ontario wind turbines

May 2009, Ontario: Before the Green Energy Act was imposed

Communication from an Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) field officer when questioned by Amaranth township CAO on how measurements comply (with provincial government guidelines) even though they appear not to.

Here: Email Meeting with Council

A few months later at the August 2009 council meeting….Pages 12 – 14

Whats happening to ‘out of compliance’ reports? …Mr. Tomlinson agreed that clarity………noting that there seems to be an issue not only with whats being submitted, but with what’s being accepted by the EA (Environmental Assessments – Toronto) branch.

Mr. Wilker noted that the township did write the MOE regarding the noise reports and they confirmed compliance: therefore no recourse was available under Township agreements….Vibration has no jurisdiction (no ministry responsible) and further mitigation would have “financial implications” on the developer.

He agreed that the approvals branch of the MOE in Toronto was doing a disservice to the township, residents, and the Guelph MOE office by accepting reports in the current format…. The township can request that the reports be done accurately in accordance with the MOE standards, but they may still be in compliance.

Council transcript here: amaranthcouncil aug19th

The owners of this wind company carried on to build even more projects and are now operating under a different name.

Your Ontario government, at it’s finest.

Another Freedom of Information nugget – Wisconsin

It’s hard to explain how any wind turbine impacted resident might be feeling right now after this revelation. After years of being denied help, abandoning homes, being called liars, nimby’s, outliers and just too damn sensitive for their own good another Freedom of Information document shows how health impacts are being covered up. In this round from Wisconsin we find the Medical Officer of Health being impacted and STILL stating there are no problems. Bit by disgraceful bit this story is proving itself while day after day people are left living in distressing home environments and continue to be harmed. Unbelievable

Yes Virginia, there really is a government/industry conspiracy to keep sucking billions in subsidies, damn the injured. (Reminds me of the day John Bennett, President of the Sierra Club of Canada, was in a small municpal office close by, pushing to have them approve wind turbines. When asked by a local resident to comment on the increasing reports of illness by neighbouring residents in existing turbine projects, he replied that the families were insignificant. Thanks John.)

A small excerpt from an email from C. Xiong

“Carolyn the times I have been out there by the Wind Turbines, l get such migraine headaches. I think I should take some preventative Tylenol before I head out there.”

Read the entire history here:http://bccrwe.com/index.php/8-news/24-county-health-officer-admits-feeling-ill-when-near-dukes-shirley-wind-turbines

BCCRWE_Press_Release_032016 (1)

“….My name is Tracy.  I know your situation all to well.

My home sits empty in Clear Creek, Ontario.  My life of hell started in the fall of 2008.

Yesterday was a very bad day for us.  Spirits are very low.  My son and I had a discussion just last night.  We talked about people and money; people not caring about others; the humiliation we have felt; the fight that is ahead of us; the scars that will be with us for the rest of our lives.  Like yourself, my government and the wind companies have destroyed my life.  They almost killed me.  I am not out of the woods yet.

I went to my home today—my home where I cannot live.  I still have some of my things there, where I had left them.  I walked the property, looking at the trees I had planted over the years; looking back at a life that no longer exists, or ever will.  It was very sad.  I drove around the township, again surprised at yet another new real estate listing and even more vacated houses.

Approximately one in three houses are empty.  Two of the vacant homes were homes of young families with children.  I was glad they were able to leave.  Others have left; a few have passed on (died).  I consider myself fortunate that my son had the sense to get us out of there.  Today I tolerated half an hour of exposure to low frequencies.  When I left, I had started to become lethargic.  I was dizzy, nauseous.  My head hurt.  I felt such pressure….”

home:https://ontariowindturbines.com/

This letter was issued from Ontario’s then Minister of the Environment Jim Bradley responding to a resident in distress. The only truthful portion in it is the first sentence.  You have to ask yourself what kind of government authority must rely on celebrities to validate their process. As if mentioning Al Gore and David Suzuki would legitimize the awful harm to families. (And of course he brings up Dr. King’s phony review.)

