Inadequacy of Noise Regulations 

Adverse Health Effects of Wind Turbines 

Ontario Regulations 359/09 Green Energy Act

One Page Summary – Ontario Wind Regulations

List of Wind Projects in Ontario 

Health Survey  WindVOiCe 

Victims  Call 1-800-268-6060 (24 hr MOE Hotline) to report excessive noise

Contact Us:  windconcerns@gmail.com

Toronto, October 19, 2009 – “The Green Energy Act, 2009 and its regulations clearly do not appear to meet the requirements of law in the province of Ontario,” said lawyer Eric Gillespie today in a news conference at Queen’s Park. On behalf of his client Ian Hanna, Gillespie explained that a court application was filed earlier today for judicial review of the Green Energy Act, 2009 based on the Precautionary Principle as it applies to industrial wind turbine installations.

Tevy Pilc, Toronto Observer

When Toronto Hydro announced on Oct. 23 it had approved building a wind research platform on Lake Ontario, it was supposed to be a vital step toward the development of sustainable energy in the province.

But since then, opposition and uncertainty have left these accomplishments up in the air. The gang-up on Deputy Premier George Smitherman by Ontario cabinet ministers in a meeting last Wednesday prevented a bid by Samsung to build wind turbines in Ontario.  This has not only disrupted building progress, which was slated to begin last week a few kilometres off the Scarborough Bluffs, but it has also exposed the lack of legitimate planning in the entire project.

There’s no Such Thing as an Indispensible Man
Jim Coyle, The Hamilton Spectator

But Smitherman is now all but out the door. And the truth is there will be few tears. As one Liberal said, “take away the gay and he’s a centre-right guy who likes to throw his weight around.”

For too long, Smitherman set an unfortunate example for more junior ministers of knee-jerk partisanship, robo-rhetoric over reflection, the bloviated shouting down of any and all critics.

For too long, too much power had been centred in the hands of one man, while talented MPPs twiddled their thumbs and the face of the McGuinty government grew more tired and cynical by the day.

Smitherman Quits Ontario Cabinet
CTV Toronto

Some analysts believe that Smitherman’s announcement was hastened by a recent dust-up at Queen’s Park, in which Smitherman was confronted about his dealings with the Samsung Group.

Smitherman had been courting the South Korean industrial giant for a deal to build a multi-billion dollar wind turbine facility in the province.

However, McGuinty stalled the agreement amid concern that too much provincial cash would be used to subsidize the deal.

During one caucus meeting, Smitherman was reportedly attacked by his colleagues about the deal’s specifics.

Smitherman was largely responsible for pushing through the wind industry lobby bill known as the GEA. He was also the Minister responsible for eHealth during the lion's share of the scandal. And let us not forget the OLG boondoggle.

How can we give you straight answers when we have no idea what we're doing?

The Ontario government needs to start giving us some straight answers on ‘green’ energy

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, TORONTO SUN

Normally, I don’t write about problems I encounter in getting information from government because I feel it’s too “inside baseball” for readers.

I’m making an exception because I think this incident illustrates the problems besieged opponents of industrial wind turbines living in communities across Ontario are encountering in getting straight answers from their own government.

This, as Premier Dalton McGuinty appears hell-bent on erecting these giant steel structures, up to 40-storeys high, as fast as he can.

The last time McGuinty was this juiced we got … eHealth.

Now he’s curtailing planning, environmental and other safeguards via his Green Energy Act.

The environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (LOW) warns this law, combined with proposed ministry of natural resources policies on approving wind developments offshore and on Crown lands, restricts public input, empowers the government and private developers to change projects after the approval process is completed and risks turning government bureaucrats into allies of the wind industry at the expense of the public.

“If the provincial government prioritizes private interests over public ones, its independence, accountability and ability to protect the people of Ontario and the natural environment will be compromised” LOW warns.

My inquiries related to possible negative impacts of turbines on health, but there are other concerns.

For example the wind industry, which produces only intermittent power, isn’t viable without huge subsidies paid by all electricity consumers. What happens when they end?

