Multi-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group

Transcription

1 Multi-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group Thursday, at 7:00 p.m. Chesley Fire Hall st Ave N, Chesley Chesley, Ontario MINUTES A meeting of the Multi Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group was held on Thursday, at the Chesley Fire Hall. The following Members of the Group were present: Name Municipality Position Mark Davis Arran-Elderslie Deputy Mayor (Chair) Stewart Halliday Grey Highlands Councillor (Vice-Chair) Keith Stelling Arran-Elderslie Appointed Citizen Dave Roy Bluewater Councillor Anne-Louise Gibbons Brockton Councillor Ian Gibbons Brockton Appointed Citizen Brian Barnim Central Huron Councillor Terry McKay Chatsworth Deputy Mayor Scott Mackey Chatsworth Councillor Tony Clark Chatsworth Appointed Citizen Alan Barfoot Georgian Bluffs Mayor Dwight Burley Georgian Bluffs Deputy Mayor Paul McQueen Grey Highlands Deputy Mayor Betsy Stewart Northern Bruce Peninsula Councillor Linda Weatherhead Northern Bruce Peninsula Citizen Carol Lawrence West Grey Councillor The following members of Staff were present: Teresa Gowan Arran-Elderslie Secretary Bill Palmer Saugeen Shores Technical Advisor Others in attendance were: Warren Howard Joseph Leung André den Tandt Jean Cechovsky Bonnie Roy Dave Hemingway Lynn Szymezko Ginny Stewart Lorrie Gillis North Perth Meaford Meaford Arran-Elderslie Bluewater Central Huron North Bruce Grey Highlands Grey Highlands Page 1 of 9

2 1. ADOPTION OF THE 2nd REVISED AGENDA Moved by: Tony Clark Seconded by: Paul McQueen That the 2nd Revised Agenda for the Working Group meeting of be received and adopted as distributed by the Recording Secretary. Carried 2. DECLARATION OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS: No disclosures of pecuniary interests were made by the Committee. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by: Paul McQueen Seconded by: Tony Clark That the Working Group adopt the minutes of the last Committee Meeting held October 9th, 2014, as circulated. Carried 4. DELEGATIONS 4.1 Warren Howard spoke about the Plympton-Wyoming Building Permit Bylaw Number 46 of 2014 which is a new by-law respecting Construction, Demolition and Change of Use Permits and Inspections. This by-law includes information on liability insurance required for wind turbine permits as well as an agreement with regard to decommissioning of the wind turbine. Currently Plympton-Wyoming doesn't have their own Building Inspector, therefore, they use Lambton County's Building Inspector. Warren Howard stated that he had previously circulated the Plympton-Wyoming's By-Law Number 62 of 2014 being a by-law to provide for the regulation of wind turbine noise within the Town of Plympton-Wyoming. Warren stated that this was an interesting approach as it was developed under a Judge's order stating that Plympton- Wyoming and Suncor were to sort this out between them, and now it has been finalized into this by-law. There are 3 types of noise noted in the by-law, audible (which enforces a Provincial standard), low frequency noise which has been banned, and infrasound noise which has also been banned. They will be using audible noise and if an offence under the bylaw ends up in Court then they'll use testing by an acoustical statistician. 4.2 Warren Howard provided an update on FIT Contract Cancellations. The Province has been canceling FIT Contracts. On the OPA website, it shows a list of projects which will be cancelled. Currently there are quite a few projects on technical review. 4.3 Warren Howard advised that the IESO came to North Perth Council last week and gave a presentation. North Perth Council asked IESO "how are you going to reduce costs?" IESO replied that every hour of every day they choose the cheapest provider and that they are working within the constraints of the Government. IESO stated that wind power is valuable when the resource is available (when the wind is blowing.) They stated Page 2 of 9

