The Citizen, 2013-04-25, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013. PAGE 9.
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Tree Limb Removal
Letters to the EditorPlanning, local spending lacking with wind turbines
THE EDITOR,
Recently Anne Marie Howard
wrote an excellent letter regarding
the recent turbine fire. It gently and
humorously pointed out the
inadequate level of protection given
to folks living amongst turbines by
developers. A project manager
driving around with his well-trained
nose hung out the window appears
to be the current gold standard.
Here’s a bulletin for Capital
Power. If you gathered up 10 bags of
pieces shed by that turbine, then
thousands of pounds actually ended
up as toxic smoke somewhere in
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
(ACW). There is a heck of a lot
more of that turbine missing now
than you can get in 10 garbage bags.
Perhaps someone’s nose should be
sent back to the factory for
recalibration.
With Capital/Samsung/Pattern
Energy pushing hard to erect 150
more turbines and a fire response
strategy that appears to be “let them
burn”, it’s no wonder they just
offered ACW council $50 million
over 20 years.
Who but folks in rural Ontario
these days would be expected to live
amongst hundreds of unattended
potential fire loads that have no on-
board means of extinguishment?
The urban rural divide on Ontario
grows ever wider and the stakes for
developers gets higher.
So why are we doing this again?
Oh yes…air quality and saving the
environment.
Recent reports released in the last
few weeks makes this whole
situation even more bizarre and I
would hope give pause to
environmentalists who to this point
have supported wind turbines and
the Green Energy Act as something
holy.
First ex-Sierra Club director
Donald Dewees just released a study
done in concert with University of
Toronto. He calculated possible
avoided health and environmental
costs with wind and solar in Ontario
and found we are paying far too
much for both. That means the
money being given to wind interests
(even ignoring the fact that in
Ontario most of the money heads out
of province) would be far better
spent elsewhere. For example,
conservation, efficiency, emissions
abatement or landscape integrity
strategies would give far greater
benefit.
That fact also overlooks the reality
that wind development in Ontario is
plastered around the Great Lakes,
the richest agricultural and natural
ecosystem areas we have in this
province. Isn’t the Green Energy Act
supposed to be about sustainability?
University of Guelph’s professor
Ross McKitrick released a study
recently as well. His specialty is
environmental economics. The
report highlighted the fact Ontario
actually has a clean electricity
supply based largely on nuclear and
hydro with a small amount of coal
that was largely irrelevant by the
time the Act was created.
Apparently the 2005 report that
the government used to justify the
Green Energy Act actually didn’t
recommend either wind or solar as
viable options. Instead the
government chose to spend 10 times
the amount of money on renewables,
as it would have cost to retrofit for
the same environmental benefit.
Again that ignores farm land and
environmental quality loss with
industrial wind.
Both authors noted the effects on
Ontario’s economy are also
negative. This stuff gets really scary.
Wind in Ontario is typically out of
sync with our demand. So we get
most in spring and fall and at night.
No amount of storage makes that
economically viable. McKitrick
found using Independent Electricity
System Operator (IESO) data that
80 per cent of wind output here
occurred at times when there is no
demand for it domestically. So it
gets exported at a loss to the tune of
about $200 million a year. Put
another way, Ontario’s system loses
about $24,000 every hour wind
turbines operate.
That’s why the IESO stated over a
year ago that unless they were given
control of when to accept wind, both
cost and emissions would rise in
Ontario. So in the future they will
now be able to shut down wind, but
ratepayers still have to pay an
undisclosed amount to developers
for “lost revenue”.
Both authors agreed that given the
already low grid emissions (1/4 of
Germany’s for example) and the
mismatch of production from wind,
you would have to build seven
megawatts worth of turbines to
replace one of conventional power.
Again, that ignores all the increased
transmission lines and infrastructure
as well as lost residential,
agricultural and habitat value.
Yesterday the Ontario legislature
unfortunately defeated Huron-Bruce
MPP Lisa Thompson’s bill that
would have returned a little bit of
sanity to the province. I understand
why the Liberals voted against it.
They have made too many
commitments to very big
corporations and rural Ontario votes
are now expendable for them. But
the NDP and so-called
environmentalists have got to get
their heads out of the sand. What’s
happening to this province now is
destructive socially,
environmentally, economically and
it’s to the point you have to be a
wind fanatic or nutter not to see that.
Sincerely.
Robert Budd, Goderich.
ANNOUNCEMENT
The Board of Directors of
North Huron Publishing
Company and Keith Roulston,
President and Publisher are
pleased to welcome Ron Drillen
as Associate Publisher and
Director of Sales.
Ron comes to us with an
extensive newspaper background
which started in Thunder Bay
Ontario and included stops in
Guelph, Oshawa, Kingston and
St. Thomas.
Ron, his wife Tricia and son
Robert are looking forward to
moving to Huron County and
meeting the many businesses
and customers of The Citizen.
“My philosophy in running a
newspaper is very simple” states
Ron. “A newspaper should be a
supporter of the community it
reaches. A newspaper chronicles
the everyday life of its readers.
We are there when you are born,
we are there if you do anything
of significance in the community
and we are there when you need
us the most. What is most
important is that someone
somewhere will clip out your
life events and keep them...
forever.”
Over the next few weeks
expect to see Ron out in the
community visiting all of the
local businesses. “The Citizen
has built up a great reputation
serving the communities it
covers,” Ron says, “and I look
forward to building on that
tradition.”
Ron Drillen
THE EDITOR,
I was disturbed by last week’s
Letter to the Editor. Those of us who
vote at elections democratically
elected our present government to
make decisions for us. If a person
chooses not to vote however, they
should not complain about the
outcome.
All of the noise and horror stories
we are hearing about turbines are the
same stories we heard when Ontario
Hydro were running transmission
lines from Douglas Point back in the
1970s. None of those horrors ever
materialized and neither will
these.
We have seen thousands of these
units in use all over North America
and in Europe. These would never
have been built if they are really
causing all the problems the
protestors are claiming.
If the noise is such a big deal, why
have there been thousands of homes
built close to Pearson Airport over
the years? This area continues to be
some of the highest priced real estate
in Canada.
Jack Nelemans
Writer
disturbed
by letter
Bang a drum
Shannon Thunderbird, a First Nations artist and educator, visited North Woods Elementary
School as part of its Earth Day celebration on Monday to educate children there on the
realities of First Nations life and beliefs. Thunderbird, top right, is shown here educating
children about drum usage. Clockwise from Thunderbird are students Seth Snyder, Brandon
Subject, Kyla Campbell, Jaime Newell, Julia Vander Meer, Samira Rechsteiner, Alaina
Poland, Nick McArter and Wes Kraemer. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued from page 1
agreement being signed.
“Council handled themselves
very well through this process,” he
said. “I think we kept our cool and
acted appropriately.”
After approving the bylaw,
Morris-Turnberry Council
approved a motion to change their
fire service polygons to represent
the fact that the Fire Department of
North Huron would be covering
areas previously handled by
Howick Township.
M-T Council
approves
changes