family in West Lincoln Suffering Ill Health Effects from Wind Project 4.7 km away!!

odds of getting sickHere is a letter sent to Jim Vandenboogaart from Brown County from a Resident in West Lincoln who lives just east of the HAF Wind Project.  The HAF wind project is a “5” turbine project that has just recently started spinning and already there are reports of ill health effects.  What are the odds that more families will suffer ill effects if “77” even larger turbines of the NRWC wind project are built?   

Brown county – Winconsin Wind Turbines declared Health Hazard

You are world leaders – my family and I thank you

My family and I are located in West Lincoln to the east of the HAF Wind project. Weeks after the Wind Turbines started spinning,  I started to have a ringing noise in my ears,  beginning very suddenly waking me up one night.  After this, they would ring 15 minutes duration some days, then 45 minutes more days and later pretty much all day every day at varying levels. (Often loud enough to be heard over conversations I was in.)

After approx. 4 months of this, suddenly again as I woke up for work at 5am Thurs, Oct 16, I suddenly had vertigo which took me off my feet. This continued when I moved my head certain ways and persists to this day. 

I have seen my family practitioner who after become questions and a brief exam concluded it is likely I have Meniere’s disease. I was prescribed Teva-betahistine which I took to its completion and this did not make a difference.

My past is no allergies and no significant issues. I have not missed a shift of work in 13 years and historically have not had much need to see a doctor. I also went to a clinic critical care and after a 40s eye inspection was told I have Benign Positional Vertigo, but again, the “Use as needed” medication made no difference. One daughter’s ears ring from time to time now too and a second just displayed symptoms of a migraine for the first time ever.

I know neither of these doctors have significant knowledge of Wind Turbines and the cyclic infrasound they can emit. I can hear/feel a noise/vibration in my bedroom many nights when it is quietest which is unique in that it is very subtle, can be felt more than heard and appears to propagate not through the air,  but through the ground and up through the structure of our home. I do a very good job of ignoring this noise/vibration and the ringing in my ears.

I have had somewhat unique hearing in that I can hear higher frequencies than most people.  I have an Electronics background and was able to hear the noise emitted by an insect repelling device outside the old location of the Keg restaurant in Burlington that only one other person I know out of 40 I was there with could hear and for me it was so loud that I could feel it in my neck.

It was not easy to find how to do this, but I have been reporting these issues to our local MoE&CC office. The guidelines they’ve been provided – only to look for exceedance of a loud amplitude of audible noise, completely discards infrasound and characteristics being multi-cyclical. They also do not reply to any concern outside 1,500 meters away.We are 4.7km away from the nearest Wind Turbine.

With other study including yours noting such harmful effects, and my noticing that my vertigo is worse when the noise/vibration is its most intense and when I don’t have a furnace fan running all night to fill in the gaps, I feel completely let down, even infringed upon by those charged with our well-being and using in part our money to do so.

I am happy that is not the case in Brown County, Wisconsin. Between that and the Packers, you are on our radar should we relocate!

Thank you

M.J. with family, West Lincoln, ON,  Dec 2014

Continue reading Family in West Lincoln Suffering Ill Health Effects from Wind Project 4.7 km away!!

Last night while you slept…

Donate the West Lincoln Legal Fund!  We MUST do everything we can to prevent this from happening to anyone in our community!!   There are many stories just like this from people just like you and me.  Please help!!

Pro-Wind Cyber Bully and Propagandist Mike Barnard Ordered to Cease His Online Assaults

Donna Quixote's avatarQuixotes Last Stand

People have been wondering lately, where our perpetual cyber-bully and pro-wind weasel Mike Barnard has disappeared to! We certainly didn’t know, although certainly the air seemed a bit sweeter, the sun has been shining a bit brighter and generally, it has felt as if there was a shift in the space time continuum.

Today, we found out that Mr. Barnard — whose attacks against wind victims and their advocates has been well-documented and well-known for years — has been ordered by his employer IBM to “stop writing on wind power, resign his fellowship from the Energy and Policy Institute and to take down his blog ‘Barnard On Wind’.”

You can read the full media release from NaPAW (North American Platform Against Wind) here…..MEDIA RELEASE MIKE BARNARD IBM

We owe a debt of gratitude to Australian researcher, Jackie Rovensky and NaPaw’s Sherri Lange for helping to ensure that wind victims…

View original post 50 more words

Update – MAWT Inc. ERT appeal

Hi all,

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc has met the first filing deadline in the appeal against the Niagara Regional Wind Corporation’s  project approval.  Witness statements of both expert witnesses and of various group members have been filed.

There is still time to request presenter status if you are interested.  The  deadline if you wish to be a presenter at the Tribunal, is Monday December 15th before 4pm.  For instructions and/or  to register,  you must contact the Tribunal via the case coordinator, Eva  Pietrzyk: eva.pietrzyk@ontario.ca 

1-866-448-2248.

Legal counsel will only be available to MAWT on a part -time basis due to a funding shortage. Please show your support by donating today if you have not already done so.
Financial suppot

We also ask that you share this message with others in the community.  Please note key dates and plan to attend if possible.

Preliminary Hearing:

A Preliminary Hearing will be conducted by the Hearing Panel on:

Date: Friday, December 19, 2014

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Location: Wellandport Community Centre,

5042 Canborough Road (RR#63)

Hearing:

Date:  Monday,  January 19, 2015

Time:  10:00 am,

Location:  Wellandport Community Centre

Wellandport Community Centre:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?name=Wellandport+Community+Centre&address=5042+Canborough+Rd&city=Wellandport&state=ON&zipcode=L0R&country=CA&redirect=true

Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc.

mothersagainstwindturbines@gmail.com

website: https://mothersagainstturbines.com/

This could happen to someone YOU know!!

Please help us prevent this from happening to a family YOU may know!!  Donate to The Legal Fund, Today!! 

Sheffield: Therriens Moving Away From Wind Farm

The Therrien family on their Sheffield property.

122254-0The Therrien family, who live near the First Wind industrial wind development in Sheffield, are moving to Derby.

Steve and Luann Therrien are making arrangemets to relocate themselves and their children away from the six 400-foot wind towers within a few hundred yards of their 50-acre property off New Duck Pond Road in Sheffield.

First Wind, the corporation that built and operated the Sheffield development, changed hands last month. The new owners are SunEdison and TerraForm Power and nothing about the operation is expected to change. Continue reading This could happen to someone YOU know!!

Protecting our children from Industrial Wind Power Emissions is our first priority!