Posts Tagged ‘Personal Reflection’
London Free Press:Wind foes blow heat on Energy Minister
Live chat on lfpress.com draws hundreds
By Jonathan Sher
Last Updated: December 13, 2010 4:12pm
It was the one question many asked of Ontario Energy Minister Brad Duguid — and one he dodged for the better part of an hour.
During a live chat on lfpress.com, Duguid was asked again and again by readers if he’d be willing to live next to wind turbines of the sort he is pushing across the province.
The question was asked so often it was raised a few more times by the live chat moderator, city editor Greg Van Moorsel.
But while Duguid wrote much about the benefits of wind power — more than 600 words over the course of 11 responses — he wrote nothing of whether he personally would be willing to live next to a turbine.
That led to much frustration among some readers who accused Duguid of ignoring concerns and simply repeating the exact same phrases he uses whenever he defends wind power and Ontario’s Green Energy Act.
“(The minister) can’t speak without cue cards,” wrote Maureen Anderson, an organizer of an umbrella organization representing dozens of anti-wind groups across Ontario, Wind Concerns Ontario.
It was the head of Wind Concerns Ontario, John Laforet, who joined Duguid in a live chat in which readers could write questions and comments.
The event generated so many responses that only a fraction could be posted in the chat.
While most who posted were opposed to wind energy, the split was closer among those who watched the chat and replied to online questions about wind power.
What was bracingly clear was this: Those on both sides of the debate believe wind power will be a force in the next Ontario election in Oct. 2011, with 84% responding to an online question saying turbines would affect how they voted.
Here is a link to the transcript from today’s chat
2 Comments »Scarborough Mirror: Wind turbines and Kingston Road are issues for Ward 43 candidates
Monday, September 27th, 2010 – Michele Mclean
Candidates running for the Ward 43 seat seem to have a different spin when it comes to the proposed wind turbine project off the Scarborough Bluffs.
Paul Ainslie and John Laforet are against the installation of wind turbines in Lake Ontario; while Benjamin Mbaegbu, Bhaskar Sharma and Samuel Getachew support them. Mbaegbu, though, said the Scarborough Bluffs isn’t the proper location.“I am completely against them,” said Ainslie, the incumbent councillor. “I have always been completely against them from the first day they came out.”
A wind testing study is currently being done at the site. In June the Ministry of Environment announced that the province has decided on a five-kilometre setback for offshore wind farms. Since the lake bed off the Scarborough Bluffs drops off after four kilometres it likely means the proposed wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs won’t be viable.
”I would like a scientifically based health study done on the effects of wind turbines on local population, the human population, animal population,” Ainslie said.
“We don’t know the effects of putting concrete structures like this on the lake bed and how it affects fish spawning grounds. There’s also an issue of migratory birds. As a city councillor there’s a huge issue on overspending taxpayer dollars to build wind turbines on Lake Ontario. A lot of jurisdictions are looking at them as outdated technology now for saying you’re green and respecting the environment.”
Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, said he’s been fighting wind turbines for more than two years.
“There’s overwhelming opposition,” Laforet said. “There’s a lack of scientific protocol. It’s alarming. There’s known to be a real health impact and environmental impact. This city and this province are pretending there aren’t any issues and it’s not worth studying to prove or disprove.”
It’s also a financial issue, he added.
“It’s a billion dollars of our money on a project that will never see that return. How much debt do you want a City of Toronto agency to take on? It’s probably the worst way to generate electricity on a grand scale. Toronto Hydro is supposed to be providing our houses with reliable, affordable energy, not generating energy – that’s not their mandate.”
Mbaegbu said he supports the green use of generating electricity,
“Wind turbines are a very good project for the city, but not the location (off the Scarborough Bluffs),” he said. “It will create employment, but it’s a health hazard to the people around it.”
Sharma said he thinks the wind turbines would be good for Scarborough and the environment.
“Of course more detailed study must be done to look at its full usefulness. I know it’s a turn off for people who think it might be taking away from landscape, but I feel when we look at going back to nature and beauty and the environment it will be good for future generations and people at large,” he said.
Getachew said turbines will offer a great source of alternative energy.
“I support the wind turbines,” he said. “I’ve travelled to so many places, including Norway, Denmark, Africa, and I’ve seen what’s happening in Alberta and they do use them. We can’t depend on the same source to produce energy over and over again. I think they’re a great alternative.