3 that wind power helped last winter when everything was frozen. IESO encouraged North Perth Council to bring in other people to the meeting, so Warren asked for an agricultural representative and Bill Palmer attended. Warren stated it was a civil discussion but IESO got the message that North Perth and the community is not in favour of wind turbine projects. 4.4 Warren Howard stated he joined in on a webinar regarding regional Municipal Electricity Planning. They are asking for comments by November 19, Part of Perth is in the Waterloo Wellington Planning Region but most of the communities in the Multi-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group would be in the Grey Bruce Huron Planning Region. Yesterday Warren received an to send comments on local consulting plan for the area covering Kitchener, Cambridge, Guelph, Waterloo and North Perth. They are suggesting that 16 people represent the various areas. Warren wondered how does 16 people represent such large areas. Warren said that if anyone wants to give comments on this, please go to the OPA website and post them there. 4.5 Andre Den Tandt spoke on the Health Canada Study and Denise Wolfe's synopsis. Andre provided the Committee with a handout setting out a rough summary of Denise Wolfe's comments as well as Andre's comments on the Study. Denise Wolfe's summary raised a number of issues that point to the fact that the Health Canada Study is an unreliable document. The sound measurements were taken during the summer when wind speeds are the lowest in the year. Therefore, extrapolating and modeling are required to compensate for wind speeds, which reduces reliability of the results. The number of dwellings included in the Study was set at 2,000 but 434 were "non-valid" dwellings but no reason was stated why they were "non-valid", were they vacant, abandoned or demolished? Therefore the reliability of the results were significantly compromised. The Study selected dwellings in 10km radius. This is problematic because the dwellings farthest from wind turbines are highly overrepresented and there are only a few dwellings at the lower limit of 600 meters. Counting all of the latter, as opposed to just a random sample of the outer ones, does little to reduce the bias in favour of the more remote ones. There is no data on varying effects at various distances. No children under 18 were included in the Study. Children are just as affected as adults. The effects in formative years may possibly be more significant. The Study used modeling rather than discrete measurements to try correcting the uncertainty caused by extrapolation. This can greatly reduce the reliability of the results. Page 3 of 9

4 There was no references to specific types of wind turbines or more importantly, the size of turbines. Recently installed turbines are much larger and taller that earlier ones. Expected noise levels are bound to have different characteristics. Andre's observations after reading the Study: There is a failure of basic logic in the Study. The Study acknowledges that wind turbine noise causes annoyance and it also acknowledges that annoyance can produce serious health effects, but the Study's conclusion finds no link between IWTs and health effects. This is an inconsistency. Problem with term "annoyance." In common terms it's a minor thing, in medical terms it is a serious condition. In the Study's conclusion it states that there is no effect on health from noise. The word "noise" is never omitted. The day after the Study was published CANWEA's president omitted the word by stating there was no health effect from Industrial Wind Turbines. Owen Sound Sun Times' headline also omitted the word "noise." There was no mention of infrasound in the Study. Infrasound is complex and makes it hard to study. It follows land contours, and is dependent on temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure. 3.5 hours of measurements per dwelling is not sufficient for infrasound. One month ago Germany determined that infrasound originates when the blade passes the stem, the sudden change in air pressure causes the blade to vibrate, the bigger the blade the more powerful the infrasound wave. Omitting infrasound is the fatal flaw in the Health Canada Study. 5. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 5.1 Further discussion of "best practices." In light of the recent Health Canada Study release, Stewart Halliday decided to defer this issue to the December meeting. 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 Discussion of recently released Health Canada Study. Warren Howard stated that this Study is so bad and it's so full of holes, it's actually good for people who are fighting wind turbine projects. The people of Ontario will know the Study doesn't make sense. Dr. Hazel Lynn spoke about her concerns with the Study in the Owen Sound Sun Times and Robert McMurtry did an interview on Goldhawk denouncing the Study. Today, Dr. John Harrison from Queens University put forth his critique. I think Health Canada is concerned that there are so many people speaking out about the Study. There are so many problems with the Study. The vacant home numbers, they have ignored the reason why they are vacant. They have included Leaseholders in the Study, which are people who are being paid by leasing their land and who cannot criticize wind turbines because it's in their Lease, so why is this group is in their Study? Collette McLean in Windsor was a Respondent in the Study and her comments were that: the survey took place in the summer and Page 4 of 9