And as with any power project, there are many environmental concerns.

My problems began while researching a column on a resolution by Tory MPP Bill Murdoch, up for legislative debate on Thursday, Oct. 29, on behalf of his Owen Sound-area constituents concerned about wind turbines.

The resolution — not binding on the government had it passed, which it didn’t — called for a moratorium on turbines until Dr. Arlene King, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, declares them safe.

Aware King was in the thick of the H1N1 controversy, I phoned her office to find out if she had expressed any previous position on this issue. A health ministry spokesman told me she shared the government’s view, following a review of the relevant literature, that a moratorium wasn’t necessary.

I reported that in my column of Tuesday, Oct. 27.

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

Coincidentally, King appeared before a legislative committee that day and was asked by Tory MPP Christine Elliott (we hadn’t spoken) whether she had any views regarding health and wind turbines.

She replied: “Yes. In fact, we have been having ongoing discussions with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection. I actually met with them earlier today about this issue. What we’ll be doing, when time permits … is having a thorough discussion with all of the medical officers of health in this province about the existing information we have on any possible health effects related to wind turbines and determining whether any additional research needs to be done. I understand there is a research chair being established here in the province to address these kinds of issues. That will in fact enable us to be able to do more research on this issue, but I would anticipate that shortly we will come forward … with a view on the issue of any possible health effects related to wind turbines and what further work needs to be done in this area.”

That doesn’t mean King supports a moratorium. But it sure wasn’t what I was told by the government a day earlier.

Regarding King’s reference to a research chair, I had asked another government spokesman the day before when that position — promised by McGuinty months ago — would be filled. I was told it was still in the works. The day after my column ran, the Council of Ontario Universities and the environment ministry announced a competitive search for the position. Right.

I’ve covered politics for 30 years. If I can’t get straight answers from the government on two simple questions, imagine what local citizens concerned about wind factories must be going through.

LORRIE.GOLDSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA

Notes to Help Understand the Concept

One often hears the term “setbacks” used for wind turbines, but the concept is not always well understood or explained.  These rough notes are intended to help readers understand the term “setbacks”.  They are a first draft, and will be revised as time permits.

There are safety setbacks, and there are noise setbacks.  They are not the same.

[Note:  The developer of this project is AIM Powergen whose CEO, Mike Crawley is also President of the Federal Liberal Party (Ontario)]

—Tracy Whitworth, Schoolteacher (11/5/09)

Clear Creek, Ontario.  Quiet, peaceful.  The sound of the lake; the overhead passing of migrating geese; tundra swans in the early spring.  Deer and wild turkeys.  Clear starry skies.  Silent except for the sounds of the crickets and bullfrogs.  The sight of a small country church across the way; the church I remember attending as a young girl with my Grandmother.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? That was my retreat of 11 years.  A place I called home, a place I loved, a place I miss. It was my heaven on earth.

Smitherman's Deal Blowing Apart

Toronto Star    Finally, our premier is listening to more level-headed people in the cabinet. He should have done this long ago. The “green energy” plans his energy and infrastructure minister have presented have set the government against the people it governs, threatened whole communities, make little or no economic or environmental sense, give the appearance that the government is in bed with the wind energy companies, create lucrative opportunities for expensive consultants, and in some cases endanger the public’s health. It is an ill-conceived plan that has removed people’s rights to legitimately object to the actions of their government.

Congratulations to the Liberal cabinet members who finally found the courage to speak up. One hopes this will mean that Dalton McGuinty will rethink his government’s entire approach to green energy and start exploring a range of viable options instead of dumping wind turbines on unwilling communities.

Patricia Spindel, Toronto

ADAM RADWANSKI  Globe and Mail

“…there’s some suggestion that the risk he’s prepared to take – preferential access to valuable transmission capacity, and maybe an investment return above the going rate, to a foreign company with limited experience in developing wind power – is motivated by his eagerness to show quick returns on alternative energy investment before he leaves office.”

