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.”

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

My Reflection on the Motion and Outcome:

I questioned why Councillor Ainslie would move a motion to the Executive Committee where he doesn’t have a vote, and after watching his fellow Councillors flip his motion into one endorsing Toronto Hydro’s anemometer and off shore wind power, it was clear — he lacks basic political judgement.

You never move a motion you don’t have the votes for. This wasn’t even close. It got zero votes and resulted in a motion explictly supporting Toronto Hydro. The exact opposite of what the community wanted. It was even worse than nothing. Ainslie couldn’t even speak to the new motion, because he wasn’t a member of the committee he moved his motion to. It couldn’t have been more poorly planned.

Ainslie voted for Toronto Hydro’s offshore wind testing (the Anemometer) and wind turbine proposal in December 2009 – as did every other member of the committee his doomed motion was moved to. Again – the judgement of his apporach needs to be questioned.

It isn’t lost on me that he’s had a change of heart since I’ve filed to run against him and literally took the exact wording of a motion that a Wind Concerns group passed at their Council in March.

The City owns this project though and if we had a competent Councillor they could stop this project at the Council level, not fail in an attempt to go to the Province with a request that wouldn’t even impact Toronto Hydro.

Based on Ainslie’s motion, residents were trying to get Council to ask the Province for a moratorium the Minister had already refused to accept, even if the motion passed. It was symbolic at best, which makes no sense because this Council  can act to stop Toronto Hydro.

The motion should have been calling on Toronto Council to stop Toronto Hydro and prevent them from exploring offshore wind projects off the Scarborough Bluffs in the future or anything else related to the fact that the City of Toronto, not the Province of Ontario owns and controls what Toronto Hydro does.

That being said, as President of Wind Concerns Ontario, I did speak in favour of the motion as I was supportive of the identical motion that Paul Ainslie literally copied from Clearview Ontario where it passed unanimously. I do believe a health study is important based on the negative impacts we know of so far.

Guildwood residents need the City of Toronto to stop the City of Toronto owned Toronto Hydro and unfortunately our Councillor’s voting record has been entirely supportive of this project at the municipal level. It is clear he can’t influence even a single vote to our side and it’s time to let someone else try.

TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE

April 20, 2010.

Opponents of a proposed wind farm off the Scarborough Bluffs huffed and puffed at city councillors yesterday but failed to get even a symbolic call for a halt to the politically-charged project.

The executive committee of council heard more than three hours of deputations, mostly from Guildwood residents vehemently opposed to a Toronto Hydro proposal to install about 60 turbines in an offshore ribbon from roughly the Leslie Street Spit east to Ajax.

One after another, they beseeched the 12-member committee to pass along to full council a motion by Scarborough Councillors Paul Ainslie and Brian Ashton to ask the Ontario government for a moratorium on wind-power development in Ontario.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid has said such a motion would have no impact on the province’s drive to boost green energy production.

But the wind farm opponents, thwarted so far at every turn, gave it everything they had.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario and a challenger in the city election for Ainslie’s council seat in Ward 43, Scarborough East, said that nowhere in the world are there so many turbines so close (two to three kilometres offshore) to a populated shoreline.

Nobody really knows the turbines’ effect on human health, on fish habitat or on shore erosion, he said.

Neil Kumar, 680News staff and Global News

TORONTO, Ont. – There is growing concern among Scarborough residents over the possibility of dozens of wind turbines being built off the Scarborough Bluffs.

The province has approved a study of the wind turbines, but city councillors are trying to delay the process.

Some councillors and area residents feel the turbines carry too many possible risks such as health concerns, damage to water and property value.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, told 680News the debate at city hall on the issue of turbines was a disappointment. “It was council calling on the Provence to do something that the city of Toronto controls.  They own Toronto Hydro and they own the project. Residents are furious at the process and are really concerned about the negative environmental effects, the risks to human health and the risks to the environment that just come with a really bad planning process.”

According to Laforet, the turbines have been in the works for some time “The City of Toronto has been working on this since 2003.  It didn’t involve residents until 2008 when they put an add in the paper. So they were already on this for five years before they told a single citizen about it.”