5 one of the questions asked was has wind turbines "disturb the subject's sleep in the last 30 days?" This has no meaning for the key problems. The question should have been "have you experienced any sleep disturbances within the last year?" With regard to proven science, a study is never released without it being peer reviewed first. Health Canada also released a Summary of Results which would normally be released after the peer review has been done. The Study did find a health issue and they called it "annoyance." We should focus on the flaws in the Study and keep raising these flaws to show that the Study is not credible. There are a team of people reviewing the Study, including Denise Wolfe. When Health Canada Study is not done properly, people should complain to their local M.P. Ginny Stewart stated that she thinks the message should go out to the urban people because this Study cost $20 Million to promote the wind industry and to cover their own agenda. Mark Davis said that most sick people who have been affected by wind turbines have moved away. Mark told Larry Miller, MP for Bruce-Grey- Owen Sound that these people need to be tracked down and ask them exactly why did they move away. Keith Stelling stated that Carmen Krogh has put out a paper that the Government manipulated the Study and that Health Canada has been populated by wind company people. Can we ever trust Health Canada again? This is very serious because Health Canada focuses on health issues for all Canadians and this Study shows that Health Canada now has a problem with credibility. We need to focus on the quality of the Study and how bad it really is. Mark Davis asked the Committee if we should be writing a letter and make a comment on this Study? Bill Palmer stated that there should be an association between the number of decibels produced and the physical results in a specific number of people being affected, and if the decibels increase then the number of people affected would also increase. The Health Canada Study shows no association. The Study is not recognizing that people are different. Lorrie Gillis stated that Carmen Krogh's study is important. Carmen has made association between Health Canada and industries. There are people who have symptoms like vibrations in their chest and nosebleeds. "Annoyance" in medical terms means distress and it's a serious issue. Bill Palmer stated that you can go after the politicians, but you've got to get to the public to change the laws. Page 5 of 9

6 Brian Barnim asked about the economics. There a number of large chicken farmers who are putting in natural gas systems to heat their large chicken barns because electricity costs are too high to heat their chicken barns. Bill Palmer mentioned that apparently Honda said they would stay in Canada only if they got money from the Government to help with their electricity costs because those costs are too high. Ginny Stewart said she lives among IWTs. She's been living near them for 3 years. "I have a lot of physical symptoms. When I'm home I get pressure in my ears, ringing in the ears, at night when I'm in bed, I get vibrations in my chest. Some nights are horrendous." "I told Paul McQueen in July that I've gotten a lot of nosebleeds. I've had 20 nosebleeds since July, and on Oct 8th I got my nose cauterized, but I've had 2 nosebleeds since, so I may have to have my nose cauterized again." "I'm part of the SWEAR organization and I will be going to London for four nights and I'm looking forward to being away from my home because my symptoms go away and I have no nosebleeds when I'm away from home." "It's instant relief when I'm away from home." "My doctor is very supportive. I have an appointment with an ear nose and throat specialist, but that's not until May 2015." Mark Davis asked Keith to write a letter about these concerns. In order to expedite this letter, Mark asked the Committee if Keith wrote the letter and Mark and Stewart signed the letter, would it be acceptable for the letter to be sent out without being circulated to all the participating municipalities' councils for approval? The Committee verbally agreed to this process. The Committee stated that the letter should go to: Health Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper All local MPs and MPPs Rona Ambrose Dr. Hazel Lynn Include the names that were included in Carmen Krogh's Nov 10th letter The letter should also go to the Editors of the following papers: The Owen Sound Sun Times Grey Bruce This Week The Post (Hanover) West Grey Progress The Focus (Huron County) - Contact Brenda MacIssac, Clerk for Central Huron for papers in Central Huron Lakeshore Advance Exeter paper Goderich paper Page 6 of 9

7 Clinton paper Seaforth paper Blyth paper Shoreline Beacon (Port Elgin) Kincardine Independent Meaford Express Tobermory Press Warren Howard said the letter should focus on real people who are suffering. Ginny Stewart said that people who have been physically impacted from wind turbines have spent a lot of time to be credible in letting people know how they are suffering, because people don't want to believe there are health issues. This Health Canada Study took all this credibility away that all sufferers have built. Now all the people I've talked to and convinced and told them about my symptoms, will look at the Health Canada Study and now they will not believe me with what I've been suffering through. Carol Lawrence asked if this letter would be coming directly from MMWTWG instead of from each Council? Because there will be a lengthy delay in coming down from Councils given the fact that recent elections will have new Councils and new members of MMWTWG will need to be appointed. Mark Davis asked the Committee "Is that acceptable that this letter come directly from MMWTWG?" The Committee provided a verbal agreement that the letter come directly from the MMWTWG so that a quick response can be put forth to deal with the Health Canada Study. 6.2 Stewart Halliday to discuss Capstone Power Development using Health Canada study. Capstone put out a letter and a brochure and in the material they referred to the Health Canada Study to further their interests in developing IWT project in Grey Highlands. There was a discussion about accelerated depreciation. Stewart said we have to stop the accelerated depreciation program that the Federal Government is offering. We need to get the Conservatives to change their mind on this, it has to be stopped. Stewart stated at the last AMO meeting we discussed the accelerated depreciation issue and I would like to sit down with Larry Miller, MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound and discuss this with him. 6.3 Review of results of Municipal Elections. A copy of the election results were distribute to the members. Mark Davis addressed the Committee and said "For those members who will not be returning, we are sorry to Page 7 of 9

