Eastern Ontario wind farms: enjoy the horizon while you still can

 
From Farmers Forum, August 4, 2015

Community opposition to industrial-scale wind power mounting

Excerpt from “Eastern Limits” by Tom Van Dusen
I’m not sure what it is about North Stormont Township but wind power developers seem to love it.
Their calculations must have discovered more forceful winds than normal stirring the township. On the surface, though it seems no more or less windy than any other rural municipality.
In increasing numbers, developers have been wafting through the township looking for prime sites* to erect their industrial turbines. As in other communities where they’ve landed, their efforts have been the subject of increasing protests, petitions, and testy meetings.
Correctly gauging the way the wind is blowing on the issue, township council has just taken a stand against turbines and their proponents…for what that’s worth. With the provincial government relentlessly pushing wind power, it’s probably not worth much.**
Mayor Dennis Fife has explained that too many ratepayers are against wind projects for council to reasonably support them. Fife has expressed his personal opposition, claiming wind will never match nuclear power generation.
Typical of disgruntled ratepayers is Roger Villeneuve who worries that towers “much taller than any tree I’ve ever seen or will ever see” will soon dominate the local landscape.
…Council was helped along in its decision by Concerned Citizens of North Stormont which circulated an unwilling host petition, demanding that elected representatives back it at a meeting July 28. They did.
In explaining its opposition the citizens’ committee cited the loss of property values and prime agricultural land, increased hydro costs to cover wind power expansion, environmental impact on birds and bats, health issues related to pulsating noise and shadow flicker, and eventual decommissioning costs.
…Developers have been through all this before, in several other Ontario municipalities where they’ve landed. You see, they have carte blanche from the province under the Green Energy Act, trumping any local motions, opposing them. Projects are decided by the province’s Independent Electricity Service Operator [sic–it is “System” Operator] (IESO) with little regard for local concerns.***
…a growing number of wind power opponents are urging councils to use other tools at their disposal…one suggested option is refusing a bylaw to permit road access to turbine sites. ****

“Enjoy the natural horizon while there still is one,” says ratepayer Roger Villeneuve.
Wind Concerns Ontario notes:
* What they are looking for is willing landowners. Wind doesn’t really have much to do with it.
** The Not A Willing Host declaration stems directly from a statement by Premier Kathleen Wynne that she wouldn’t force wind power projects on communities that weren’t willing. Her failure to honour her word is underscored by the 89 (soon to be 90?) communities that have protested by municipal resolutions.
*** This is true but the failure of a developer to gain municipal support does not help them in a successful bid. Bids without community support are ranked lower.
**** This is not actually a valid option: several communities have tried this already and what happens is, the developer goes to the Ontario Energy Board which then grants permission to use road allowances. The municipality is then left without a road use agreement and possibility of compensation for the sometimes considerable damage to public roads.
 

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9 Comments

  • Sommer
    Posted August 8, 2015 9:25 am 0Likes

    Step # 1 is to inform all residents who are potential leaseholders of the horrific mess that other communities are in because landowners naively signed leases. If no one signs a lease, the wind company will disappear and you’ll all be spared the misery. If you’re residents are worried that if they don’t sign the leases they won’t be doing their part in ‘saving the planet’, urge them to go to wattsupwiththat.org and get informed of the truth about the IPCC data that was used to alarm people into believing we had to take such drastic action without doing proper cost/benefit analysis and health studies on the impacts of being close to these turbines.
    Google “Leaseholders on the Hook for Billions’. This financing issue is currently being examined.
    Educate yourselves!

    • Barbara
      Posted August 8, 2015 1:24 pm 0Likes

      People don’t believe this can happen to them. This only happens to other people.
      Despite all the information that is already available this continues. Lure of money at work here!
      Rising costs of property insurance is another issue brought on by false climate change claims which will affect all Ontarians.

    • Barbara
      Posted August 8, 2015 8:57 pm 0Likes

      Ontario News, March 9, 2015
      Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
      Special Advisor and Climate Action Group
      Members include:
      Louise Comeau, also Executive Director for the Climate Action Network
      http://www.newsontario.ca/ene/en/2015/03/special-advisor-and-climate-action-group.html
      Follow the leads/links.

  • sommer
    Posted August 8, 2015 2:38 pm 0Likes

    To see with one’s own eyes and to live in a home and in a neighbourhood where turbines were sited to surround homes, as is the case with K2 Wind, is such a shock. Anyone with a the ability to feel compassion ‘gets it’.
    The reports from victims of adverse effects are real and are happening on a daily basis. In some cases the torture has been going on for years!
    Victims of K2 Wind are reporting to the wind company, the MOE and to a long list of people in this province who are responsible for this situation they’re forced to deal with and for the most part, they are being ignored or led through a long drawn out process with endless delays, with no real corrections to their dreadful situation. The same message is delivered to all victims…a message of invalidation because these turbines so close to their homes are within ‘compliance’.
    These victims did not give their consent to be part of this experiment. Their rights to the safety, security and pleasure of/in their own home and on their rural property and in their neighbourhood and are being violated. The reality they face has them exhausted, but they keep fighting for justice, hoping people in Ontario’s cities will realize what they’re going through because of these turbines. Meanwhile leaseholders and their families are not saying a word because they’ve signed a contract saying they’d be silent.
    If that’s what you want for your community then let the wind companies in. You will be in for a real struggle to get rid of them once the damage is realized.

    • Barbara
      Posted August 8, 2015 3:10 pm 0Likes

      You have to be damn dumb to sign any option or lease that has “gag orders” as a condition of the option or lease on your property!

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