Posts Tagged ‘Canadian Wind Energy Association’
Perth-Wellington Has a Message for John Wilkinson – Sayonara!
I’m writing this from the front seat of our vehicle as the ‘Winds of Change Tour’ barrels down the highway from Stratford, en route to Searchmont for tomorrow’s rally with folks in Algoma-Manitoulin.
It has been an amazing two days in Perth-Wellington! Seeing so many supporters of the local Wind Concerns Ontario groups come out to send a message to John Wilkinson, followed by a canvas for his PC opponent Randy Pettapiece was a real treat. We had a great turn out in Stratford, turn out was much closer t0 300, not the 150 estimated by media. We’ve seen chronic under-reporting of crowd sizes, but based on the number of signs that we went through and signatures on petitions it is clear what it was.
CanWEA and OSEA sent their funded ‘Friends of Wind’ supporters – all four of them – hundreds of kilometres from Kincardine to try to stir it up, but once again it didn’t work. It’s a sad statement when the industry has to pay people to support their position, and even then can only find someone who also has a lease with a wind developer to do it.
We covered a lot of ground today in Stratford during the canvas, and it was a pleasure to meet and speak to so many people last night in the parking lot at Wilkinson’s office as we unveiled a ‘final eviction notice’ for him. The coward chose not to come, but did have his paid staff lurking from the otherside of the parking lot.
His bizarre and shameful press conference at the Stratford Hospital earlier in the day failed to turn the media message and further re-enforced how unqualified and unable Wilkinson is of the tasks assigned to him as Minister of the Environment.
I look forward to coming back again soon for future canvasses and rallys. Wind Concerns Ontario will be working very hard with our local supporters ot unseat Wilkinson especially.
1 Comment »Orangeville Citizen: Wind turbine fight looking more like war
Orangeville Citizen: Wind turbine fight looking more like war
(Note: Mr. Keller states that WCO had held a symposium of its own. WCO did not organize the recent Health Symposium. It was sponsored by The Society for Wind Vigilance which is an international federation of physicians, engineers and other professionals promoting the development of authoritative wind turbine guidelines to protect the health and safety of communities. WCO is a separate organization.)
By WES KELLER Freelance Reporter
A second public information meeting on the proposed Whittington wind project is set for the Amaranth Township hall at Laurel next Tuesday, Jan. 25, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., apparently at the behest of township council, as the first meeting, on Oct. 12, 2010, was held outside the township.
This second meeting comes at a time when Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO) has posted numerous letters and news items on its website, indicated widespread opposition to the Green Energy Act generally and to wind turbines particularly.
It also comes at a time when the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) is about to release its recently completed Best Practises guidelines for member proponents, and follows an expert panel review of published, peer-reviewed studies of turbine effects on humans.
Whereas the panel found no physiological effects from the proximity to industrial wind farms, WCO had held a symposium of its own in which its chosen experts had found the opposite.
On the studies of effects, WCO members largely dismissed the panel’s findings on the bases that the panel has been funded by the Canadian and American wind associations, and that the panel had not interviewed persons claiming adverse effects from the turbines.
Best Practises – which advocates “consultation” with proposed host communities rather than simply presentations of information – is a document that WCO president John Laforet says should have come sooner, and CanWEA should take some control over its members.
Mr. Laforet is quoted in a news release as saying John Andrews, the president of IPC Energy, had referred to WCO as “a group of terrorists.”
“As a member of (CanWEA), John Andrews should be held to some standard by the industrial wind lobby, which represents his interests on his behalf.
“This violent rhetoric damages the image of the industry as a whole,” Mr. Laforet said.
Locally, the opposition to wind farms is specifically related to a proposed 6.9 megawatt, three-turbine installation north of 15 Sideroad and between the Mono-Amaranth townline and the Amaranth Second Line, but Dufferin County Council appears to have reached a consensus in opposition to the Green Energy Act and wind turbines.
At the council last Thursday, past warden Allen Taylor reported from a recent wardens’ meeting that provincial representatives had indicated at the meeting that there would be no backing down from Ontario’s stance on the Act.
Mr. Taylor quoted the official as holding the opinion that Ontario regulations are not only appropriate but are the most stringent in the world.
Melancthon Mayor Bill Hill pointed out that the setbacks mandated by the Act will be challenged in a Prince Edward County court.
As well, approval of a wind farm in Chatham- Kent goes before the Environmental Review Tribunal next month.
Amaranth Mayor Don MacIver said one house near the turbines vibrates so badly it has become uninhabitable.
“The reality is people are suffering,” he said. He did not specify the location of the house.
East Luther Grand Valley Mayor John Oosterhof, referring to the Assessment Review Board’s 50% reduction of Paul Thompson’s assessment because of the nearby transformers, said the wind farms make “no economic sense. The township loses. Everyone loses,” he said.
If the opposition were to win its overall case against turbines, one has to wonder what happens with respect to the provincial deal with Samsung of Korea.
That aside, some politicians are predicting the downfall of the Dalton McGuinty government over the imposition of the Green Energy Act.
