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, May 15, 2015 at the Chesley Fire Hall. The following Members of the Group were present: Municipality Name Position Arran-Elderslie Mark Davis Deputy Mayor (Chair) Arran-Elderslie Doug Bell Councillor Arran-Elderslie Keith Stelling Appointed Citizen Brockton Steve Adams Councillor Chatsworth Scott Mackey Deputy Mayor Georgian Bluffs Carol Barfoot Councillor Grey Highlands Stewart Halliday Deputy Mayor (Vice-Chair) Grey Highlands Larry Close Appointed Citizen Kincardine Randy Roppel Councillor Northern Bruce Peninsula Patricia Greig Deputy Mayor Northern Bruce Peninsula Tom Boyle Councillor Northern Bruce Peninsula Linda Weatherhead Appointed Citizen South Bruce Peninsula Gord Henrich Appointed Citizen Southgate Christine Gordon Councillor Southgate John Woodbury Councillor West Grey Carol Lawrence Councillor West Grey Bev Cutting Councillor The following members of Staff were present: Teresa Gowan Arran-Elderslie Secretary Bill Palmer Saugeen Shores Technical Advisor Others in attendance were: Louise Morfitt Hall Warren Howard George Heeyerlaar Joseph Leung Andre den Tandt Southgate North Perth South Bruce Peninsula Meaford Meaford 1. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Moved by: Tony Clark Seconded by: Scott Mackey Page 1 of 6

2 That the Agenda for the Working Group meeting of be received and adopted as distributed by the Recording Secretary. 2. DECLARATION OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS: No disclosures of pecuniary interests were made by the Committee. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by: Tony Clark Seconded by: Larry Close That the Working Group adopt the minutes of the last Committee Meeting held April 9th, 2015, as circulated. 4. DELEGATIONS 4.1 Warren Howard addressed the Committee and spoke about the Hydro One application to the Ontario Energy Board for exemption from the requirement to issue accurate bills until Warren explained that this includes 110,000 hard to reach customers who were not converted to time of use smart meters. Most of these are outside of Southern Ontario. In addition, there are 50,000 customers on time-of-use pricing but have unreliable communication due to cellular mesh changes or blockage to due seasonal foliage, and a signal can't be obtained. Hydro One is taking them off time-of-use pricing and changing them back to two tiered pricing. Ten percent of smart meters are not working and now Hydro One is acknowledging that. Hydro One is obtaining 98.6% billing accuracy and is requesting exemption due to the previously mentioned issues. 4.2 Warren provided an update on the LRP issue. It appears that there will be more activity with increased IWT's in Eastern Ontario, Ontario Highlands and Northern Ontario. There appears to be more activity proceeding on Crown Land in the Province. 4.3 Warren also mentioned that Jane Wilson, President of Wind Concerns Ontario attended a meeting at Finch, Ontario where she was on a panel with Don McCabe, President of the OFA. While addressing the meeting, Mr. McCabe made some comments to the public which were misleading or incorrect. Ms. Wilson has prepared a letter to Mr. McCabe and Warren presented the letter to the Committee for review and comment. Warren suggested that the Committee meet with local Ontario Federation of Agriculture representatives and clarify concerns and issues regarding IWT's on rural landowners or, alternatively, send similar letters to the OFA. Page 2 of 6

3 5. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 5.1 There was a review of a letter drafted by Keith Stelling regarding reinstating Environmental Intervener Funding and addressed to Premier Kathleen Wynne and Glen R. Murray, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change and to other individuals added as CC's to the letter. The CC's to the letter included Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner for Ontario, the Attorney General for Ontario, the two leaders of the Opposition, and various MPPs. There was a discussion regarding this letter and after the review of the next item, a motion was presented. 5.2 There was a review of a letter drafted by Keith Stelling regarding Non- Compliance with the Radiation Emitting Devices Act (1985)(REDA) and addressed to Prime Minister Harper, Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health and Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and to other individuals added as CC's to the letter. The CC's to the letter included Senator Richard Neufeld, Senator Chair, Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources Canada, Thomas Mulcair, Leader of the Official Opposition and various other MPs and MPPs. There was a discussion regarding this letter and the following motion was made. Moved by: Gord Henrich Seconded by: Larry Close that the Multi-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group letters authored by Keith Stelling be sent. The Recording Secretary was directed to forward the two letters relating to items 5.1 and 5.2 to the persons named in the letters. Originals to be mailed to the addressees and copies to be sent to the named CC's. 5.3 Further discussion on offering associate membership to this Committee. This is a continued discussion from last month's meeting. A request was presented to the Committee last month to consider offering associate memberships to municipalities who are too distant to attend monthly meetings. There was a lengthy discussion on various topics, such as: what benefits would associate members receive versus participating members; would offering associate membership strengthen or weaken the Committee; only offering associate membership to "unwilling host" municipalities; how do we refuse associate membership request; Terms of Reference would need to be amended; is it our mandate to recruit? Agendas and Minutes are already available publicly by participating municipalities, if this is the only benefit to associate members, they can currently access these items. Page 3 of 6