George Smitherman is arguably the most powerful minister in Canada’s largest provincial government. He is also a heavyweight contender to become the next mayor of Canada’s largest city.

It’s not a bad position to be in. But it’s increasingly obvious that Mr. Smitherman – who, in addition to being Ontario’s Deputy Premier, serves as its Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Renewal – can’t remain in it for much longer.

Joanna Bull & Krystyn Tully, Waterkeeper.ca Weekly

Earlier this year, Ontario introduced new legislation known as the Green Energy Act. The Act is intended to support the development of the renewable energy industry in Ontario. In so doing, it changes the government approvals process for “green energy” projects by changing a variety of statutes, regulations, policies, and procedures.

TbNewsWatch

A group against a proposed Neebing wind farm is gaining momentum, and is now asking citizens to sign a petition to help fight the Horizon Energy Inc. plan.

More than 200 people packed the large meeting room at the Nor’Wester Resort Hotel Tuesday evening. The crowd was led to the meeting by the newly formed group called the Nor’Wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee.

“Our main goal was to try to learn what was happening and to get people to know what the ramifications of what is being proposed are,” said Irene Bond, member of the Escarpment Protection Committee. “We found very few people knew.”

Without a doubt our resistance, good research and informed members are helping us change peoples’ minds when it comes to industrial wind power and its flaws.

Being on the side of truth is always helpful – if at times painful.

However, while we have come a long way in pushing our government to marginally addressing our concerns about industrial wind projects, we have a very long way to go in getting them to agree to our demands.

Resolutions in detail below list

1. Township of Chatsworth **NEW**
2. City of Kawartha Lakes **NEW**
3. Township of East Garafaxa (Dufferin County)
4. Township of Warwick (Lambton County)
5. Municipality of Bluewater (Huron County)
6. City of Ottawa
7. Municipality of Huron East Resolution(Huron County) 
8. Township of Montague  (Lanark County)
9. Town of Blue Mountains  (Grey County)  

No one asked for this.  Nobody looked to have their life and homes exposed in the news, trying to explain how the most promising form of renewable energy was causing such destruction of their family. 

Sleep deprivation, headaches, migraines, heart palpitations, tinnitus, pressure in the ears, sores that won’t heal, dangerously high blood pressure and the list goes on.  This was not the plan that any of these quiet and unassuming rural families had in mind, but this is what they got.  And countless months later it continues. 

Nobody wanted to get sick; nobody wanted to be forced to leave their home, the place they raised their children, the place they intended to live out their retirement.  Not one of them asked for this. In almost all cases, these symptoms were non-existent before the start up of the wind farm.

Charles Sousa Liberal Mpp Mississauga talking with Protesters

‘Twas the day ‘fore democracy disappeared from our town;
Wind turbine salesmen were running around
With cheques in their pockets and greed in their eyes,
With hopes that the farmers would believe their slick lies.

After dumping big bucks into Liberal coffers,
Wind companies waited for huge payback offers
To put up the turbines on plains and on hills
And pass them off as efficient windmills.

They’ve done their own research; it works better that way,
Since government’s too stargazed to check what they say.
They’ve grabbed what they could while the gettin’ was good
And then “poof – disappeared!” from this neighbourhood.

Dalton’s throwing them money with his plan, oh so fine.
Just sell them your soul and sign on the line.
They’ve taken your land by the rights of refusal.
You gave up your say.  Yes, you’ve been bamboozled!

SUN MEDIA Sault Star

Local wind farm opponents vowed yesterday to keep pushing for independent studies into the effects wind turbines have on people.

Ontario legislators rejected Bruce- Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch’s call to halt industrial wind farm development until the province’s top doctor can assure the government turbines don’t harm people living nearby.

But defeating Murdoch’s resolution won’t stop growing opposition in rural Ontario, or mounting questions over how the big machines affect people’s health, wind turbine opponents said.

Toronto Star

The Ontario government’s multi-billion-dollar wind turbine deal with South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group is in jeopardy after a power play in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet, the Toronto Star has learned.