“There hasn’t been any signs telling us they’re bad for the environment or someone’s health. The only thing people have is fear. We have to be conscious. There might be problems in the future, but as of now I don’t see any problems with them. I think they would be a great source of energy for us.”
Getachew said he also supports development on Kingston Road and infill developments that have popped up in the ward. “We need more developers,” he said.
“We need more business owners. We need more people creating jobs. There are issues. People have discussed them with me. I want different conversations to take place. It’s an issue that can be solved.”
Mbaegbu agreed that development in Ward 43 isn’t an issue, while Sharma said he will look into it.
However, Laforet said the infill on Kingston Road is squandering the opportunity to restore the area.
“My issue is that Ward 43 doesn’t suffer from a lack of housing,” he said.
“There’s many communities where folks can live (in the ward) and there’s very few places where people can work. The reason we have such high poverty in Ward 43 is because the job market is inaccessible based on poor infrastructure and even before the recession our employment rate was considerably higher than the rest of the city. I think Kingston Road and the used car lots and motels present excellent development opportunities for commercial endeavours. I would like to see Kingston Road become a localized job market and a place where people can get work and residents can get services. I think housing squanders that opportunity.”
Laforet said the current state of Kingston Road is a “patchwork of half-empty plazas, old gas stations and seedy motels. The city has a role to play in cleaning that up because it has a very negative impact on the community and we could have something we could be truly proud of and have a great urban feel to it.
“This is the gateway to Toronto from the east. There’s a very good reason to make it so Kingston Road is something people can be proud of and make their living and folks can stay.”
Ainslie said Kingston Road has been on an upswing.
“I can point to a number of different properties throughout that strip where the strip motels, car lots and gas stations have left,” he said.
“Kingston Road’s biggest problem is the economy needs to recover and the neighbourhood needs the economy to recover.”
He added there are six or seven low-rise condominium applications that are ready to go.
“Right now the property owners are sitting on the property because they don’t think they can sell the units so they’re waiting. Once the economy improves – three or four years down the road – you’re going to walk down Kingston Road and see a world of difference. Kingston Road is really going to be someplace for people to go.”
No Comments »Toronto Observer: Windmill Project Has Some Locals Spinning Mad
Below is an article originally published in the Toronto Observer that may be of interest to Guildwood and other waterfront residents. McLean, who is cronically wrong, is right that the government will utimately make this decision which makes it even more important that residents opposed to this project elect me to be thier voice so I can take our fight to City Hall and end Toronto Hydro’s misadventure off our shore.
Windmill project has some locals spinning mad
Sarina Adamo
Posted 08 April 2010
In five years, a wind farm may be spread across the waters off Scarborough — or not, if the opposition wins the debate to save the shoreline.
Despite the wishes of protesting Scarborough residents, an anemometer is currently under construction in Lake Ontario. A sign that Toronto Hydro is serious about continuing with the project, the anemometer collects data over two years to help determine if there’s enough wind.
More wind means the first offshore turbines in Canada are that much likelier to be built near the Scarborough Bluffs.
However, plans for the windmills are being delayed by Save Our Shorelines activists.
“It doesn’t make sense to build any industrial machinery where we get our drinking water,” says John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario and Ward 43 council candidate. “You have to draw the line and say that our health and our drinking water are too important.”
So many people opposed to the turbines, that he doesn’t see them being built by the time of the 2015 Pan Am Games, Laforet said.
The government must assess sediment movement before and after construction and how this may trigger environmental problems, Jovan Stefanovic , University of Toronto professor of geomorphology.
In the meantime, the project seems to be going ahead.
“You have an environmental assessment process so that everybody’s opinion can be aired, but really it’s the governments that decide whether they can proceed,” said Joyce McLean, Toronto Hydro director of environmental affairs.
It is impossible the turbines create enough noise pollution to cause health problems, McLean says, referring to the minimal noise heard from the onshore turbine at Exhibition Place.
“What we do know about onshore wind turbines is that when they’re turning you’re hearing the wind more than the actual sound of the machine,” McLean said.
Onshore wind turbines have an acceptable distance of 550 metres around them, she said. “You’re not going to hear them when they are two to four kilometers away.”
The location chosen for wind testing along the Scarborough Bluffs is in the middle of a 26-km province-approved stretch of land.
But finding locations to generate renewable energy is only one step in the energy consumption issue.
“Controlling how much we are using is a critical first step,” McLean said. “We’re looking at solar installations across the city and helping homeowners who wish to do that for their own means.”
