Wainfleet: Stop Issuing Feed-In-Tariff Contracts for Wind Power
51 Ontario Municipalities endorse resolution
Erie Media March 4, 2016
The Township of Wainfleet has gained support from 51 other municipalities in Ontario who have endorsed the Townships resolution calling on the Ontario government to not award more FeedIn Tariff contracts for power generation from wind.
In a press release issued by the Township of Wainfleet, “The resolution was based on December’s Auditor General Report which reported that Ontario has a surplus of power generation capacity and, under existing contracts, is paying double what other jurisdictions are paying for wind power. Adding more surplus generation capacity would add to the already high costs of disposing of surplus electricity.”
According to the release, the cost of electricity is a concern for Ontario residents, straining household budgets and it states that the Ontario Chamber of Commerce noted that high electrical costs are affecting their members’ ability to grow their business which will affect their ability to create jobs in Ontario.
“This suggests the need for a full, costbenefit review of the renewable energy program before committing Ontario electricity users to even more surplus power,” the release says.
“This quick response from other municipalities to the circulation of the resolution indicates that wind turbines are still front and centre as an important issue in rural Ontario,” said Wainfleet Township Mayor April Jeffs in the Wainfleet Township release.
It continues on to say that Mayor Jeffs is reporting that citizens reports of deteriorating health is a cause for concern, the reports coming in since the beginning of operations for one of the two projects in Wainfleet.
“We did have a family come to us before Christmas and had reported that they were suffering many health effects from the wind turbine near their residence,” Mayor April Jeffs said in a follow up interview. “The main complaint was sleep deprivation caused by infrasound created by the turbine.”
Since the complaint, the family has since sold their house in Wainfleet and moved to Port Colborne.
Jeffs pointed out that Huron County Health Unit has now begun an investigation into health complaints from industrial wind turbines in their community. They will be surveying resident’s complaints of several symptoms including headache, ear pressure, nausea, anxiety, pressure in the head, bloody nose, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, vertigo and sleep disturbances.
“Appropriate long term health studies weren’t done before putting the things up, now they are there and people are noticing problems,” Mayor Jeffs said.
“We have also had some people in Wellandport starting to complain of constant headaches that they are wondering if they can be attributed to the turbines,” she said.
“All we can do right now is to tell people to keep documenting it with their physician,” she said.
Jeffs is particularly concerned over the second project currently under development in Wainfleet, West Lincoln and eastern Haldimand County according to the release. This project involves 77 3.0 megawatt wind turbines, these more powerful turbines are located within 2 km of sizeable populations, affecting an estimated 2,000 households.
“The project will operate under one of the older, expensive FIT contracts criticized by the Auditor General. The Wainfleet resolution asks the government to review options under the contract to cancel the project,” the release says.
It also states that the government should meet it’s carbon reduction goals for the electrical power system in Ontario using carbonfree hydroelectricity and nuclear power, therefore giving the province time to look at renewable generation alternatives “that have less impact on the host communities.”
The government would be protected from law suits from the bidders if it changes its direction at this time and it doesn’t issue any wind contracts, clauses to this effect are in the 2015 RFP documents form the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) the release says.
The list of communities who have supported the resolution from the Township of Wainfleet are: Coleman Township
Loyalist Township
Municipality of Bluewater
Municipality of Brooke-Alvinston
Municipality of Charlton and Dack
Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich
Municipality of Grey Highlands
Municipality of Kincardine
Municipality of MorrisTurnberry
Municipality of North Middlesex
Municipality of North Perth
Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula
Municipality of Red Lake
Municipality of Tweed
Municipality of West Elgin
Municipality of West Grey
Municipality of West Perth
Norfolk County
Town of Amherstburg
Town of Blue Mountains
Town of Bruce Mines
Town of Erin
Town of Gananoque
Town of South Bruce Peninsula
Town of Thessalon
Township of Alberton
Township of Amaranth
Township of Armour
Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
Township of Blandford-Blenheim
Township of Calvin
Township of Carling
Township of Cavan Monaghan
Township of Chatsworth
Township of Enniskillen
Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen
Township of Howick
Township of Huron-Kinloss
Township of Ignace
Township of La Vallee
Township of Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional
Township of North Frontenac
Township of North Kawartha
Township of Otonabee-South Monaghan
Township of Pelee
Township of Perth East
Township of Severn Township of South Algonquin
Township of Warwick
Township of West Lincoln
United Counties of Prescott and Russell
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