Sources say rival ministers opposed to Deputy Premier George Smitherman’s pet scheme, which they fear will mean “billions” of dollars in subsidies to Samsung, have convinced McGuinty to stall the landmark deal first reported in the Star on Sept. 27.

On October 29, 2009, the following MPPs voted to not protect your health because the Ontario Liberal Party has now stripped your rights to complain.   

Aggelonitis, Sophia	Colle, Mike	McNeely, Phil	Sergio, Mario
Albanese, Laura	Dhillon, Vic	Moridi, Reza	Smith, Monique
Arthurs, Wayne	Dickson, Joe	Pendergast, Leeanna	Sousa, Charles
Balkissoon, Bas	Hoskins, Eric	Phillips, Gerry	Van Bommel, Maria
Berardinetti, Lorenzo	Jaczek, Helena	Rinaldi, Lou	Wilkinson, John
Bisson, Gilles	Kwinter, Monte	Ruprecht, Tony	Zimmer, David
Brown, Michael A.	Mangat, Amrit	Sandals, Liz

Read Hansard Transcript Here

MPP Phil McNeely, Hell-bent on Vandalizing Rural Ontario

Posted By Bill Henry Sun Times

Local wind farm opponents vowed yesterday to keep pushing for independent studies into the effects wind turbines have on people.

Ontario legislators rejected Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch’s call to halt industrial wind farm development until the province’s top doctor can assure the government turbines don’t harm people living nearby.

Note:   During Tabun’s speech, several members of the gallery left in tears as they could not bear the revictimization from yet another mindless politician.

Peter Tabuns: You rural people are collatoral damage - Deal with it!

By Antonella Artuso, Sun Media Queen’s Park Bureau London Free Press

TORONTO — Tory MPP Bill Murdoch’s resolution calling for a moratorium on new wind turbines in Ontario pending confirmation that there are no adverse health effects on humans stalled in the legislature.

Murdoch said his resolution was drafted in response to concerns about wind power raised by hundreds of people in his riding and across the province.

“I’m disappointed and where the people go from here I don’t know,” Murdoch said yesterday. “The government of the day has decided that they don’t count by turning down my resolution.”

The Ontario government shouldn’t proceed with its ambitious wind energy plan until it gets the official green light from the chief medical officer of health, Murdoch said, adding people have a right to know if the wind turbines near their homes will make them sick.

You shut your mouth, NIMBY! Don't ruin this for me.

Posted By MICHAEL DEN TANDT  Calgary Sun

The eHealth boondoggle, on its own, is more than enough to split 416 in two years. Every citizen in every emergency waiting room with a sick child today knows that a billion health-care dollars were wasted on computer consultants over the past seven years. That’s all it will take.

If that weren’t enough, there’s wind power. It’s not an issue in the cities. But in rural Ontario, opposition to industrial wind power has reached a slow boil that will not go away. It will only build. McGuinty-Smitherman’s strange insistence on driving these projects forward despite widespread, credible reports that living near a big wind turbine is bad for your health, will crush the Liberals absolutely in the country. Even if they eventually relent and call for more study, which they likely will, the damage will have been done.

Posted By Bruce Urquhart, OXFORD SENTINEL-REVIEW

Intended as an information meeting for township residents, the evening became a series of dire warnings on the alleged adverse health effects of industrial wind turbines.

The evening’s three speakers focused on the symptoms of Wind Turbine Syndrome, a medical catchall of signs that include excruciating headaches, tinnitus, nausea, sleep deprivation and similar debilitating complaints. With a growing number of health-care professionals, researchers and engineers convinced that industrial wind turbines contribute to these symptoms, speaker Carmen Krogh reiterated her position that more epidemiological studies need to be done before further wind-farm developments are approved.

Terence Corcoran  National Post

In the PR war over subsidies, the wind industry appears to be waging a dirty war.

