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Reserve now for free Riverwalk event in South Marysburgh on Sep 5, 2015

Here’s a fun event, sponsored by several County businesses, from 3 to 5 pm on Saturday, September 5, 2015 at MillsFalls B&B, 745 Crowes Road, South Marysburgh.

You’ll enjoy an afternoon of nature (with interpretive guides), soft music, wine and nibblies, plus the opportunity to visit with County friends.

The event and refreshments are free, but a donation to PECFN to save Ostrander Point will be greatly appreciated.

Advance registration is required, and attendance is limited, so sign up early by clicking here .

Premier Wynne has been invited, to allow her to demonstrate her solidarity with rural Ontario … wonder if she’ll come?

PECFN continues its efforts to Save Ostrander Point. The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) hearing will resume at the Demorestville Town Hall on September 2,3,4.

This new hearing is a result of the Appeal Court of Ontario directing the ERT to deal with the issue of remedy to Gilead’s planned destruction of the habitat resulting from the access roads and industrial wind turbines.

If you’re unable to attend Riverwalk, you can still make a donation to the Ostrander Point Appeal Fund here .

Barn owls are no longer an issue for the proposed Port Ryerse Wind Farm.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has determined that the wind farm site is not part of the owls’ regular habitat.
Developer Boralex Inc. will not need a special permit to build four industrial wind turbines east of Port Ryerse.

Continue reading GOVT. SAYS WIND FARM NOT PART OF BARN OWLS REGULAR HABITAT →

NEWS RELEASE

Ontario Communities Reject Wind Power Proposals

Essex council is making it clear it doesn’t want to see any more wind turbines in the town, rejecting a community benefit agreement for the Blue Sky Wind Project.

“We are not interested in any more windmills in our municipality,” says Ward 3 Councillor Bill Caixeiro to loud and long applause in council chambers Monday night.

Councillors even charged the company behind the project, GDF Suez, had paid for letters of support to be sent to council.

“There was no payment made for any letters of support,” says Bonnie Hiltz, government relations for GDF Suez. “They, I believe, were referring to letters of support for landowners who have voluntarily come forward to participate in the project.”

Hiltz is disappointed in council’s strong negativity towards the project.

“This is the very, very early stage of the project and so we’ve heard from residents that they want to be engaged and help inform the project as it evolves. That’s what we’re doing here, that’s what we’re doing with our public meetings,” says Hiltz.

Public meetings are scheduled for Tecumseh and Essex this week.

Essex residents like Anna Markett feel the company is trying to bully people into backing the project, “We’ve been hounded for the last three or four months.”

The Blue Sky Wind Project would have turbines mostly in Essex and into Tecumseh Township as well.

http://www.windconcernsontario.ca/

Canadian province of Nova Scotia cancels a successful project which rewarded people for generating renewable energy, reports Climate News Network

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia, on the country’s Atlantic seaboard, has ended a programme which gave citizens an incentive to produce renewable energy.

The decision, which will initially mean lower prices for energy users, is at odds with widespread warnings that renewable energy must rapidly replace fossil fuels.

One Nova Scotian told the Climate News Network the government’s decision was a backwards step: “They have not only cut the legs out from under independent energy developers … they have stolen citizens’ right to access ownership of energy.”

The scheme is the Nova Scotia community feed-in tariff (Comfit), which was designed to encourage community-based, local renewable energy projects by guaranteeing a rate per kilowatt-hour for the energy the project fed into the province’s electrical grid.

On 6 August the provincial government announced: “This is the right time to bring Comfit to a close; it has achieved its objectives. We are now at a point where the programme could begin to have a negative impact on power rates. Nova Scotians have told us they want stability and affordability when it comes to power rates, and industry wants clarity on the future of the Comfit programme.”

The announcement went on: “No new generation is needed to meet electricity demand, and adding capacity would negatively impact rates as Nova Scotians pay more for energy with small-scale, community-based projects than from other sources.”

Andy MacCallum of Natural Forces, a company which develops renewable energy in eastern Canada, told the Network: “We’re disappointed. Comfit was the previous provincial government’s programme: it’s a political decision: if the project continued then the opposition could accuse this government of forcing energy prices up in the short-term.

“But the scheme benefitted small communities, pulling in tens of millions of dollars in investments which without it would not have come here. The losers will be ordinary Nova Scotians.”

READ MORE HERE

Wind turbines are to be removed from all but one school in the Highlands because of safety concerns.

The U-turn follows a protest over several years by campaigners angry about the lack of a buffer zone between the machines and pupils and staff.

Single turbines at four Caithness primary schools – Bower, Castletown, Crossroads and South – have already been removed.

Eight others, elsewhere in the region, will follow.

It is understood that the council is keen to relocate them to other properties it owns.

A council spokeswoman said: “We have recently undertaken a revised risk assessment in accordance with Health and Safety Executive requirements.

“We have taken all reasonable and practical measures to minimise the risks associated with having turbines in school grounds.

“However, we have determined that we cannot actively manage the perceived risks from turbines on school grounds and have decided to remove the turbines and relocate them.”

read more: The Press and Journal, 6 August 2015 by Iain Ramage

Final Report Australian Senate Committee on Wind Turbines, August 3, 2015

Pg. 17 (39 of 350 in pdf)

The need for civility in public debate

“As the committee noted in its interim report (paragraph 1.13), it is disappointed that renewable energy advocates, wind farm developers and operators, public officials and academics continue to denigrate those who claim that wind turbines have caused their ill health.”

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Wind_Turbines/Wind_Turbines/Final_Report

Wind Neighbors Support Health Commission Bill H2032

The State House hearing on H2032 wrapped up late in the day with Sharon Eddy’s testimony about Wind I in Falmouth (7/28/15).

My first encounter with Wind I was at 11 pm immediately after startup.  I was typing a letter on my computer when I felt a direct push on my chest. It knocked whatever I was thinking out of my head and I remember thinking, “What the heck just happened?” That was the beginning of a long, long nightmare.

A month later, my learning disabled son, whose IQ is 73, came to visit during the day. He went out onto our back deck and said, “Mom, I just felt something on my body.” Then he said, “I don’t want to sound dumb, but is that thing turning?”

Read more of Sharon Eddy’s statement, including her letter to the Falmouth Board of Health and entries from her health log. She concluded, “I’ve always believed in science and collection of data and findings to back a theory or inquiry…only then can we learn.”

Eddy described her expeience at the packed hearing: “It was very hot and no room to sit. I was over 2 hours sitting on the floor next to others. Got home at 9 pm as didn’t get out of session until after 5:30 then stuck in Boston traffic for 3 hrs. I was last to testify at 5:20.”

http://windwisema.org/2015/08/02/wind-neighbors-support-health-commission-bill-h2032/

REDA- Radiation Emitting Devices Act and Wind Turbines- Letter from Honourable Ben Lobb MP

Ben Lobb, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

June 2015 newsletter (extract):

NEWS FROM OTTAWA

Some people in the riding of Huron-Bruce have reached out to me many times because of concerns about the operation of industrial wind projects in proximity to their homes.

These concerns are validated through peer reviewed research published internationally. As the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) I take these reports very seriously.

According to David Michaud PhD, principal investigator for the Health Canada wind turbine noise and health study 2014, the Radiation Emitting Devices Act (REDA) has authority over wind turbine emissions in the form of electromagnetic waves or acoustical waves.

Upon investigation I believe the REDA has a system in place to make sure those with wind turbine health and noise complaints are heard at the federal level. Continue reading Make Wind Turbine Health and Noise Complaints heard at the Federal Level. →