Yup…this what we have to deal with, year after year….PS Ontario had exactly 4 “dirty” coal fired plants but there are hundreds ringing the province south of the border. As if this would have made a dent in Ontarios’ air quality. GMAB.

Thank you for your e-mail about wind turbines and an announcement by Health Canada about a two-year wind turbine noise and health study.

Experts such as David Suzuki and Al Gore agree the Green Energy Act is making Ontario a global leader in clean energy.  Clean energy is helping us replace dirty coal-fired plants and protect the health of Ontarians for future generations.  The use of coal is down over 90 percent in 2011 compared to 2003, which means cleaner air, fewer hospital visits, and savings on environmental and health care costs.  The Green Energy Act has attracted billions of dollars in investment to this province, and helped create thousands of jobs for Ontarians.

The Ontario Government is committed to protecting the natural environment and residents in communities that host future wind projects.  Ontario’s priority is to develop renewable sources of energy in a way that both engages and protects local communities.  Energy developers in Ontario must meet the requirements of the Renewable Energy Approvals Regulation (O. Reg. 359/09) in order to carry out renewable energy projects.  This Regulation is based on the best available science, and protects human health and the environment.

In developing setback distances for wind turbines in the Renewable Energy Approvals Regulation, the Ministry of the Environment reviewed leading scientific studies from around the world and looked at how wind projects are regulated in other countries to learn from their standards and setbacks for wind turbines.  There are thousands of operating wind turbines around the world that have produced a body of science and research.  Ontario’s approach is progressive – this province is a leader in establishing clear setbacks for renewable energy projects that are protective of human health and the environment.

Ontario has one of the strictest noise criteria in North America, including 550-metre minimum setbacks, based on a 40-decibel noise limit.  This limit is consistent with the World Health Organization’s recommendation for the protection of human health.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has issued a report which concluded that scientific evidence does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine sound and adverse health effects.  There is no scientific evidence to date that vibration from low-frequency wind turbine sound causes adverse health effects, according to her report.

The ministry is aware of the study regarding wind turbine noise and health announced by Health Canada and we are supportive of non-biased initiatives which further scientific research in this important area.  More information is available on-line at

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2012/wind_turbine-eoliennes/index-eng.php.

I trust this information is helpful in addressing your concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Bradley

Minister

home:https://ontariowindturbines.com/

Health authorities are not acting when clearly, the public is being harmed in wind turbine projects. How does this happen?

Take a look at the document (see link) that details information including papers received through a freedom of information request related to Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. Back in 2009/2010 Dr. King did a “literature review”, found problems and yet concluded there was no link between wind turbine operations and the adverse health effects people were experiencing. Very confusing for the layman, infuriating for the ones suffering and sadly the media picks up and reports only their ‘summary statement’. But take a look at the review as it was in progress. Not so confusing for health professionals who understand how important the terminology is when describing adverse health effects. This is a lesson in how studies and literature reviews can be manipulated and why honesty and integrity is paramount (but missing) to the well being of the public. Clearly there is an agenda here.

(More info in my next post on the importance of terminology and the explanation of direct vs indirect, the slight wording that changes everything. Annoyance, indirect and direct have been misused by industry and government to confuse the public. And they did an outstanding job.)

The letter below the link is from MPP Lisa Thompson, back in 2013 in a letter to Dr. King.

Link to document:FESS UP OR DELETE December 28 2012 (1)

January 21, 2013

Dr. Arlene King

Chief Medical Officer of Health

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

11^th Flr., Hepburn Block

80 Grosvenor St.

Toronto, ON M7A 1R3

OPEN LETTER

Dear Dr. King:

I am writing to you today to express my growing apprehension over the revelations arising from recent Freedom of Information requests that were released. In November 2012, emails from the Ministry of the Environment, released through the FOI process, reveal that provincial field officers had confirmed adverse health effects from wind turbine noise as far back as 2009, and were working on an abatement plan to assist affected residents. The released documents indicate that, in response to a redacted email from government staff, the MOE officers agreed to stand down.