Anthony Hains, CEO of Toronto Hydro said the Scarborough Bluffs is an idea location due to its proximity to the city and the water, while being a substantial distance from residents.

However, Laforet says, drinking water would definitely be effected by the turbines due to the disturbance that would occur to the lake beds.

Laforet added that it is not just health that is an issue but the substantial cost the turbines would come with. “The installation of the turbines would cost about a billion dollars and the biggest issue is that there isn’t enough wind there to pay it back so it wouldn’t be a money making endeavour.”

Mayor David Miller told Global News, Monday, that global studies have shown there are no health risks associated with turbines.

If the turbines are built at the Bluffs they could produce 500 megawatts of power, which would be enough energy to power most of the downtown core.

City council has rejected the request from residents to delay the process however they have confirmed that they will continue to find more ways of developing sources of green electricity.

Below is the text from the National Post:

Windmills get support from executive committee, despite residents concerns

Posted: April 19, 2010, 6:22 PM by Natalie Alcoba

A bid to ask the provincial government to halt any new wind farms failed to sway Toronto’s executive committee today, which instead pledged “to promote and nurture” off shore windmills.

Members of the executive listened to several hours of impassioned appeals both for and against wind turbines, which have raised the ire of several Scarborough Bluffs residents opposed to a project that could see dozens installed in Lake Ontario.

Toronto Hydro is studying whether there is enough wind to warrant placing turbines about two kilometres off shore.

Scarborough councillors Paul Ainslie and Brian Ashton asked the committee to urge the provincial government to place a moratorium on any new industrial wind turbine agreements “until a comprehensive, public, science-based study of the adverse health effects now being reported by Ontarians can be evaluated and their potential harmful effects fully understood.”

But some speakers said studies have drawn no conclusive connection between turbines and health issues.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario, insists no independent studies have been completed. “There’s a lot of concerns about wind turbines, questions yet to be answered,” said Councillor Ainslie. His motion was referred to another committee, which effectively kills it.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, one of the loudest advocates of green energy production on council, said the fears people have “are simply wrong.” He quoted Ontario Medical Officer of Health Dr. Arlene King, who said in October “there is no scientific evidence, to date, to demonstrate a causal association between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.” The executive directors of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Toronto Environmental Alliance also spoke in favour of windmills, citing the costly health risks of coal-fired plants to generate electricity.

“I’m not afraid of windmills,” said Mr. De Baeremaeker. “I’m afraid of the amount of carbon that we’re spewing into the air, because all of us just need to turn on the TV to find out what’s happening as a result of climate change.”

Text of Toronto Sun piece below:

Wind turbine plan blows in controversy

By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN’S PARK BUREAU

Wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs could kill birds, foul the water, wreck the waterfront and damage human health, a stream of concerned residents told city council’s executive committee Monday.

“There is nowhere in the world that you can build turbines so close to shore,” said John LaForet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario.

“There are real risks here to human health and there are real risks to the health of the lake,” added LaForet, a council candidate for Ward 43.

LaForet and other anti-wind proponents were speaking in support of a motion at executive committee calling for a moratorium on wind development across the province, put forward by Scarborough area councillors Paul Ainslie — the incumbent in Ward 43 — and Brian Ashton.

“A persistent and growing number of Ontarians have expressed serious and numerous concerns regarding the impacts of industrial wind turbines on their health, lifestyle, the operation of their businesses and on their property values,” the motion reads, in part.

But while the motion called for the city to press the province to slow down on such projects, it was clear the specific project sparking worries was Toronto Hydro’s plan to test wind speeds off the bluffs for the next two years. Members of the influential executive committee voted to refer the motion for more study, effectively killing it.

If wind speeds are sufficient, Hydro would like to build up to 60, 140-metre tall turbines about two kilometres offshore and generate power — a plan Ashton called a “hideous destruction of a beautiful pristine feature.”

Harry Spindel, vice-president of the Guildwood Community Association, called it a David and Goliath battle between residents and Hydro, with the province’s Green Energy Act effectively squelching local concerns.

“We may well destroy the lakefront environment and our health,” he said. “No matter how you look at it it’s a bad deal for Toronto, not just those who have to look at those industrial giants.”

