It seems that no matter how many credible, professional, peer-reviewed studies, and documents they receive, the wind industry, and the government, refuse to acknowledge the truth. They simply want to avoid responsibility, as in everything else, the wind pushers want a free pass. They wind industry is not to be trusted, they are a faux-green, money machine, and they will bankrupt our province, if we do not stop them….NOW!
Credit: By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN | Falmouth Enterprise | November 8, 2013 ~~
Falmouth’s wind turbines will return to their 12hour operation following an agreement reached between neighbors and town officials in Barnstable Superior Court yesterday.
The agreement is tied to Neil P. and Elizabeth Andersen’s claim that the town’s wind turbines constitute a nuisance, which was affirmed by the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals in May. The town has since contested that appeals board decision in superior court with initial proceedings held in September and an ensuing one held last month.
Prior to yesterday’s hearing, Falmouth selectmen had decided in a 3-2 vote to increase the operation of the turbines from their 7 AM to 7 PM model to one in which the machines would be operating from 5 AM to 9 PM as a way to generate enough revenue to cover the town’s expenses.
But that changed yesterday when Barnstable Superior Court Judge Christopher J. Muse directed both parties to engage in discussions to determine if there was any agreement on a temporary plan of operation of the turbines while the two sides work toward a final settlement.
Town counsel Frank K. Duffy Jr. and selectman Rebecca Moffitt, representing the town, came to an agreement with the Andersens’ attorney, J. Alexander Watt of Barnstable, and Christopher Senie of Westboro, who is representing several neighbors as parties in the case.
As part of the agreement, the town will also direct building commissioner Eladio R. Gore to devise a plan to eliminate the nuisance. The first step in that plan will be to begin acoustic testing in a variety of conditions, with one turbine running and both running at various times.
J. Malcolm Donald of Blacksmith Shop Road, a vocal opponent of the turbines who attended yesterday’s hearing, lauded the temporary agreement. “I think it was earth shattering that the parties finally, after more than three years of disagreement, actually sat down and talked,” he said. “I think it is kind of a stroke of genius of the judge. This is economical judicial action.”
While progress has been made toward a final resolution, Mr. Senie said nothing has truly been settled. “There really isn’t any agreement that has been reached. There’s been a consensus that we should take a look at a possible global settlement of [four] different pieces of litigation. We have a long road to travel to get there,” he said.
Those four lawsuits, he said, include yesterday’s as well as two separate nuisance claims against the town, one brought forward by the Andersens and another by his clients, who live near the wind turbines. The fourth lawsuit is an appeal of Barnstable Superior Court Judge Robert C. Rufo’s decision in June that Mr. Gore did not need a special permit from the appeals board to erect Wind 1, which became operational in March 2010.
In order to reach a final settlement, Mr. Duffy wrote in an email this morning that the neighbors will have to submit a list of proposed actions to the town that they believe will end all outstanding zoning and nuisance claims. That list will be discussed by selectmen once Town Meeting concludes next week.
Both parties will report on the status of negotiations to Judge Muse by Thursday, November 21.
“We are still at the very beginning stages,” Mr. Senie said. “Judge Muse did a great job to begin to shape a global settlement,” he said. “The town agreed to go back to the 12hour operational period from 7 AM to 7 PM and we appreciate that very much as an interim measure. We’re glad to have that while we have real discussions about a final and formal settlement.”
Whether an agreement can be reached, he was unsure, although he was pleased to see the direction negotiations are heading in. “I think we arrived at a new moment yesterday,” he said. “It is positive and constructive. I don’t know if it will prevail. We have an awful lot of people who have to agree on an awful lot of items. I’m not sure what will happen, but everyone is sincere about this.”
Amanda Moore – Nov 8, 2013 – Grimsby Lincoln News
Industrial wind turbines affects everyone in Ontario. That is the key message a citizen’s group delivered to roughly 300 people in attendance at Smithville Covenant Christian School Thursday night.
“Just because you don’t live in West Lincoln, doesn’t mean it won’t affect you,” said Deb Murphy, a Dunnville resident who is vice president of the West Lincoln Glanbrook Wind Action Group. “There is a misconception that if you don’t live near them, they won’t affect you. It doesn’t matter if you live 550 metres from one or 550 miles. If you live in Ontario, they do so affect you.”
