Formerly supportive council slams poor procurement process, lack of regulatory response to existing wind turbine problems

October 7, 2025

Citizen speaks against more wind turbines at October 6 C-K Council: no one should be able to build something that affects the health and property of others [YouTube]

A few weeks ago, if you were asked to place a bet on whether Chatham-Kent, with more than 500 wind turbines already operating since 2006, would say yes to two new proposals, you might have said it was a sure thing.

And then, the people spoke.

After weeks of emails to Council, signs popping up on properties in East and South Kent, and hundreds of signatures inked on petitions, more than 20 C-K citizens took to the podium to address council, stating their opposition to any more wind turbines for the area.

Some were active farmers who said they were concerned about the loss of yet more prime agricultural land in Chatham-Kent, where some of the best farmland in Ontario is farmed, and concerned about the potential impact on a very vulnerable aquifer, especially as there have already been problems, as yet unresolved. One young, 27-year-old farmer said he worried about his own farm and any future he and his young family might have in agriculture, if more turbines were to be built.

Another farmer said he was initially attracted by the money the wind power developers were offering but then, he took the contract to his lawyer. The lawyer’s response, after two weeks of examining the document, was NOT to sign it. If you sign this, the farmer recalled the lawyer saying, you will give away most of the rights to your property for the rest of your life and for anyone in your family who might take over the farm operation.

Citizen concerns widely shared

Farmer Valerie Schmitchen, who describes herself as a “small, generational farmer” (recently profiled in Ontario Farmer) said she had worked hard to inform neighbours and fellow landowners. She said her concerns were shared by may others:

“From early June, I and my friend Marie, gave up every Saturday set up at a table at the Ridgetown Farmer’s Market, collecting signatures, handing out posters and signs and most importantly, talking to a wide cross section of people from within the municipality and visitors from outside the municipality. 

What we talked about was how the rural areas have suffered at the expense of the urban areas, how unfortunate it was that the issue pitted neighbour against neighbour, how the Council will ignore the needs, wishes and fears of hundreds of rural people for the sake of a handful of landowners (who, for the most part do not put these turbines where they live). We talked about how rural property-tax payers end up losing service after service and Chatham city gets an expensive and unnecessary “Hub”, and we talked about how turbines do not make economic sense because they are so heavily subsidized by taxpayers (again, us) and they don’t make environmental sense when they are going on the most valuable agricultural land in the country.”

Water risk a key concern

North Kent farm owner Christine Burke, who has been very vocal on water issues since her water well failed in 2014 during construction of nearby wind turbines, reminded Council that the water issues continued without resolution, and questioned the wisdom of approving more turbines when nothing has been done.

Former university professor Keith Benn, who was a member of the all-hazard panel appointed by the Government of Ontario to look at the failed wells in North Kent, said the government has not followed up on the science panel’s recommendations, and finding of poor water quality in C-K. In his opinion, he said, there was a high likelihood that more water problems would result, if more wind turbines were built.

Yet another citizen mentioned that wind turbines leaking oil was a common site throughout the municipality. “This is supposed to be ‘green’?” she asked.

Several people referred to the only cost-benefit study ever published for wind power in Ontario, “Chasing the Wind,” by economist Edgardo Sepulveda. “Why are we doing something that doesn’t work?”

Councillors listened to the citizen presentations, PowerPoint presentations by the two wind power developers, Capstone and France’s EDF, but most said they had problems with the whole IESO procurement process, and the burden on them.

One councillor asked Capstone whether vibrations from wind turbines could be a problem to which the presenter responded, “I don’t know.”

And there was the problem: not enough answers.

Councillor Alysson Storey said, “I am not comfortable” making a decision when there are so many questions and no answers. Staff confirmed upon her questioning that this meeting was the only time the issue could be brought before Council.

Storey said she was sick of the provincial government forcing “do or die” votes on Ontario municipalities.

Councillor Rhonda Jubenville gave a summary of all the issues that concerned her before voting No, and added that she had been approached by local Realtors who said, Nobody wants to buy property looking at more wind turbines. That’s another cost of approving these turbines, she said.

Jubenville repeated that council needed to listen to the concerns of citizens, and look at what turbines had really brought to C-K.

Yet another councillor said that the money offered by the developers sounded good, but in fact represented less than one percent of the municipality’s budget.

Council was critical of the IESO process, which forced a decision with limited time and information. This was confirmed by staff who said they could not make a recommendation one way or the other. “This vote is political,” a staff member said.

The power developers insisted that the support vote was only a first step in the process and that many other steps lay ahead, including approval by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

I have no faith in that, said Councillor Lauren Anderson, who reminded Council that Chatham-Kent had officially requested the Ontario government to act on the science panel’s findings on the contaminated well water, sending a formal letter in May, 2023.

There has been no response to that request.

The courage to say NO: failed government processes

“The Chatham-Kent vote, and all the discussion around it, is a resounding condemnation of the IESO’s procurement process,” says Wind Concerns Ontario president Jane Wilson. “Municipalities have been saying all through the engagement phase that there isn’t enough time or information for them to make informed, responsible decisions—here in Chatham-Kent, you have a council now that has had the courage to say no.”

The Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, and the Ministry of Health also deserve criticism, Wilson says. “There have been thousands of complaints about noise and water, yet the government keeps saying there is a process in place, and it’s working well. It isn’t. The government is failing in its role as a regulator.”

contact@windconcernsontario.ca