Posts Tagged ‘Toronto Hydro Anemometer’
Audio and Transcript: John Laforet Speaks Out Urging Scarborough Councillors to Focus on the Real Issue and Stop Toronto Hydro
I have to say this meeting was bizarre. Turns out Paul Ainslie’s motion had absolutely nothing to do with wind turbines and any talk about wind turbines or Toronto Hydro would have one ruled out of order. This is after Ainslie spent hundreds of taxpayer dollars sending out flyers telling everyone how this deeply flawed motion did and would address Toronto Hydro. It was a pathetic display watching this all play and and him failing to defend our community. But we did our best, and rallied on. The motion passed, but is meaningless because it has been ruled to have nothing to do with anything. Residents want to stop Toronto Hydro, unfortunately the most recent vote Council took relating to Toronto Hydro’s project was in December 2009 and Paul Ainslie voted for offshore wind turbines and further research into it’s feasibility then. Below is the audio and transcript of my speech to Scarborough Community Council.
My name is John Laforet, I am the president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a group that represents forty two community based organizations in twenty seven counties in the Province. We’ve worked with local municipalities on primarily on land industrialization concerns. I think that (industrialization) is the word we’re using for the proxy debate. I know a lot about this. There are real concerns here. A small forest was cut down to advertise this motion as something that would have an impact on a particular proposal that a city owned agency is proposing in the lake. We all know that is why we’re here.
What I think frustrates me most about taking all of this time off work to come and speak about motions is they are all focusing on the Province and the Federal government, but the City owns the particular agency that currently proposing industrializing the lake. There is no two ways about that. The City currently holds a lease through a City owned agency for fifty square kilometers of lake bed. If Provincial Crown land is going to be industrialized off the Scarborough Bluffs, it will be done by the City. The City owns the project. The City owns the developer.
And even my own City Councillor in Ward 43, voted for industrialization targets, if we’re not allowed to say renewable energy, that require offshore wind to be installed. December 2009 it was called ‘The Power to Live Green’. That would have been a great debate to have residents at because that is one where we could have had an impact.
Unfortunately we’re here today discussing this, and I don’t see here the kind of wording that it’s going to take to impact the current proposal. This is a City of Toronto issue and anyone who is going to try to say that it’s the Province is mistaken. When you own the project, when you’ve endorsed the project at Council, it is a municipal issue and has to be treated as such.
Residents are furious.
I have never seen such a groundswell of opposition, and this is province wide. And it’s because of these projects and how communities are treated. The City of Toronto has been perusing offshore industrialization since 2003, where were you? The city approved funding for study of offshore industrialization in 2006. Where were you? In 2008 we found out about it by reading the newspaper.
Anyone who sits on the Toronto Atmospheric Fund voted to fund the research. Council voted to fund the research. We can blame the province all we want, but the Green Energy Act came five years after you guys started planning this thing. Residents want this solved. And you know we can run around with motions like this, you know if it passes, excellent, but we’ve already seen a ruling saying this has nothing to do with industrial wind power, so it’s completely meaningless as far as Toronto Hydro’s proposal goes and that to me is a deeply frustrating thing.
Thank you.
No Comments »Video: John Laforet Urging Toronto Council’s Executive Committee to Stop the Wind Turbines in Scarborough
Below is the video of my speech to the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee regarding Toronto Hydro’s offshore wind proposal. I urged members of the Executive Committee to take responsibility for their ownership of the project, to step in and stop Toronto Hydro. I do support a province wide moratorium, but this Council has the power to stop Toronto Hydro any day of the week, without any need for provincial permission.
I hope with the support of members of my community to return to City Council, on a full time basis this fall to stand up and fight to kill this proposal. It’s clear from what happened last week, we need someone to work educate Councillors, build consensus and develop wording that is workable for a majority.