8 see you go. Thank you for your input and we thank you for your help. We wish you all the best in the future and you are always welcome to attend our meetings as members of the public." 6.4 Reminder for Member Municipalities to forward Resolutions appointing members to MMWTWG. Mark Davis, the Chair, reminded the Committee members to advise their Clerks to the names of the new members to the Recording Secretary as soon as possible as our next meeting will be on December 11, Mark Davis requested the Recording Secretary to the Clerks of the participating municipalities and request the Clerks to send Resolutions appointing members to the MMWTWG at their December 1st inaugural meeting. 7. FOR INFORMATION 7.1 Mark Davis asked the Committee if the December 11, 2014 meeting should proceed. The Committee members stated that new members of the MMWTWG would likely be appointed at the inaugural meeting on December 1st, therefore the December meeting should proceed. In the event that some municipalities appoint members after the December 11, 2014 meeting, those members can join us at the January meeting. 7.2 Dave Hemingway stated that the court case on the Charter challenge on Health effect of IWTs will be next month in London. There are 14 community groups backing the Charter challenge. The St. Columbian lawyer said that if we got a stay in London, all the wind turbines in Ontario will have to be shut down. I will provide the Committee with a progress report on the court case at the next meeting. If we win, the wind companies will likely appeal it. What we don't have yet is a municipality to put money in to be an intervener at the Supreme Court. We have over 200,000 people represented at the Charter challenge and now this Health Canada Study has been released 1-1/2 weeks before the Charter challenge court case. 7.3 Dave Hemingway stated that on December 11th there is a TVO documentary "Big Wind" being released. If you recall a while ago a film crew came to one of our meetings. The documentary is 70 minutes long. We are looking for fundraising money for the Charter challenge. We do have permission from the producer to show it early, perhaps we could show it at the December meeting. TVO will be putting the documentary out in March It was recorded using low resolution, hopefully the new TV screen in this room will be able to show it. Brian Barnim said he saw the documentary last Tuesday night and it was very good. Mark Davis asked whether we should send out invitations for the viewing and also to note that the December meeting will be showing the 70 minutes documentary. Mark suggested invitations should go to Larry Miller, MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Ben Lobb, MP for Huron-Bruce, Bill Walker, MPP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, and Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce. Page 8 of 9

9 7.4 Lorrie Gillis stated that the documentary "Down Wind" will be shown this Saturday, November 15, 2014 in Shelburne for fundraising to support the Charter challenge. 7.5 Dave Roy stated that area farmers are wanting to use natural gas instead of electricity. Union Gas won't put gas lines down along the collector lines of industrial wind turbines. K2 asked Hurontario telephone to remove the sheathing from the fiber optic cables because stray voltage from wind turbine collection lines could follow the fiber optic cable and travel into people's homes. K2 said they would pay to have the sheathing removed, but the telephone company said their utility was installed first. If the sheathing is removed from the fiber optic cables, then the cables can't be located. 7.6 Carol Lawrence stated that West Grey lost in Court again. Nextera sent a draft agreement to West Grey that contained a clause with only $250,000 security which we could not accept so they took us to court again instead of negotiating with us. West Grey has been ordered by the Court that we issue permits to wind developers with reasonable conditions. Our next meeting is on November 17, 2014 so I will update you at the December meeting. 8. DATE AND LOCATION OF NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING The next meeting date is scheduled for Thursday, December 11, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. at the Chesley Fire Hall, st Ave. N., Chesley. 9. RESOLUTION TO MOVE INTO CLOSED SESSION AND GENERAL NATURE THEREOF (includes appointed Councillor(s) and citizen appointee) Not Required 10. RESOLUTION TO RECONVENE IN OPEN SESSION Not Required 11. ADOPTION OF RECOMMENDATIONS ARISING FROM CLOSED SESSION (if any) None 12. ADJOURNMENT Moved by: Keith Stelling Seconded by: Dave Roy That the meeting be adjourned to the call of the Chair. The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 p.m. Carried Original Signed by Mark Davis, Chair Original Signed by Teresa Gowan, Recording Secretary Page 9 of 9