When industries look for government subsidies for money-losing propositions, a common business model these days, one of the most important strategic elements is to make sure you have a well-oiled public relations machine to keep the facts from getting in the way. Voters don’t like to back money-losers, which means keeping them steadily misinformed or at least confused.

Download Royal Bank of Canada Analysis on Wind Power

Excerpts:
If, as some believe, wind replaces baseload then economics of wind should be compared to baseload, which makes wind very expensive. Typical average capacity factor for wind is ~20%-25%, while nominal cost is about $2,000/KW. Equalizing for capacity factors, wind actually costs ~$8,000/KW vs. ~$3,500/KW for super-critical coal and geothermal plants, ~$1,000/KW for CCGTs, and ~$5,000-$8,000/KW for nuclear.

We believe plans for sourcing 20%-30% of electricity from wind is foolish. The reasons why the Danes have 20% of their power source from wind are multiple, but one that sticks out is the fact that they are willing to live with interruptible power. [North] Americans, in general, aren’t: asking an [North] American to turn off their air conditioner in the middle of July or August isn’t going to win anyone votes.

Wind isn’t as clean as it’s portrayed by advocates. Part of the back-up power to wind has to be spinning reserves: power plants that burn fuel (typically natural gas), but are not generating electricity. Spinning reserves would typically account for some 25% of the make-up of the back-up power.

In our view, wind makes for good investments, in our view, but not so good for consumers and grid operators.

By Bill Henry Owen Sound Sun Times

Three months after the Ripley Wind Farm went online in December, 2007, Dave Colling’s phone started ringing.

Three of his neighbours were seeing doctors about recurring ear aches. They knew Colling, a former dairy farmer who lives within two kilometres of the turbines near the southern Bruce County community, had an interest in and could test for what he calls “electrical pollution.”

“It’s like living inside a microwave. It radiates,” Colling told more than 100 people Tuesday night in Keady.

He said stray voltage eventually forced four families from their homes. Two have not returned, and one family sold the farm and moved away.

“Somehow Navigator has a privileged, inside-information pipeline to the PMO and it doesn’t get much more privileged than that. It goes all the way to the top.”

OTTAWA — Opposition politicians accused officials in the Prime Minister’s Office of threatening the integrity of the independent Commissioner of Lobbying, in the wake of revelations that the watchdog was investigating a lobbyist firm with close connections to senior Ottawa Conservatives.

Posted By Rob Gowan, Owen Sound Sun Times

Ontario’s Medical Officer of Health Arlene King doesn’t see any scientific evidence that links wind turbines with adverse health effects.

When contacted yesterday, Ministry of Health and Long- Term Care spokesperson David Jensen said it is King’s position that there is no link between the noise turbines make and adverse health effects people claim to be experiencing, such as severe headaches and joint and muscle aches.

Email Dr. Arlene King Here

To quote Ontario Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arlene King, “with a review of existing scientific literature, a moratorium isn’t needed, suggesting Thursday’s debate is moot.”

The pain and suffering I have had to endure, I am still enduring, on account of these industrial wind turbines is now ‘moot’?  Not even worth arguing? 

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, Associate Editor,  Toronto Sun

It’s never pretty watching people’s rights getting trampled by a government caught up in the latest fad, but it’s happening across Ontario.

The victims are citizens living mainly in rural communities.

Their concerns about the possible adverse health effects of industrial wind turbines are being rolled over by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

We should all pay attention because our rights could be next.

By Don MacKinnon, President Power Workers’ Union

Since the beginning of 2009, the Ontario government’s “green machine” has been in high gear announcing more renewable electricity generation, conservation and a smart network while promising to create one of the “greenest” electricity systems in the world and provide Ontario’s economy with a competitive advantage.

Denmark is considered a world leader in renewables, yet Denmark’s Center for Public Policy recently reported another reminder that “green” labelled energy doesn’t always deliver what proponents would have you believe.  The Danish report presents some sobering findings worthy of Ontario’s consideration.