No Comments »Welland Tribune: Meeting critical of wind turbines
Meeting critical of wind turbines
Local News
By ALLAN BENNER/Tribune Staff
WAINFLEET — If huge industrial wind turbines are really as safe as the companies building them say they are, John LaForet wonders why those same companies are so averse to the idea of independent scientific studies to support those claims.
The solution to the issue is pretty simple, said LaForet, who is president of provincial lobby group Wind Concerns Ontario. He said if the wind generation industry “doesn’t want to believe what we’re saying, let’s agree to disagree and have an independent third-party study” to prove once and for all whether the 400-foot-tall wind turbines popping up across Ontario have adverse effects on health.
His group asked wind industry representatives if they would agree to such a study.
“They refused. Independent science, apparently, is a problem,” he said.
“Just do the science, prove us wrong.”
LaForet said his group is asking for a moratorium on further wind turbine installations until that research is done.
LaForet was in Wainfleet on Saturday morning to discuss plans by various companies to build industrial wind turbines in the township, including two on Station Rd., three more on Brawn Rd. and several others throughout the community.
LaForet said his group is asking for a moratorium on further wind turbine installations until that research is done.
LaForet was in Wainfleet on Saturday morning to discuss plans by various companies to build industrial wind turbines in the township, including two on Station Rd., three more on Brawn Rd. and several others throughout the community.
Close to 200 people made their way through a snowstorm to spend about three hours discussing concerns during a meeting organized by Mike and Tara Pitt, owners of Skydive Burnaby.
Cam Pritchard and Neil Switzer from the West Lincoln Wind Action Group, an organization fighting plans to install industrial wind turbines in that Niagara community, were also at the meeting, along with members of Wainfleet Township council, Welland MPP Peter Kormos and the riding’s member of Parliament, Malcolm Allen.
Two wind turbines are proposed for Station Rd. by Wainfleet Wind Energy Inc., a partnership between IPC Energy Inc. and Loeffen Farms Ltd., a few kilo-metres west of Skydive Burnaby.
The Pitts said if those two wind turbines are built, it will mean the end of their business and a drop zone for parachuting that has been in use for more than 50 years. Tara Pitt said the skydivers that use their facility usually jump from planes on the far side of Station Rd., and the wind blows them back to Skydive Burnaby as they descend.
If the wind turbines are built, those Skydive Burnaby jumpers would be expected to descend over a 122-metre-tall wind turbine, rotating at speeds up to 200 km/h, and that “is of grave concern” to Tara Pitt.
“Not only are (the skydivers) our customers, but they’re tourists who come here and they’re our friends.”
She said she finds it “appalling” that the company representatives said they’ve listened to concerns raised by the business, “and we feel you are a non-issue.”
“As a community, I think we need to come together and support one another to figure this out,” she said. “There has to be a solution that we can all live with.”
Meanwhile, LaForet said the provincial Green Energy Act has taken away the abilities of municipalities to control where the wind turbines will be located, and that is having a devastating impact on residents as well as businesses across Ontario, such as Skydive Burnaby.
In addition to IPC, St. Catharines-based Rankin Construction has also applied for permission to build wind farms in Wainfleet over the past few years.
Jordan Beekhuis from Rankin attended the meeting in the hope of discussing the issue from the developer’s perspective. He said he visited Spain to talk with people about the wind turbines that were added in their communities.
He said people in Spain had no complaints, adding that they told him they suffered no ill-health as a result of the structures.
“Obviously, I disagree with a lot of the conclusions that (Wind Concerns Ontario) have come to. I think renewable energy is important from an environmental perspective,” he said.
Beekhuis was concerned that no one from the wind-energy industry was invited to speak at the meeting.
“I’m a little distressed that it’s as one-sided as it is at this meeting,” he said.
LaForet told him the meeting was being held to allow residents to discuss their concerns about industrial wind turbines.
“The reason we have to hold these on the weekends is to counter the spin of your industry’s lobby. Even if your company is an honorable wind developer, you’re in a very messy industry. I don’t think this is going to be the right venue for you … ” LaForet said before the rest of his comments were drowned out by applause.
LaForet read an e-mail sent to him from IPC president John Andrews in response to information posted on the Wind Concerns Ontario website.
“The e-mail reads, ‘I’m tired of your organization misleading the public with propaganda that has no relation to reality. This latest drivel about $4,000 a year electricity bills is just one more demonstration of the real agenda of your organization. If you really think that the government is lying about the benefits of the Green Energy Act, do you think telling another lie is the best way to deal with this? Unfortunately, reading your presentation is 10 minutes of my life I will never get back. However, it just confirms that you are an uneducated bunch of self-indulgent bullies.”
LaForet read a second e-mail Andrews sent to the Pitts when he learned about their plans for the meeting Saturday.
“If we can resolve this issue and cancel this meeting then it should be possible to mend the relationship between the Loeffens and Mr. Pitt. If the meeting is to go ahead, however, then we can only advise the Loeffens to continue with this project as planned,” LaForet read.
“In other words, if the community is brought in … if local democracy is attempted, local democracy is off the table,” LaForet said.
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