Update on Guildwood Community Meeting and Scarborough Mirror Coverage
Below is the text of an article that ran in the Scarborough Mirror’s Wednesday March 25th 2009 edition. I hope many Guildwood residents will bring their concerns about Toronto Hydro’s irresponsible proposal to the community meeting so that we can attempt to provide them with much needed information and honest answers to their questions.
Members of Save the Toronto Bluffs are stepping up to do what Toronto Hydro was legally obligated to and failed to do as part of the Class B Environmental Assessment. We will be providing honest and accurate information to members of a community legally defined as ‘affected public’ under Environmental Assessment legislation. The fact that Joyce McLean – a former NDP partisan and political staffer at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, in addition to being the former Greenpeace Great Lakes Campaigner, either couldn’t or chose not to find her way through the legal requirements of an environmental assessment process is alarming to say the least. Especially considering she had the help of Anne Mometer at AECOM to help her out.
The irresponsibility of Toronto Hydro’s actions has caused great concern in the community and left residents without answers to very legitimate questions that should have been answer, had Toronto Hydro Energy Services properly completed the legal requirements of the Class B Environmental Assessment, which they failed to.
Once again, I’d like to invite all Guildwood residents to come out to our drop in meeting, share your concerns and ask any questions you may have about what is going on. I know everyone involved in this meeting is hopeful that we’ll be able to educate each other about the valid concerns and process issues.
Below is the text from the article:
Wind power information meeting slated
Save the Toronto Bluffs group to host event at Scarborough high school
By DANIELLE MILLEY
Fed up after two information meetings where they were able to “find out nothing,” concerned Guildwood residents are holding their own information meeting about wind power.Jacques Lupien is one of the organizers of the meeting, which takes place Sunday, March 29 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute on Guildwood Parkway.
He said the two information meetings held by Toronto Hydro regarding the installation of a wind testing device, called an anemometer, off the coast of the Scarborough Bluffs at Guildwood have not answered residents’ questions or addressed their concerns.
“They had a meeting at which we’d been able to find out nothing,” Lupien said.
After the Jan. 20 meeting, the Save the Toronto Bluffs group began planning for its own meeting.
Toronto Hydro attempted to hold its first information meeting Oct. 27, but it underestimated the community interest and had to reschedule as the room wouldn’t accommodate all those in attendance. The second meeting took place Nov. 24 with more than 1,000 people attending, including a lot of supporters of the project from other areas of the city.
Local residents complained the meeting was hijacked so a third meeting was held for local residents in January.
But residents still weren’t satisfied as questions around the economic impact and specifics of a wind farm remained unanswered.
So Lupien and others, including John Laforet, began planning their own community meeting.
“A lot of Guildwood residents are frustrated at the lack of information Toronto Hydro is providing,” Laforet said. “We’re in a position to share legitimate information with those who have questions.
“It’s members of the community taking a leadership role to share information with other members of the community.”
He said they’ve gathered information from government and industry sources around the world, such as the European Wind Energy Association and Greenpeace, about health and environmental impacts, for example.
At its meetings, Toronto Hydro officials pointed out they couldn’t answer some questions as they are still at the investigation stage to see if this is a viable site and it would do further environmental and economic studies depending on the results of the anemometer. If Toronto Hydro’s application to the Ministry of Natural Resources to conduct wind testing is approved, the anemometer would be installed this summer at a cost of $1 million. The research phase would take two years.
If a wind farm is erected there would be up to 60 turbines installed two to four kilometres offshore from Ajax to the Leslie Street Spit. This has many Guildwood residents concerned.
“It’s a huge threat to our lives. Those of us who live near Lake Ontario will be affected by this,” Lupien said.
“It’s a huge threat to health and environment.”
Lupien said members of the group, including doctors and engineers, have been doing extensive research about wind farms in other areas in order to provide those who attend Sunday’s meeting with information.
Lupien said the format will be different than the Toronto Hydro meetings as it will take place in the cafeteria with different stations set up where people can find information on specific topics such as the Green Energy Act or the anemometer.
While much of the information has been gleaned from the Internet, which Lupien admits isn’t always the most reliable source, much of the research has come from independent researchers and studies.
“We’ve gone deep into this,” he said.
Laforet said if there is something they don’t know, they’ll say so.
“If someone stumps us we’ll take their questions and go back and research the answer,” he said.
Lupien said this is also an opportunity for the Save the Toronto Bluffs group, which has 1,000 member, to recruit more concerned individuals. “
The link to the Scarborough Mirror Article ‘Wind Power Information Meeting Slated‘ can be found here.
Tags: Anemometer, Guildwood, Guildwood Community Meeting, Lake Ontario Wind Farm, Offshore Wind Scarborough, Save the Toronto Bluffs, Scarborough Bluffs Wind Farm, Toronto Hydro Energy Services
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:57 am
good material thanks