I also have concerns with another FOI document I received, in which Q&A’s were prepared in response to your report, The Potential Health Effects of Wind Turbines. In one section of these Q&A’s, the track changes indicated that you should “add the word direct as studies would show a link through annoyance.” As the Chief Medical Officer of Health, I am sure you are aware that the World Health Organization has determined that annoyance is a health effect of wind turbines.

In another section of the Q&A’s document, this statement was made in relation to health and wind turbines: “there are no known indirect links.” Except, in the track changes comment box it said, “Not really true. The link between perceived noise and symptoms is probably linked to annoyance. The link with annoyance should be recognized.

The last section I would like to draw your attention to is one more Q&A. One answer stated: “Although some people living near wind turbines report symptoms such as dizziness, headaches and sleep disturbance, available scientific evidence does not demonstrate a causal link to wind turbines noise.” The track changes of this comment tells a different story, where you were told, “this answer isn’t credible. Either fess up to the annoyance link or delete.

Dr. King, Dr. Gloria Rachamin acknowledged under oath in the Kent Breeze wind farm case that your study did not look at the indirect health effects of wind turbines. These indirect health effects are the ones that cause the sleeplessness, depression, dizziness, headaches among other health problems.

I am asking you today to acknowledge publicly that your report did not study the indirect health effects of wind turbines. I also have many questions surrounding not only your report, but health complaints that were received by either the Ministry of the Environment, Energy or Health and Long-Term Care. For one, did the Ministry of Environment advise your office that complaints about wind turbines and health were being received? Were you contacted to investigate any of these complaints? Why were any of the reports from MOE field officers in 2009 not included in your 2010 report?

Respectfully, I ask that you review your 2010 report for clarifications between the direct/indirect link between wind turbines and health effects. I can respectfully acknowledge that the likelihood of a wind turbine blade falling off and hurting someone (a direct link) is highly improbable, but the valid health effects (indirect links) need to be studied so we can help families who have been displaced from their homes and are dealing with serious health consequences. I am sure that we can agree that the health and well-being of Ontario families is first and foremost for both of us.

I appreciate your time to review my correspondence, and I and many Ontario families await your response.

Sincerely,

Lisa Thompson, MPP

Huron-Bruce

1. Mr. Vic Fedeli, MPP, Nipissing and PC Critic for the Ministry of Energy

home: https://ontariowindturbines.com/

You’ll see the hard work that ministry officers put into an abatement plan to help the complainants in a wind turbine power centre in 2010. After responding to and trying to deal with growing complaints the good officers created an abatement plan to help resolve the issues. Great plan guys but no follow thru. The door was slammed shut and this plan was shelved. I’m sure industry owes the McGuinty/Wynne Liberals a huge load of thanks. We in turn continue lose our homes…….

Doc 1 – FOI 1NR 03046

Doc 2 – FOI P00 03046 11.12 02 (1)

home:https://ontariowindturbines.com/

While government leaders claim to care deeply about children, about their opportunites and the mental and physical wellness of residents, there is a huge void when it comes to communicating with impacted families in wind projects. It seems to be a no-go zone for almost everyone who could be reporting and assisting. One has to wonder why the glaring disconnect exists.

Every year Bell launches their excellent and impactful Let’s Talk campaign to bring attention to mental health wellness.The following letter was sent during the 2014 campaign and sadly did not elicit any useful response.

One ponders why this particular segment of the population is being ignored and their loss of health and homes trivialized, as if by their own fault that 500 foot operating towers in these huge industrial energy plants are being built beside their homes. Emitting loud cyclical noise and penetrating infrasound 24/7 they continue to wreak havoc on peoples sleep and overall health as more and more project approvals are granted.

We try to retain faith and hope that the many experts that have been informed over the last decade are realising the serious nature of the situation and that help will come.

Date: Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 7:54 PM
Subject: Let‘s talk rural info
To: bellmediacommunications@bellmedia.ca, info@mooddisorderscanada.ca, info@unitedway.ca, info@camh.ca, info@ontario.cmha.ca,fondation.chuq@chuq.qc.ca, fondation@petitstresors.ca, hr-reception@concordia.ca, foundation@theroyal.ca, presidents.office@ubc.ca

To all Recipients

Please forward this message to your Let’s Talk campaign co-ordinator.

