***VIDEOS*** — Dale Goldhawk Speaks out about CAW Turbine
Guest speaker, Dale Goldhawk, speaks out about the CAW wind turbine in Port Elgin
Dale Goldawk addresses the crowds after the Port Elgin protest parade on April 14, 2012
Archive for April 16th, 2012
Apr 16
Greg Schmalz « Goldhawk Fights Back
Dale Goldhawk (740 radio) discusses the CAW wind turbine located at their FEC facility in Port Elgin, with Greg Schmalz of S.T.O.P. on April 12, 2012
Click the link to listen: Greg Schmalz « Goldhawk Fights Back.
Lisa Thompson « Goldhawk Fights Back
Dale Goldhawk (740 radio) discusses the Port Elgin CAW wind turbine and wind turbines in general with MPP Lisa Thompson on Friday April 13, 2012.
Click the link to listen: Lisa Thompson « Goldhawk Fights Back.
No respect for taxpayers in the budget
Todd Smith, MPP Hastings-Prince Edward — The Intelligencer — April 16, 2012
In Ontario, right now, we’re looking at a budget that is bad for taxpayers, bad for business and bad for the province.
Like most things Dalton McGuinty has said since becoming premier, what was said about the budget to The Intelligencer on Friday bore little resemblance to the realities facing Ontario. Reality hit home in the Quinte region last week when we heard Norampac could be closing its doors and putting 130 people out of work.
We have a $15.2 billion dollar deficit in this province. By 2013, Ontario’s provincial debt will have doubled in the 10 years Dalton McGuinty has been in power. That means that it has taken Dalton McGuinty 10 years to accumulate as much debt as 22 premiers accumulated in the 136 years before he took office.
By the end of the current mandate of the government, we’ll still be on the hook for about $10 billion of the current budget deficit. ….
Last week, the Fraser Institute, using numbers provided by Statistics Canada, showed that the FIT energy strategy will drive up household energy rates costing the average household up to $631 more every year.
That loss of household income, according to Statistics Canada data, will cost the Ontario economy $285 million dollars. Put into job terms, that’s about 2,200 full-time jobs lost in the province, or 17 Norampacs.
When you factor in the rising cost of electricity on small businesses and manufacturers, the FIT program will cost the Ontario economy an additional $625 million. Put into job terms, that’s over 6,600 full-time jobs lost in the province, or 51 Norampacs.
This budget continues with a policy that punches a billion dollar hole in the economy. This budget continues with a policy that, StatsCan estimates, will directly put almost 9,000 Ontarians out of work.
Bulgaria — New rules stop green energy boom
April 16, 2012
Investors in renewable energy will have to reconsider their business plans after the amendments to the Law on Energy from Renewable Sources entered into force, changing drastically the rules for adding green capacities to the electricity distribution network and obscuring deadlines for that, Capital Daily informs. In fact the changes will significantly slow down the development of energy from renewable sources in Bulgaria and hamper the achievement of the EU target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. The new law may postpone investors’ plans by a decade because they will have to stick to special schedules prepared according to the 10-year electricity network development plan. The schedules will have to be drawn up by the three electricity distribution companies in Bulgaria: CEZ, E.ON and EVN, as well as by the Electricity System Operator by 10 July, 2012.
Mad World of Living near industrial wind turbines in Ontario
If you have problems getting this video to play, go to YouTube and type in Mad World of Wind Turbines.
Huron East expresses concern with ice throw, transmission line route
Susan Hundertmark — The Mitchell Advocate — April 16, 2012
Council writes letter after reviewing construction and design reports from St. Columban Energy
Concerns about industrial wind turbine setbacks, ice throw and the proposed route for the transmission line will be included in a letter from Huron East council to St. Columban Energy LP, council decided at its April 3 meeting.
Clerk-Administrator Brad Knight told councillors that a staff review of St. Columban Energy’s Construction Report and Design/Operations Report brought up concerns about turbines 9 and 10, whose road allowance setbacks were both less than 100 metres.
U.K. — R.I.P. wind power: Minister blows away plans for more turbines
Everyone off the gravy train
Andrew Orlowski — The Register — April 16, 2012
It looks as though the wind energy boom is over. UK energy minister Greg Barker has hinted at a significant change in government strategy – cutting subsidies for the deployment and operation of environmentalists’ favoured technologies.
The climate change minister hinted that R&D handouts would continue, but for the wind lobby the party appears to be over. Barker said the UK has all the wind turbines it needs: “Far from wanting thousands more, actually for most of the wind we need… they are either built, being developed, or in planning,” he told the Sunday Times [paywall].
Bill 55 allows foreign companies to kill Ontario’s endangered species
ONTARIO’S ENDANGERED SPECIES THREATENED BY WIND TURBINES
The amendments hidden in the government’s budget bill will allow the Minister to grant exemptions from the provincial legislation protecting endangered species which presently prohibits anyone from harming, killing, or destroying the habitat of a threatened species.