But the litany of ill effects attributed to the construction of wind turbines was hotly disputed by scientists and environmental advocates who said clean, renewable wind power was the best answer to fighting climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The science does not show adverse health impacts,” said Dr. Gideon Forman, the executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Executive committee member Glenn De Baeremaeker, an ardent supporter of wind power, dismissed health concerns, saying: “The health fears are just that — fears. They don’t exist.”

Toronto Star: Wind farm opponents blocked again

Opponents of a proposed wind farm off the Scarborough Bluffs huffed and puffed at city councillors Monday but failed to get even a symbolic call for a halt to the politically charged project.

The executive committee of council heard more than three hours of deputations, mostly from Guildwood residents vehemently opposed to a Toronto Hydro proposal to install about 60 turbines in an offshore ribbon from roughly the Leslie Street Spit east to Ajax.

One after another, they beseeched the 12-member committee to pass along to full council a motion by Scarborough councillors Paul Ainslie and Brian Ashton to ask the Ontario government for a moratorium on wind-power development in Ontario.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid has said such a motion would have no impact on the province’s drive to boost green energy production. But the wind farm opponents, thwarted so far at every turn, gave it everything they had.

John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario and a challenger in the city election for Ainslie’s council seat in Ward 43, Scarborough East, said that nowhere in the world are there so many turbines so close (2 to 3 kilometres offshore) to a populated shoreline.

Nobody really knows the turbines’ effect on human health, on fish habitat or on shore erosion, he said.

“We need this council to act. You own this problem. You can stop Toronto Hydro,” which is owned by the city, he said.

Anthony Haines, Toronto Hydro’s chief executive, said the utility won’t decide whether to install the 140-metre-high turbines until it gets at least two years of data from a wind gauge and tries to address the residents’ concerns.

“You have our commitment that that process will be full and complete and open and transparent,” he said, noting Hydro has pledged to find 500 megawatts of renewable energy from sources including wind, solar and biomass.

“I think it is important, however, to understand that this (wind farm proposal) is a very important piece of achieving our target,” he said.

Another Scarborough councillor, Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre), made a successful motion to refer the matter to the Toronto Environmental Office, which is to report back to committee after Hydro has the results of its wind tests.

De Baeremaeker said he understands only the aesthetic argument against the turbines. “I think they’re grand. I think they’ll be a tourist attraction, and boats are going to weave in and out of them.”

We always said if we could push them into the winter months – we’d have more time. To the folks at Toronto Hydro – my heartfelt thanks to you for giving us more time to defeat you.

Toronto Hydro Energy Services employs some of the dimmest lights I’ve personally encountered at the ‘Director’ or ‘Vice President’ level. These foolish individuals who’ve flatly refused to do any sort of meaningful environmental assessment have failed to understand the conditions, and had them moving their construction barge all over the general area looking for a place they could install the device.

Guildwood residents are quick though and pushed back whenever it appeared not to be in the correct spot. We now have emails from Joyce McLean stating on two occasions the construction barge was at the right coordinates at which point it moved again, and she once again confirmed it was in the right spot, and then it moved again. Once again – something she says simply can’t be true.

Many of us had that ‘kick in the stomach’ feeling watching this barge try and figure out how to anchor something in the sand bar off the Bluffs, worried and wondering about the anemometer or possibility for turbines in the future. Seeing this play out, and being able to literally hear the voices, the songs on the radio, and the sound of a generator running from the barge have shown how the sound will travel over water – something that will only strengthen community resolve.

Toronto Hydro Energy Services is in for one hell of a fight. Residents will not back down until Toronto Hydro’s proposal is defeated and disgraced. Not a single turbine will be going off our shores, and those who want to keep pushing the idea have my sincere pledge that we, residents of the area will fight you and will never give up until this horrible idea is gone, and our lakes are protected from the untold environmental degradation involved in installing these things.

Toronto Hydro took a big step forward in their defeat by backing off on this proposal. Something they claimed would take a month took nearly two and ended in failure. Just like this whole proposal will soon enough.

Residents have a lot of work to do to convince our City Councillors who have been slow and ineffective, the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro Energy Services to stop this proposal.