Here are some links to media coverage that followed:
Scarborough Mirror: South Scarborough’s pleas to kill wind turbine plan for lake rejected by city
680 News: Councillors try to delay the building of wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs
Toronto Star: Wind farm opponents blocked again
Toronto Sun: Wind turbine plan blows in controversy
National Post: Windmills get support from executive committee, despite residents concerns
Daily Metro: Wind farm’s foes frustrated again
Globe and Mail: Scarborough Bluffs residents determined to fight wind turbine project
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Scarborough Mirror: .South Scarborough’s pleas to kill wind turbine plan for lake rejected by city
South Scarborough’s pleas to kill wind turbine plan for lake rejected by city. John Laforet speaks to members of Toronto’s executive committee during a meeting April 19, seeking to have the city stop plans by Toronto Hydro to possibly install wind turbines in Lake Ontario betweeen Ajax and the Leslie Street Spit. The executive committee rejected the motion which was made by Scarborough East Councillor Paul Ainslie and Scarborough Southwest Councillor Brian Ashton. Staff photo/DAVID NICKLE
DAVID NICKLE Apr 20, 2010 – 1:30 PM
South Scarborough residents made a plea to Toronto’s executive committee to stop Toronto Hydro from investigating putting a line of wind turbines in Lake Ontario. But the afternoon of deputations had the opposite effect, and the committee recommended that Toronto do everything it can to actually encourage electricity generation from wind in the city.
The project is in the early stages: Toronto Hydro is for now planning on testing the spot for wind levels, before deciding whether to go ahead with a plan that could see as many as 60, 140 metere high wind turbines off the shore of Lake Ontario between Ajax and the Leslie Street Spit.
The wind turbines would, if erected, help Toronto Hydro generate more power from non-polluting processes.
About 30 residents and anti-wind activists came to the meeting chaired by Mayor David Miller in support of a motion by two local councillors – Scarborough East Councillor Paul Ainslie and Scarborough Southwest Councillor Brian Ashton – that asked for a moratorium on wind turbine construction.
Ainslie pointed out that the numerous deputations from the community all opposed the plan.
“I don’t think there was one resident that came here that was in agreement with the projects,” he said. “We’ve had written submissions from all the associations of why they don’t support this project and why they would prefer a moratorium in place.”
Ashton pointed out that as well as being a councillor for the area, he also responded to the idea as a resident.
“When I first heard about this proposal my first response was ‘oh my God, they’re going to put 140-metre tall wind turbines across the Scarborough waterfront,’” said Ashton.
“Some people say view is not important. We all know it is important – in our planning issues, view is key. I am confident you can achieve your green targets without this project destroying the Scarborough waterfront.”
Residents and opponents said they believed the wind turbines would have health and environmental impacts and Toronto Hydro shouldn’t proceed.
Harry Spindel, vice president of the Guildwood Community Assocation, said his community has been unfairly characterized as NIMBY in opposing the wind turbines.
“Guildwood is a community very supportive of responsible green energy,” he said. “We feel fortunate to live in a beautiful place and try to take good care of our environmentâ?¦ We have done our research and we’re facing a proposal from Toronto Hydro that may destroy the lakefront environment, and our health.”
John Laforet, president of the anti-windmill group Wind Concerns Ontario, enumerated some of those possible problems.
“This is not your grandfather’s windmill – these are industrial wind turbines,” he said. “They weigh as much as six subway cars, they’re as tall as the Royal York Hotel. They generate a lot of infrasound and we have no studies of the effects on the water of infrasound travelling. They’ll be taller than the bluffs, and we’ll be the only community that has the blades pointing at us.”
Residents who spoke said they were worried that the noise would impact their own health, and also that the blades would kill birds flying through them.
But the committee was not supportive.
Miller, who had to leave before the vote, said he supported the wind turbines.
“The Scarborough Bluffs citizens have some legitimate concerns about the view,” he said.
“But all that is happening at the moment is a two-year study to determine if there is enough wind. And it’s quite clear that there aren’t negative health impacts from wind turbines. I live three kilometres away from one so I’m glad of that. Issues about fish habitats and the view of the bluffs are legitimateâ?¦ I would rather say on my own behalf to the residents of Scarborough that I think Toronto Hydro should do the wind study. Let’s determine how much wind is there.”
Glenn De Baeremaeker, a councillor for Scarborough Centre, moved the motion that saw the committee simply supporting and encouraging wind power.
“The conclusions the community have drawn are simply wrong,” he said. “I’ve listened very carefully to some of the people from Guildwood Village – the fears people have for the their health are simply wrong. If you listen to the Chief Officer of Health in Ontario there are no health impacts. And the notion that this is harmful to birds? We’ve got a windmill in Toronto (at the CNE). It kills two birds a year. When you look at deforestation and mining and logging and household cats – they kill millions more birds than windmills.”
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