4 Moved by: Scott Mackey Seconded by: Carol Barfoot That the Multi-Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group not allow associate membership. 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, the Chair and some members of the Committee met with Larry Miller, the MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. Notes were taken at this meeting by Steve Adams and a Summary of the meeting notes are attached as a Schedule to these minutes. Steve reviewed the items covered with the Committee, which are set out in the attached Summary. Mark Davis said they had a good meeting with Larry Miller, although it wasn't as long as they had expected. Larry arrived late and had another appointment to attend after the meeting. Mark stated that we provided a lot of information to Larry and look forward to Larry's response on the issues. Tony Clark sent a copy of the Summary to Larry Miller and Tony will follow up with Larry to obtain his response to the items raised at the meeting. Tony Clark said he had been speaking with Patrick Brown, the recently elected Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and Tony obtained Patrick's and suggested that an invitation be sent to Patrick Brown to attend one of our meetings. Mark Davis also suggested that we may wish to also have a meeting with Ben Lobb, similar to the meeting with Larry Miller. There was agreement by the member to proceed with these invitations. The Recording Secretary was directed to Patrick Brown and invite him to attend a meeting and also to Ben Lobb to set up a meeting of delegates from the Committee to meet with him. 6.2 Warren Howard discussed the Ontario Land Owners Breach of Trust issues. Warren stated that the publication Ontario Farmer had a big letter in it dealing with mortgages and liens against property relating to IWTs. Warren stated that they can't seize your property, however the whole act of selling, the lien is an encumbrance and it can't be on title at the day of closing. Ontario Farmer approached Wind Concerns Ontario to write the article to ensure that this issue gets out there to farmers and rural property owners to make them aware of this when they are approached to sign contacts with wind developers. 6.3 Bill Palmer addressed the Committee and provided an update on the Wind Turbine Noise Conference he attended in Glasgow, Scotland two weeks ago. Bill stated that this was his 6th conference, which is held every two years, and the conference is growing and now consists of 200 Page 4 of 6

5 attendees from 22 countries. The subject is getting more technical and more PhD students are presenting their work. There were some interesting items covered. In Norway it's very mountainous and they are finding that having wind turbines in the mountain affects the homes in the valleys. In Sweden they have noticed that ice on the blades increase noise by five percent. There were papers presented which included statistical measurements of amplitude modulation. The first conference I went to I was the only person talking about that issue, now there's general acknowledgment that there are problems. Bill said there is another conference coming up in Pittsburgh, which he will also be attending. Bill stated that he would provide a copy of his presentation for circulation. Bill Palmer said that Pat Jilesen contacted him and said that Pat had received a copy of the Wind Concerns Ontario letter that had been sent to Don McCabe and Pat was hoping to attend tonight's meeting to discuss issues relating to IWTs. Pat Jilesen was unable to attend and he sent his apologies to the Committee. Mark Davis, the Chair advised the Committee that he had to leave the meeting and he asked Stewart Halliday, the Vice-Chair to take over the remainder of the meeting. 7. FOR INFORMATION 7.1 Stewart Halliday asked for any updates from the Committee Members. With regard to Grey Highlands, Stewart stated that with the fire suppression by-law they have in place, CAPSTONE's is now installing fire suppression systems in the 14 turbines they have in Grey Highlands. Scott Mackey asked how much additional cost is the fire suppression system? Stewart said approximately $25, per turbine. Stewart said that we are requiring that if the turbine gets stopped with ice on the blades that flashing lights be installed as a safety precaution. We are taking this position because municipalities are responsible for health and safety. There are now technologies out there that will change the blades so the sunlight on the blades doesn't cause shadow flicker. West Grey provided an update on the Nextera project in their municipality. Nextera has started bringing in trucks in from County Road 4 and the constant cement trucks create a heavy load on the roads not to mention the noise and the access problems for local residents. We don't have road agreements in place, our conditions are in the permits. We understand that Nextera is not seeking any further contracts in West Grey. No further updates were provided by other municipal members. Page 5 of 6

