Citizens of Kerns and Hudson, near Temiscaming, Ontario, have acted quickly to hold meetings and form a group in the face of a power proposal
For every action there is a reaction: for every new industrial wind power site proposal, a community group forms—and fast.
Why?
It’s not 2009.
First, the people of Ontario are well aware of the negative impacts of industrial-scale or grid-scale wind power, namely the cost to taxpayers/ratepayers, environmental impacts including noise pollution and risk to wildlife, loss of valuable farmland, and best of all, wind has very few benefits for many costs.
Second, unlike 2009 when the McGuinty government imposed wind power sites on communities against their wishes, and in spite of environmental and economic concerns, using the Green Energy Act to roll over community wishes, municipal support is now mandatory for achieving a contract from the Independent Electricity System Operator or IESO.
When it repealed the Green Energy Act in 2018, the Ford government in Ontario expressly mentioned the return of municipal land use planning powers.
Then energy minister Greg Rickford said:
“By repealing this act, we’re restoring planning decisions to municipalities that were stripped by previous government and ensuring local voices have the final say on energy projects in their communities.” (News release, Government of Ontario, December 7, 2018)
Wind power: get past the hype
Citizens are aware that they need their municipal elected officials to be informed, and aware of community wishes as regards industrial power projects.
Just last week, people in Kerns and Hudson Townships gathered together to form the Kerns and Hudson Township Against Wind Turbines. The group has an email address and a Facebook page. Informal meetings have already occurred, and a full public meeting is planned.
In south-west Ontario, where a large industrial wind power project is planned for South West Oxford and Malahide Townships, citizens from those townships have banded together to form South West Oxford and Malahide say NO to Wind Turbines. This group also has a Facebook page.
Several well attended meetings were held, and last week, the Township of Malahide council voted to be an Unwilling Host to wind turbines.
South West Oxford Council has yet to vote on whether to support the approval.
As the IESO process is set up, municipalities are in the difficult position of having to vote for a Municipal Support Resolution in advance of the proponent companies preparing detailed reports on environmental impact and other issues.
This has also come up in association with requested approvals for Battery Energy Storage Systems, too. In Ottawa last week, an eight-and-a-half-hour meeting was held so councillors could hear presentations from 68 people, most of whom were in opposition to the battery proposal. Councillors said the message to IESO should be, “community engagement is not a box the be ticked,” said Councillor Matthew Luloff. The process requires notification of residents within a certain boundary and one “information session,” not a full town hall style meeting with questions and answers.
For more information, look under A Citizen’s Guide on this website, and to locate a community group, click on Find Your Community Group – Wind Concerns Ontario
contact@windconcernsontario.ca
#UnwillingHost
#IESO
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