Alban Goddard Hill says:

Regarding the Industrial Wind Turbine proposal
for Ostrander Point
on the south coast of PE County…
of the very beautiful south coast of PE County:

It is interesting
that your elected municipal representative :
Mayor Mertens, City of PEC
is against the project:
but your Council has said that
it does not have the money…
to pursue an appeal of the recent regulatory decision
in favour of the proposal.
Council, has taken legal advice,
which is that an appeal
is probably unwinnable.

And it’s interesting as well
that your elected provincial representative
Mr Todd Smith, MLA, Member for H PE Counties:
is also against the project:
He has called the conduct
of the regulator, the MoE ,
“deplorable and unprofessional”
which indeed it has been.

But again Mr. Smith has no recourse either.
The Ontario Legislature is prorogued..
it is closed for business…
at least our kind of business….
so there is no opportunity for Mr. Smith,
or indeed any Member
to raise the issue in Question Period in the House…
the Government is shut down…
at least our kind of Government….is shut down
there is no Question Period.

So, as a result, Ostrander Point is under siege
by the great….Gilead Power Corp…
that’s a very righteous name…
the Gilead Power Corp…
which wants to build
9 of these giant IWT’s….
on Crown Land no less….
on the Lake Ontario shoreline…..
that very beautiful Prince Edward south coast shoreline…..

and neither the provincial
nor the municipal
political representatives
can do anything about it…
they are out of the game.

So what it comes down to
is a battle between a big Corporation…
the great Gilead Power Corporation,

and the last opposition left standing
which is a group of Birdwatchers….
the intrepid …PEC Field Naturalists.

and good for you PECFN.

These brave Field Naturalists come to the table
with binoculars in hand,
but no money in the bank,
as they try to pursue an Appeal
of the recent MoE Christmas Eve decision
against odds
that have been made almost impossible….

and who made them impossible?

Well, the regulator himself did….

the MoE ….
the so called defender of the environment in Ontario..

with their announcement on Christmas Eve, 2012
of a decision in favour of Gilead Power,
notwithstanding the regulator’s generous allowance
of 14 day Appeal Period
during which interval government offices
were closed half the time for seasonal holidays,
and when all decent people
should have been home with their families…

and it was left to the PEC Field Naturalists
to find lawyers
who would work over the holidays
to meet this bogus …appeal… deadline,
and somehow at the same time
to raise one hundred grand…$100,000…or more,
to pay for all of this.

So you have the stomach churning situation
of a powerful energy corporation
being taken on by a tiny club of naturalists…

in other words,
the Bullies vs the Birdwatchers

and you have the regulator, the MoE,
stacking the deck …for the Corporation
and working ….for the Corporation
instead of ….defending the environment,
which apparently in Ontario is now a role
consigned to the birdwatchers.
The MoE once again proves
as they did ..in Clarington in 2012....and in Bath in 2006..
and in Trenton in 2000....and in Cornwall in 1998..
that they would better be called
the MID….Ministry of Industrial Development.

We know what he wants.
The regulator has made up his mind
in favour of his…. Machines,
and the citizens
can go to blazes.

These giant IWT’s :

I call them…..Trojan Horses:

they are presented by the proponent
to the community ….as a big positive…a big plus
but they will ultimately be revealed ..
to be a very big negative

just like the mythical ..Trojan Horse,
which , as you will recall, was presented as a gift
to the City of Troy
but which ultimately proved so destructive…
to the City of Troy.

And Why are IWT’s a big negative ?

1. not people friendly- they are Noisy, and ugly…
if there’s one near you
you won’t be able to sleep at night
because they are pounding away all night……..
an IWT is definitely not a good neighbour.

2. IWT’s are not wildlife friendly:
The naturalists have already determined
that botanical rareties …and Blanding’s turtles …
will be pulverized…. during the construction phase,
and birds and bats.. will be ground into mincemeat
once these turbines are turned loose
to do their evil work;

3. IWT’s operate at a large economic loss….
They are heavily subsidized
by the Ontario government.
The proponent will make a huge profit,
and then disappear
and you, the citizen and the taxpayer
will be on the hook …holding the bag….
tilting against these windmills…
all courtesy of the ill advised
Ontario Green Energy Act

4. IWT’s don’t solve any energy problems:
their output is inconsistent,
and the energy they produce
will be a drop in the bucket
for Ontario energy requirements:
We in Ontario are gluttons for energy;
we have an infinite appetite for the stuff,
and we are very good at wasting it,
and 9 IWT’s at Ostrander
are not going to change that.

5. These particular IWT’s
are be built on public land…
….Crown Land;

Now I don’t know the numbers
for the South Coast of PEC,
but PE Bay which is adjacent at the east end,
has about 30 miles of shoreline,
on which there is one public beach
of ¼ mile long at most,
for less than 1% of total shoreline,
so public access is already at a premium
in PEC ….. along that coast.

Ostrander Point is Crown Land,
and they are not making any more of that.
So it is very valuable public land,
which is about to be effectively privatized.

In conclusion:

We need green energy, (we are told)
but, as always, the devil is in the details.
Each IWT siting application is unique.
Each has to be taken on its own merits:

We need to balance
the positives…(a little more electrical energy
when the wind is blowing)…
against the negatives,
which are many.

At Ostrander Point,
which is an ecologically sensitive area
for both humans …..and nature……

there is not going to be
any Balm in Gilead…

IWT’s are a very big negative.

They are Trojan Horses,

and I urge you to reject them.

Alban Goddard Hill
Eastern Lake Ontario Environmental Research Group
January 7, 2013