Delegates from Oppose Belwood Wind Farms told county council May 27 there could be as many as 4,200 wind turbines in Ontario if the Green Energy Act is not fought and altered.
Janet Vallery and Dave Hurlburt came to council.
Vallery said the group is incorporated as a non-profit entity, has 250 members, and 50 of those are “active.” She said the group has scientists and other experts working with it.
It was born with the rise of turbine projects for the Belwood area, and she said there are “others [planned] north and south of the lake. We’re concerned we’ll look like Shelburne.”
Vallery said her group understands the province “stripped municipalities of rights” in the approval process, but it wants them to continue fighting, and to get the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to help, as well as working with others.
Hurlburt said under the Municipal Act, councils can create bylaws that can hinder wind farm proposals. Councils can pass bylaws “for the general good of people living in their municipality.” They can also pass nuisance bylaws for noise.
Hurlburt said Oxford and Grey Counties succeeded in negotiating agreements with proponents of wind farms to mitigate their effects, including allowing noise receptors on non-turbine lands, forcing greater setbacks, by permitting such things as granny flats near property lines.
He said municipalities “make it challenging enough they slow it or abandon [their proposals]. One key thing they can seek is larger setbacks, which mitigate noise.
He said Grey County is moving to protect “sensitive scenic areas.”
But Hurlburt said some companies are now considering 500- and 600-foot high wind turbines if they are allowed fewer of them. That is “40 storeys high. We don’t have buildings in Guelph like that. Some see 130-foot turbines and say ‘What’s the problem?’ These things are massive – much bigger than seen in Europe – or Belwood.”
Hurlburt said councils can apply to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation and have entire farms with turbines designated as industrial, which means higher taxes.
Vallery said wind farms are “devastating to the rural communities, and some municipalities are opposing them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “This has caught the attention of the turbine people,” she added.
Councillor Rod Finnie asked what municipalities are doing to fight the act.
Vallery said 60 have signed motions requesting a moratorium on the approvals until a third party health study is done. Grey County is “pushing back” and East Garafraxa council is asking for a provincial study on health and electricity.
Hurlburt said Oxford County has been able to negotiate changes to some things for wind turbines in its area.
Councillor Lynda White lauded the Belwood group and said, “I will be behind everything we can do … The thought of wind turbines dotting Wellington County – I’m not happy with it.”
Councillor John Green said Mapleton has one of the highest concentrations of agriculture in the province and is concerned with “dirty electricity and stray voltage” as well as “low frequency noise and its effects on dairy cattle production.”
He said, “Agriculture is the main industry in our township.”
Councillor Walter Trachsel said each turbine takes 1.5 acres of land out of production. He recently travelled the Port Elgin area, where turbines proliferate, and, “It looks awful.”
Vallery said where turbines operate, earthworms leave the soil; “the land becomes sterile.”
Green said land out of production in Mapleton is about o 300 acres for 40 to 50 turbines.
Councillor Chris White said if land is out of production, the assessed value decreases.
Green just read a booklet about the turbines in Wisconsin, and there the land decreased in value, particularly if it had livestock on it.
Hurlburt said the Invenergy plan for Belwood has not proceeded. It did not get approval of Ontario Power Authority for a contract in April, and he has heard it is not completing the Ministry of Environment process. His group is “very concerned” Invenergy is trying to sell to a company in British Columbia. That project for Belwood is now five years old and has already changed hands three times.
Some landowners are trying to get out,” Hurlburt said of the contracts to accept turbines. “We’re scared if they shrink they may go to 600 feet.”
Vallery said Invenergy has canvassed all the way from Queen Mary to the lake, and “They’re still a viable threat.”
She overheard a conversation in Grand Valley, and wind energy companies were offering $20,000 per turbine to those who would accept them. In the early days, it was $5,000.
Hurlburt, who owns a 200 acre farm near Belwood, said the actual fees are closer to $7,000 to $10,000 per turbine per year. “I’ve had presentations made to me personally. It’s hard to refuse, but I don’t think they’re realistic.”
Councillor Bob Wilson said “The numbers are going to keep climbing. The early numbers were not nearly this big. There was a lot of funny stuff happening, so to speak.” He said Hurlburt’s figures are “the biggest I’ve seen.”
Councillor Jean Innes called the information from Vallery and Hurlburt “chilling. Some I hadn’t heard.”
Innes said this “new technology” is not the same as what is being used in Europe.
She said it is important the groups spread information.
“For us, this is stunning,” she said.
