Gisele Winton Sarvis, The Enterprise Bulletin
The plan for wind turbines in Clearview has been suspended. In the David and Goliath battle between the small municipality of Clearview and the Government of Ontario and wpd Canada, subsidiary of an international wind energy company, the little guy won – for now.
The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) decision that the appeals were allowed was delivered by Dirk Vanderbent and Hugh Wilkins just after 6 p.m. Friday when the hearing was adjourned. The ERT ruled that the plans for turbines in proximity of Collingwood Regional Airport and the surrounding areas was proven to be a detriment both to human safety to planes using the airport and well and an environmental challenge to certain species, specifically the little brown bat.
“It’s a great win for the Clearview,” said Mayor Chris Vanderkruys. “It’s a great win for the County of Simcoe. It’s a great win for the Clearview Aviation Business Park around the Collingwood Airport,” Vanderkruys said. “I think this has strengthened our vision of the industrial project and it will be a boom for the economy of Simcoe County,” he added.
The County of Simcoe, the Town of Collingwood and the Township of Clearview appealed the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s (MOECC) approval of the wpd Canada Fairview Wind Project based on the threat to human safety with the turbines being placed in close proximity to the Collingwood Regional Airport.
Kevin and Gail Elwood and Preserve Clearview Inc. fought on the basis of threat to human safety with the turbines being place in close to their privately owned Stayner Aerodrome. Elwood, a commercial pilot and Clearview councillor has spend a large sum of money fighting this project. “I’m so proud to represent the community both as an appellant and as a councillor. I’ve received strong support from the community,” he said. Read article
“Clearview has spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” said Vanderkruys and Collingwood incurred costs of more than $100,000 by June, as reported by the Enterprise-Bulletin.”
These costs should not be on the shoulders of the courageous people who stood up and said “This is wrong!” They spent countless hours preparing their case, when it was obvious that the siting decisions being proposed were made by someone who lacked common sense.
This is similar to other parts of rural Ontario where siting decisions were foolishly made and landowners were allowed to sign leases that would obviously allow turbines to be built too close to people’s homes.
Even people from cities in Ontario who see these situations say, “This is wrong!” “Too many..too close!”
We now have so many people spending their precious time, day after day, trying to figure out how to get these turbines turned off. Their time has been/is volunteered. The money it has cost them to do this work has been out of their own pocket.
Has there ever been anything like this in Ontario? We’ve reached an ‘all time low’.
Erie County Report, PA, June 9, 2016
‘What Everybody Ought to Know About the Lake Erie Connector Power Cable’
“- Is the EPA playing dangerous games with our electric grid”
Article also mentions increased power costs.
Read at:
http://www.eriecountyreport.com/is-the-itc-lake-erie-connector-necessary
Barbara, the article you linked is very disturbing information and the comments confirm what a mess this will be to clean up, if anyone has the political will to take this on.
The average person blindly trusts that such decisions are made by experts who have examined the details and are intent on providing safe, reliable and affordable energy. Very few people can understand the energy supply issues and the trade deals. We’re so vulnerable! What actually is the agenda behind the decision makers? This is the question we need to be asking.
In the comments section, Tom Wasilewski asks,
“Will the plans be modified after approval so that these cables will serve the proposed industrial wind turbine development for the Ohio and Pennsylvania waters of Lake Erie? Seems like a good bet to me if I were a betting person. I wonder if our political leaders are still taking a vow of silence on all of this?”
As I understand, this project can be expanded to 2,000 MW if there is enough demand.
This is U.S. information:
NJSPOTLIGHT, July 11, 2016
“Environmentalists Challenge Grid Operator’s ‘New Reliability Regulation”
Scroll down to:
“…PJMs new rules represent a step backward in the effort to advance a cleaner, more affordable and reliable grid.”
Legal proceedings are now in progress and there is more information on this topic online.
Read at:
http://www.njspotlight.com/16/07/10/environmentalists-challenge-grid-operator-s-new-reliability-regulation
Correction:
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/07/10/environmentalists-challenge-grid-operator-s-new-reliability-regulation
From the U.S.
E&E Publishing ,LLC, June 22, 2016
“Enviros: Diablo Canyon’s closure a ‘template’ for other states”
Diablo Canyon is a California nuclear power plant.
Read at:
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060039199
Policy-note, Canada, Oct.7, 2009
‘Canada – U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue – worrisome signs’
See item No. 3:
” increasing opportunities for trade in clean electricity”
“set up research centres in at least two universities with the objective of promoting cross-border trade …”
http://www.policynote.ca/canada-us-clean-energy-dialogue-worrisome-signs
PJM
980 Member list includes a few Canadian members and some members that have Canadian IWT projects.
List Includes: OPG.
http://www.pjm.com/about-pjm/member-services/member-list.aspx
https://ourfiniteworld.com/2016/08/31/intermittent-renewables-cant-favorably-transform-grid-electricity/