Toronto - Center of the Universe

By MICHAEL DEN TANDT  London Free Press

….The same provincial government has imposed the Green Energy Act.  Its primary consequence, large industrial wind farms, promises to change permanently the character of rural Ontario.  Objections are everywhere and growing — outside Toronto.  So far, nobody in the megacity cares.

Deputy Premier George Smitherman is convinced wind power puts him on the side of the angels.  That’s all that counts.

Has it occurred to any of the folks complaining about disproportionate stimulus spending in Tory ridings that these ridings tend to be badly underserved in most areas of infrastructure?  Not likely.

They don’t get out of the city enough to know.        Read entire article here.

So for the second time now, Toronto Hydro Energy Services has announced approval to proceed with their illegal application to install an anemometer off the Scarborough Bluffs. I found out about this second announcement when media began calling for comment. Read the entire article at John Laforet’s blog

Alas, it is true.  Although I’m sure the deceitful carpetbagging windies and their gullible cultish followers will jump up and down, turn beet red, scream “NIMBY” “NIMBY” NIMBY” at the top of their lungs and say it ain’t so — all of which, by the way, are typical bully boy tactics of distraction which those folks use on a regular basis.

Yup.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but turbine noise can, indeed, be faster than a speeding bullet.  Low frequency noise and vibration are steadfast companions to those 400 foot high throbbing turbines and plenty is being said about their detrimental effect on humans and wildlife on land.  (For a peek at the gruesome details, read the sad example of Kay Armstrong of Clear Creek, ON on the north shore of Lake Erie at windturbinesyndrome.com )

But are you aware of the more appalling effect in an aquatic freshwater environment like Lake Erie?  Would you believe that the low frequency noise/vibration effects can be even worse to God’s scaley-cum-slimey creatures (which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy)?

Ontario Out of Doors, Fall 2009 Issue

Fish and wildlife agencies want some questions answered before in-lake wind turbines become regular fixtures on Lake Erie.

 The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission’s Lake Erie Committee released a position paper earlier this year raising concerns about the electricity-generating units, which, though given the go-ahead in recent legislation, haven’t been built yet.

1838 vs. 2009 Now it costs millions...but the end result is the same.

 

By Brenda Kossowan   Red Deer Advocate

More names are being added to the list of people taking legal action to stop a wind farm from being built near their rural homes.

Earlier this year, farmers around Huxley and Trochu learned that FPLE Canadian Wind, an Ontario-based subsidiary of Nextera Energy Resources, is making plans for the Ghostpine Wind Farm in Kneehill County.

Krystyn Tully, Waterkeeper.ca Weekly
On September 24, 2009, the public comment period ended for one of Lake Ontario’s largest and newest wind development projects: SkyPower Corporation’s Proposed Byran Wind Project. The Byran Project would add up to forty-three wind turbines to Prince Edward County, one of the last rural areas on the north shore. In our comment, Waterkeeper recommended that a full, independent environmental assessment be conducted so that the potential environmental impacts of the project can be properly identified, and then prevented.

By Manuel Frondel, Nolan Ritter and Colin Vance   Financial Post

Although Germany’s promotion of renewable energies is commonly portrayed in the media as setting a “shining example in providing a harvest for the world” (The Guardian, 2007), we would instead regard the country’s experience as a cautionary tale of massively expensive environmental and energy policy that is devoid of economic and environmental benefits.

In a meeting between the Canadian Wind Energy Association and Wind Concerns Ontario, Robert Hornung, the President of CanWEA ignored pleas from our medical experts to call for an independent third party epidemiological study into the effects of poorly sited turbines on human health. In response to his repeated and totally lame answer ‘well we’re not seeing this in other jurisdictions (other jurisdictions have real regulations and recognize the precautionary principle in planning and also didn’t seek to dismantle democracy or environmental planning)’ my response was simple ‘your problem is in Ontario’. We each repeated ourselves two or three times on this point.   Read the entire article on John Laforet’s Blog

By Terence Corcoran, Financial Post

…At the Copenhagen climate conference in December, no group looks forward more fervently than big business to a global carbon control agreement filled with firm targets, big tax increases and massive subsidies for special interests all over the world….

