1-866-663-8477
This page was created to help if you are experiencing disturbed living conditions and/or noise & health problems since the start up of wind turbines near your home. It is some sound information on what to do and who to talk to:
It is important to start a daily diary. We cannot emphasize this enough. While it may sound like a tedious chore, it will keep track of everything on a daily basis and is extremely helpful at recalling certain events or noticing a pattern to your observations. It can be crude notes, but the more detail the better. Make note of the weather, the time of day, the wind speed (low, moderate etc.) the atmosphere (foggy, snowing, sunny etc.) the blade direction. Note any physical responses, or any health issues. Any changes in behavior of your children, pets, livestock. All of these are very important, as well as recording the disturbances in the home (noise, vibration etc.)
When you are ready to lodge a complaint: Start by drafting a letter or email, clearly outlining the issues you are having and once completed, have the following phrase: “Please register this as a formal complaint” at the top of the letter. Simply state your experience as it is and you do not need to use anyone else’s observations to support yours, besides those who reside in your home. It must be your own personal experience. If you have multiple people in your household with complaints, detail them for each person.The complaint should be sent to:
- The Ministry of the Environment 1-866-MOE-TIPS (1-866-663-8477)
- The Wind Energy Company
- Your MPP,
- Your Township Office
If you are having health problems related to the turbines, you should report it to the Public Health Unit in your community. Send copies of your correspondence to all involved. Also add that you would like a reply from each of them that they have received your letter.
Keep a copy of all of your correspondence and if you should have any face to face meetings or phone calls, make sure you write down the pertinent points in your journal so you don’t forget what was said.
If you are having severe problems that need immediate attention call the Environmental Spills Reporting phone number 1-800-268-6060. Although the title does not sound appropriate, it is correct to use it and the call will go into the Ministry of the Environment reporting office to be dealt with.
IPC Energy has a proposed Wind Turbine location that did not take into consideration to our concerns. We (Skydive Burnaby) put a comment sheet in to IPC after their public infomation meeting.(Aug 2010) IPC called(Dec 6 2010) us and told us where the loctions are and we are not a certifed airport so we are with in the set back limitations for you. How ever we are a parachute center and they plan to put the two turbines up directly up wind of us, creating safety hazzards to our parachutists, and closer to our business.(est 1961) Not to mention the health affects and property value loss.
Welcome, Mike to the world of dealing with IPC/your local MoE/your local Health Unit.
The residents of the Clear Creek/Cultus/Frogmore IWT ZONE have been doing just that for ~ 2 years now, ever since 2008 when the 18 Vestas 1.65 MW IWT”s were erected all jammed in within a 3 km radius of the ~ 140 houses and the ~ 70 petitioners who signed the petition created by one of the residents saying they WERE affected by the IWT’s in one way or another.
While the instructions above are the idealized version of what we SHOULD be doing, many residents took other measures like selling their houses and moving far, far away, others abandoning their houses and renting other accomodations, some moving back with family or friends who have homes > 5 km away.
Because IPC/MoE/Health Unit wrapped themselves in a cloak of g-r-e-e-n, nothing came of all the diligent record keeping and some took the activity to be a form of insanity; i.e “doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results”.
But the mills of the gods grind slowly but inexoribly and we are just grist for them.
I,m confused about how wind power is more harmful than electricity. After reading numerous articles on both sides of the fence, it seems that wind is cheaper and more efficient in the long run. How do you propose to make people conserve? I think that “educating” consumers is like spitting into the wind. Thank-you,
Hi Paul,
Wind isn’t cheaper. It’s far more expensive. It can only be viable with huge government subsidies. And it’s not more efficient. If the wind turning the turbines suddenly stops, the flow of electricity stops immediately. To keep the electrical supply constantly available across the grid, coal, gas and nuclear facilities need to be kept running as back-up, or houses, businesses and industries will have brown-outs, or power losses. So we’re still paying to have the back-ups running, and they’re much cheaper to run. Wind power is first into the grid at somewhere around 80 cents per Kw hour, but the conventional sources only cost under 10 cents per Kw hour. It may help for you to read from this web site. See http://www.aweo.org/Schleede.html Copy and paste into your browser window. It explains why the wind companies are so eager to get turbines up and running.
Has anyone found the 1 800 268 6060 MOE SPILLS number out of service lately? I have tried to call and get the out of service message.
David Libby
Try 1-866-663-8477?
Neither of the 2 numbers work, same message, temporarily out of service. Maybe they want to be able to say there have been no complaints before the election, so they just turn off their phones. They aren’t much use anyway. But I need to establish a long-term record with them.
But the spills hotline is used for much more than just wind turbine complaints. Major chemical companies must call that number immediately if something serious happens. What a screwed up government we have.
Sir/madam …. I’m Dutch born, came to live in Canada in 1955 as a young boy …. The Dutch/Danes / French/ Greek etc…. Built working windmills back when and I’m positive no environmental impact studies were done … I realize I’m taking a free stab at a ludicrous somewhat comparrison !!!
My point is those windmills were working mills …. And worked …
Now we are installing big giant turbines … And only while the wind is blowing do they serve any purpose at all ONLY If the electricity produced is needed … Wind is a very fickle way of creating energy… If you create no way to store it!!! And hence that’s my beef;
What good are a ton of windmills if they cannot store the energy they create?? A total waste of monies…. And a blight on the country side …. Windmills are a hit and miss, build enough and you might get a lucky hit of wind at the right place and time … What a total waste of time invested !!!