The information meeting held by WLGWAG was meant to target those living at a distance from the existing and proposed industrial wind turbines in West Lincoln. The group had hoped to attract residents from nearby Grimsby and Lincoln.
“We can see the ones in Caistor from our place, and they are the small ones,” said Grassie resident Cindy Poziomka, whose children and grandchildren live in Smithville. “I’m worried about the affects of children. Some of them are so close to Leisureplex. How can they put them so close?”
Cindy said she has not been following the battle between local residents and the corporations erecting the 80- and 140-metre high turbines. Her husband Rick, however, has been. Thursday’s meeting was the second one he attended. He said though the turbines won’t affect him at home, they will affect him in his pocket book.
“They won’t go near where we live because of flight paths, but it just doesn’t make sense to put them up anyway,” said Rick. “I’m not in favour of them for many reasons. The main reason being the effect on real estate. Some people are making tonnes of money at the expense of their neigbhour.”
The Posiomkas say they have seen how the issue has divided the township.
“You have kids on hockey teams who are fighting because one of them is getting a wind turbine,” said Cindy. “It’s divided the town.”
Members of the wind action group spoke on the many ways industrial wind turbines affect more than those who live near them.
Catherine Mitchell was given the difficult task of demonstrating the “true cost of industrial wind turbines.” While some will be directly affected by a hit to their property value (according to Mitchell’s research, property values in the Huron area fell between 25 and 60 per cent with the onslaught of wind turbines), all of Ontario will pay for it through the province’s costly Feed-in-Tariff program.
“Installed or in the que to be approved are 6,736 wind turbines,” said Mitchell. “Ontario will look like a pin cushion and we will not be able to afford to keep the lights on.”
Using a calculation of megawatts x operating efficiency x hours per year x cost, Mitchell said industrial wind turbines will cost more than $58.7 million a year in subsidies in the Niagara region alone. Over the 20-year span of the provincial contracts, that number totals more than $1.17 billion, she said.
“Who do you think is going to pay that bill,” Mitchell said as a warning to those in attendance.
Eric Ames, communications director for the Family Coalition Party, said the question Ontarians, including those awarded FIT contracts, failed to ask in the early days of the Green Energy Act was where is the money coming from.
Corporations and individuals with FIT contracts are guaranteed a set rate per kilowatt hour.
“Where does that money come from? From you and me,” said Ames, who attended Thursday’s meeting not to sway voters but to help spread the message of how these turbines will affect everyone in Ontario. “They were given contracts with the expectation that taxpayers would pay for this.
“If we continue down this road, we will all lose,” he said. “It affects everyone in this province.”
Another hidden cost of the Green Energy Act, Mitchell explained, is lawsuits. Anne Fairfield and Ed Engel know all about that. The West Lincoln couple is fighting IPC Energy’s HAF Wind Project, even as all five turbines stand a short distance from their home.
“Just to get this far, our legal bill was over $25,000,” said Fairfield. “This was paid by donations. It is going to take all of this community’s financial contributions to fight this problem and have a successful end.”
Engel and Fairfield are waiting on the outcome of several Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenges being heard across the province. These cases challenge the constitutionality of the Green Energy Act and its siting of industrial wind turbines.
“Your health, your safety, your wealth, your environment and this community are worth protecting now,” she said. “Help us to do this job for you.”
The crowd also heard from Mothers Against Wind Turbines chair Marianne Kidd about the impacts of turbines on children, Loretta Shields on the impacts to environment, Mary Kovacs on the dangers of transmission lines and Sidney Thompson on the loss of democratic rights.
West Lincoln mayor Doug Joyner attended the meeting for more than a show of support to his constituents.
“I’ve always said, knowledge is power,” said Joyner. “I am here to support the residents of West Lincoln and Wainfleet, but the biggest reason I am here is to have better information on this.”
The mayor and council have heard from several of Thursday’s speakers in council chambers over the past three years.
Mothers Against Wind Turbines Inc. 