6 8. DATE AND LOCATION OF NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING The next meeting date is scheduled for Thursday, June 11, 2015, 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: Carol Barfoot That the meeting be adjourned to the call of the Chair. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Original Signed by Mark Davis, Chair Original Signed by Stewart Halliday, Vice-Chair Original Signed by Teresa Gowan, Recording Secretary Page 6 of 6

7 Summary Notes from Discussion with Larry Miller, M.P. Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound: Attendees: Larry Miller, M.P., Mark Davis, Arran-Elderslie, Stewart Halliday, Grey Highlands, Keith Stelling, Arran-Elderslie, Tony Clark, Chatsworth, Warren Howard, North Perth, Steve Adams, Brockton. Date & Location: Meeting held Weds, April 14, 2015 at the Arran-Elderslie Municipal Office. The purpose of the meeting was to review Industrial Wind Turbine (IWT) related concerns - consistent with discussion from the Multi Municipal Wind Turbine Working Group (MMWTWG) as follows: i) Charter of Rights Challenge / Intervener Status group reviewed the basis for the Charter challenge, waged in various courts over the last several years. In addition, the group updated Larry on the issue of possible re-instatement of intervener status funding government funding for legitimate legal challenges from residents who may not have the financial resources to pursue meaningful, public benefit challenges. Larry suggested using legal representation that will only be paid if they win. Problem with the IWT charter challenge however the plaintiffs are not seeking a financial award. Currently, the plaintiffs have to fund the challenge out of their own pocket for what most see as a public health/safety concern, the costs of which are very prohibitive. Larry understood will follow and advise back. ii) Accelerated IWT Depreciation-Write-down / IWT Related Green Energy Grant Program by the nature of these programs, the federal government is helping to fund already well financed, profitable IWT corporations. Larry was particularly interested in the three year turnover for additional write down tax treatment. Essentially, the federal government is funding the IWT industry through their favourable federal tax program write-downs & grants. Larry was unaware of this issue. He will follow & advise back. It was noted that a previous incentive for the IWT corporations has been eliminated a.01 / kw federal subsidy for IWT s. This program, effective ~ 2011, has since been stopped. iii) Rural Residents Issue discussion regarding the destruction of the rural landscape and to some, rural communities. The main battleground is rural Ontario pitting resident against resident, potentially damaging tourism, potentially exposing some residents to adverse health effects, etc.. Points were made regarding to very few IWT s around Ontario s large urban areas. Larry, with his largely rural constituency, understands. He will review & advise thoughts. iv) Airports & Transport Canada group discussed the potential safety issues resulting from IWT s on lands in the vicinity of airports Kincardine & Wiarton in our immediate area. Chatham-Kent Airport was also discussed see pics below. Larry to review with Transport Canada follow & advise. In a related piece, it was thought that airplane tracking instrumentation / GPS s can be effected by IWT s? v) Health Canada (HC) Study Health Canada s mandate is to protect the safety of Canadians. Yet their ~ $2KK study related to the potential health effects from IWT s came up with inconclusive evidence. The group like many knowledgeable sources was critical of the study itself. Issues such as time of year (ie. completed in July when the IWT s are often idle), not interviewing those with adverse health effects, completing their finding well away from the IWT s themselves, lack of consideration of evidence coming from previous studies in Europe, Australia (eg. infrasound health effects, other). The sheer number of residents with newly acquired after IWT installation health effects should trigger investigation in itself. Larry left with a large amount of related reading. He will advise back. Perhaps Larry will review with Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

8 vi) Radiation Emitting Devices Act (REDA) again related to Health Canada, IWT s emit radiation yet it appears that no government agency has enforced the conditions set out in the act. Larry to review & advise back. vii) Questioning the Need for Additional Expensive Power general discussion around the lack of substantive need for additional costly IWT based electricity. Power has to be affordable for the province/country to compete. viii) Off Shore Wind Turbines although the group is focused on on-land IWT issues, it s been reported that off-shore IWT s will be constructed in the next couple of years. As waterways are under federal jurisdiction, it was brought up for Larry s thoughts. No specific action requested at this time but a watch-out none the less.