I am writing to you knowing you are supporters of the Bell Let’s Talk campaign. I know what wonderful work this campaign has done to end the stigma of mental illness. Everyone has a better understanding because of the courageous people who have come forward as spokespeople and those who are all working so hard behind the scenes and with educating the public.

With this letter, I want to bring to your attention what is happening in many rural areas in Canada.

Wind turbine facilities are being erected way too close to homes and are literally driving some families to abandon their homes because of the emissions of low frequency noise, loud cyclical audible noise and dirty electricity. People are suffering from sleep disturbance and deprivation, headaches, heart palpitations, pressure in the head, earaches and more.

I can speak from experience……… and, in serious distress, we had no choice but to leave the home we loved.

The mental and physical stress being imposed on rural residents in turbine projects is enormous. We have been called NIMBY’s by our Ontario Premier, ridiculed by environmentalists, politicians and bureaucrats and dismissed as backwards for not progressing the way some feel is “the way of the future”.

But I have sat at the kitchen table too many times and met in community meeting rooms while impacted families weep at the harm they are experiencing and the injustice and lack of acknowledgment or help from every level of government. I have asked our health ministry numerous times to please, just meet with some of these people and they would understand but I have been refused.

To watch one segment of the population be completely left out of the concern and care for mental and physical wellness for the sake of flawed government policy is incredibly heartbreaking.

I don’t even know what to do anymore. We have tried everything, met with every politician/bureaucrat/minister and no one will help. The silence is deafening.

The majority of the population doesn’t know about the situation. Some have been learning but the masses don’t know.

Can you please bring this tragedy to the attention of your colleagues and co-workers.

Please give rural residents some hope that people care because right now we are feeling very alone. None of us wanted to belong to this club.

Please visit www.windvictimsontario.com Look at the victim’s voices and the comments on the WindVoice survey.

The website may not be sophisticated but it is the only way we can get out information out.

There is a new peer reviewed article recently published in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine.

http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/staticContent/HTML/N0/l2/cjrm/vol-19/issue-1/pdf/pg21.pdf

There are tons of engineering reports documenting the emissions. It is not just a bunch of unhappy wind activists complaining.

Please understand that most of these families welcomed wind turbines along with the rest of the world, but they were not expecting them to make them sick and render their homes uninhabitable. I know people who are renting another place to live because they cannot live in their own home. It sits empty while they wait for someone to help. Some have signed contracts that won’t allow them to speak to neighbours and other family and so they suffer in silence.

This is a tragic situation and most shocking that it can happen in the greatest country in the world.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

xxxxxx

PS You might ask what has this to do with your Lets Talk campaign.

How can our government impose such despair and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness upon residents and yet on the other hand vocalize about caring about Canadians health and wellness? It is very hurtful to those who are being impacted. People of all ages, children to senior citizens are being harmed.

Who hasn’t heard the term annoy(ance). Who doesn’t relate to the mosquito that darts around your head, the tear in the silk stocking that ruined that special night out, the dog that won’t quit barking.  All pretty annoying for sure. But clinically, annoyance is a health effect,  an adverse health risk much more serious than it sounds and can cause some very problematic health issues. It appears to be why Health Canada and the wind industry and their hired experts decided to focus on that term when communicating about health impacts. They do admit mostly (not always), that wind turbines cause annoyance. But when you cannot sleep nights in a row, when infrasound is penetrating your house and your furniture and your body and when your family, your pets and your animals are all being affected it can result in a pretty distressing situation; an environment that many living in wind turbine projects have had to flee. So you can see how broad the matter really is when the term annoyance is used. Don’t be fooled by what you read. Sometimes you have to be an expert to ‘get it’.

PS. For years industry and government have claimed wind turbines sound no louder than a refrigerator. Well,  now you know. Try to imagine this noise in surroundsound as you try to sleep, and don’t forget the addition of infrasound and low frequency vibration…….

home:https://ontariowindturbines.com/