The Minister will now be able to excuse from prosecution under the Ontario Endangered Species Act, corporations engaged in infrastructure projects including renewable energy (wind turbines), communications systems, electric power systems, oil or gas pipelines, transportation corridors or facilities, waste management systems or water works.
Many people have already written to their MPP. Now we have to keep up the pressure on the NDP and the Ministers.
Here is an easy way to register your displeasure at the changes proposed to Ontario’s environmental legislation. You can use these easy on line feed back forms to voice your concerns:
Opposition NDP leader Andrea Horwath (“Have your say Ontario: Tell us what you think about the budget”) using her online feedback form: http://www.ondpcaucus.com/yoursay/ or telephone 1-855-ONT-BDGT;
Minister of the Environment, Hon. Jim Bradley: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/main/contacts/feedback/index.htm
Minister of Natural Resources, Hon. Michael Gravelle: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/ContactUs/index.html?CSB_ic-name=topMenu&CSB_ic-info=contact-us_Eng
Minister of Energy, Hon. Chris Bentley: https://www.energy.gov.on.ca/en/contact-us/
Ontario’s wind turbines are already causing havoc for migrating species. Some are already sited or planned for important migratory bird corridors, adjacent to inland wetland migratory stopovers, and near provincially significant habitats of endangered and threatened species. Significant wildlife habitat at Ostrander Point, and Wolfe Island on Lake Ontario; Point Peelee National Park and costal wetlands associated with Lakes Erie and St. Claire; as well as Manitoulin Island and Arran Lake adjacent to Lake Huron.
At Wolfe Island near Kingston, studies of the first year of operation reveal a mortality rate of 13.4 birds per turbine. For the potential cumulative effect, multiply by the 86 Wolfe Island turbines = 1152 birds per year, hardly an insignificant number on a migratory flyway. Now multiply by the 7000 wind turbines planned for Ontario and then multiply by 20 for their expected life of operation. Some of the species killed are already experiencing population declines: for example, the Tree Swallow and the Bobolink. At Ostrander point, protesters are concerned about the threat to the Whip-poor-will and the Blanding’s turtle from disturbance and road building.
According to Ontario Environmental Commissioner, Gord Miller, burying this amendment to the Endangered Species Act in a budget bill (Schedule 19) the government avoids the normal transparency and public input.
The provincial government, which contends the wind turbines are necessary to lower CO2 emissions has been made aware of the fact that in Germany CO2 emissions have actually increased since the turbines were installed because of the need for fossil fuelled backup. It also knows turbines are disturbing significant wildlife habitats and jeopardizing the survival of species at risk.
Every genuine environmentalist, conservationist, nature lover or advocate for global biodiversity will be outraged at this underhanded development.
Voting on this amendment takes place on Tuesday, 24 April so there is not much time let them know that their amendments to the Ontario Endangered Species Act and other environmental legislation are unacceptable.
The agony of David Suzuki
Margaret Wente — Globe and Mail — April 14, 2012
David Suzuki should be a happy man. As Canada’s patron saint of the environmental movement, he has led a seismic shift in public consciousness that has fundamentally changed the way we think and live. Fifty years after the birth of the environmental movement – which began in 1962 with Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring – it’s safe to say we’re all environmentalists now. …
But Mr. Suzuki now feels a sense of bitter defeat. When I suggested that the environmental movement has reached a dead end, he said: “I absolutely agree.” The federal government is hostile, and environmental agendas are being rolled back everywhere. Barack Obama may have cancelled the Keystone oil pipeline for now (or, at any rate, the bit that crosses the border), but he’s also expressed an enthusiasm for new drilling that’s positively Sarah Palinesque.
In Europe, governments are ditching their commitments to green energy as their economies tank. Hopes for a global climate treaty are dead. In retrospect, Mr. Suzuki says the whole idea was folly. “Copenhagen was trying to deal with something that didn’t belong to anybody – the atmosphere – through the lenses of borders, which the air doesn’t care about, and the economic interests of 192 countries,” he says. “We were trying to force nature into our agenda.”
Link to full article at the Globe and Mail
Ontario Assessment Review Board rules wind farm does not affect property value
From Canadian Energy Law — April 11, 2012 — Patrick Duffy and Sean Gibson
The Ontario Assessment Review Board has ruled that there is no evidence the presence of a wind farm affected the value of Ed and Gail Kenney’s waterfront property on the west end of Wolfe Island, a rural community located in the Township of Frontenac Islands on Lake Ontario.
The Municipal Assessment Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assessed the Kenney property at $357,000 for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 taxation years, a valuation that the Kenney’s objected to due to their proximity to the Wolfe Island Wind Project, the second largest wind farm in Canada, which has been in commercial operation since June 2009. The Kenney’s property is located within 1 km of three turbines, 2 km of 14 turbines and 3 km of 27 turbines. The Kenney’s argued that the existence of the wind farm reduced the value of their property because of the various nuisances or annoyances that it caused.