…In Ontario, the list of corporations supporting and circling the province’s new Green Energy Act is an appalling demonstration of climatism run amok. From TransCanada to GE, from wind farm developers to solar panel makers, it’s a corporatist free for all.  All have joined forces with David Suzuki, Environmental Defence and other green groups in cahoots with government to install a regime that looks all to much like a giant swindle. Mr. Suzuki’s image, and his video support for their cause, is a fixture on the Ontario green energy web site….

Read entire article here: Financial Post

In conclusion I must add that as a physician with thirty years in practice and eight years of medical study before that, I feel very strongly that a moratorium needs to be placed on the construction of industrial wind turbines in this province until these issues are crystal clear and the health of Ontarians is safeguarded.   ~ Norah Connell, M.D.

Ian Hanna, a resident of Big Island, is taking the Ontario government to court over sections of the Green Energy Act as they apply to wind turbines. Photo: W. Brice McVicar The Intelligencer

The Canadian Press – National Breaking News

By: Sunny Freeman, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – A farmer on a small island in Prince Edward County, Ont., who said he fears the constant swooshing of wind turbines will harm his family’s health launched a legal challenge Monday against Ontario’s wind power plans.

Ian Hanna said his application for judicial review, being called the first of its kind, is his latest appeal to the government after petitions failed to stop plans for five turbines about 900 metres away from his property on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte.  The community of about 100 homes will be overwhelmed by the turbines, he charged.

“My parents taught us when we were growing up that we should stand up for what we thought is good and right and whether that’s for my family or for my neighbours, I intend to do that,” he said.

Eric Gillespie

Toronto Sun  By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN’S PARK BUREAU CHIEF

A Prince Edward County man is going to court over Ontario’s new setback rules for industrial wind farms.

Lawyer Eric Gillespie, acting on behalf of client Ian Hanna, a resident of Big Island, has launched the first legal challenge to the Ontario government’s Green Energy Act which requires wind turbines be located a minimum 550 metres from homes.

Gillespie said Hanna, who represents thousands of Ontarians, wants a judge to order a moratorium on the establishment of further wind turbine sites that are less than two km from a dwelling.

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — A farmer in Prince Edward County, Ont., is taking his fight against wind turbines and the Ontario government to court.

Ian Hanna says he fears plans for turbines just metres away from his small farm will have adverse health affects on his family.

He’s calling on the courts to strike down parts of Ontario’s Green Energy Act and wants an injunction against the approval of turbine projects until independent health studies have been completed.

Owen Sound Sun Times
The front-page story headlined “Turbines part of green plan” (Sun Times, Oct.10/09), is a perfect example of how our provincial government is misleading the public with regard to the issue of wind turbines.

Amy Tang, identified as the spokesperson for Energy Minister George Smitherman, is quoted as saying “We have to remember why we entered into renewable energy in the first place, which was our commitment to get off coal.”

Unfortunately she neglected to explain just how wind turbines get us off coal. I suspect her omission was deliberate, because in reality there is no practical way that wind turbines can replace coal fired thermal units.

By CONNIE WOODCOCK  Toronto Sun

There’s a farmer in Northumberland County, east of Oshawa, who wants to build a house for his daughter on his farm, but he can’t because he’s on the heavily protected Oak Ridges Moraine.

But it’s OK to lease his land to a company that will put up multiple wind turbines and turn his property into a wind farm. And they’ll pay him five figures a year to do it.

Terence Corcoran, Financial Post
Every now and then a province falls into the hands of blundering politicians so inept that their government ends up deserving of the title “Canada’s Worst Government.”   It’s a rare award. At any time somebody has to be the worst, but no award for routine bottom-of-the-barrel performance seems necessary.  Occasionally, however, the metric of incompetence is so large and conspicuous it demands special recognition.  The Liberal regime of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, now slipping into deep deficits that are likely to exceed $30-billion over two years and continue into the future, has hit the tipping point and triggered its candidacy as Canada’s Worst Government.