A Wallaceburg group is in full support of a judicial review application being filed against the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change over the alleged failure to protect the public from industrial wind turbine noise.
Violet Towell, spokesperson for the Wallaceburg Area Wind Concerns group, told reporters at a media conference that they have joined forces with three other like-minded groups to submit the application against five wind projects currently proposed across Ontario, including the Otter Creek Wind Farm project planned for north of Wallaceburg.
Towell said the application for the Otter Creek project was deemed complete, despite the wind company not having the necessary noise data from the equipment manufacturer to produce proper estimates of the noise that residents will experience from the proposed turbines.
“They did not have the adequate data at the time to make these predictions,” she said.
“Even last month, when the members of our group met with representatives from Boralex, they indicated that they did not have the noise output data required for the technical review at this stage of the game.”
Towell said the MOECC wrote in a letter to their group saying that they are allowing the Otter Creek Wind Farm group to use old guidelines when conducting noise assessments.
“We fully support this judicial review,” Towell said.
“The old guidelines underestimated the noise at nearby homes and the Ministry should be utilizing the new rules to protect their citizens. The judicial review is a new step for us to demand that the Ministry fulfill their role. The residents of our respected communities will benefit from this joint venture.”
Violet Towell, spokesperson from the #Wallaceburg Area Wind Concerns group, during a press conference on Thursday morning #onpoli pic.twitter.com/eJVrmoc7ps
— Sydenham Current (@SydenhamCurrent) 25 January 2018
The location of the press conference, the home of Dan and Diana Donkers at 6314 Langstaff Line, was specifically chosen as their property is set to be surrounded by wind turbines as part of the proposed Otter Creek project.
“In industry the province has stated that above and beyond all things… it’s safety first,” Dan Donkers said.
“I can’t step on a ladder in some places without having to follow certain protocol and here we’re getting this… the safety seems to be a third concern. That just seems foreign to me, how can you be inconsistent. If the province wants to make safety a priority, then make it safety all the way around.”
Donkers said having the project “shoved down our throat” is frustrating.
“We don’t have a say,” Donkers said.
“They don’t seem to want to listen, nobody seems to want to care. The people in Toronto seem to know better than we do and that’s frustrating.”
Donkers said the turbines that are proposed to be built out his front and back windows “are monsters.
“They’re 642 feet tall. We don’t need them that close to people. Put them out where it is not going to impact people,” he said.
“(They’re) not taking our safety into account. We are going to be impacted.”
Bonnie Rowe, spokesperson for Dutton Dunwich Opponents of Wind Turbines, visited Wallaceburg on Thursday for the press conference.
Rowe said the provincial government needs to get their priorities straight.
“Think about the safety of the citizens of Ontario first and the expediency of completing the requirements of your Green Energy Act second,” Rowe said.
“Citizens must be safer then they have been over the course of the last 15 years and it is not changing. That is what their responsibility is primarily. We feel like we are collateral damage in this whole Green Energy Act to be perfectly honest and that’s not right. There is too many people impacted by their decisions in this issue. We don’t take that very kindly.”
Bonnie Rowe, from the Dutton Dunwich Opponents of Wind Turbines group, at a press conference in #Wallaceburg on Thursday #onpoli pic.twitter.com/kXYcDL5Ps3
— Sydenham Current (@SydenhamCurrent) 25 January 2018
Messages sent to the MOECC on Thursday have yet to be returned.
The Ministry did respond to a number of questions posed by the Sydenham Current back in November of 2017.
When asked what they do to measure the risk of noise impacts for wind turbine projects, specifically ‘infrasound’, the Ministry stated: “The 2010 expert report on low frequency sound from wind turbines found there is no direct health risk from wind turbine sound at the province’s regulated sound level criteria of 40 dBA and the minimum setback distance of 550 metres.”
The Sydenham Current also asked the MOECC if they consider ‘infrasound’ a potential concern for the proposed Otter Creek project and if there are regulations to measure it.
“We have the capability to measure various types of wind turbine noise, including low frequency noise, using internationally-recognized procedures, in the frequency range of 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz,” the MOECC stated.
“The MOECC sought external advice in developing a measurement protocol from noise from wind turbines in the frequency range of 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz. Based on the report prepared by the external experts, the MOECC developed a measurement protocol specific to wind facilities known as the Compliance Protocol for Wind Turbine Noise. The document can be found at: https://www.ontario.ca/document/compliance-protocol-wind-turbine-noise.”
Representatives from the Otter Creek Wind Farm project have yet to return messages left on Thursday as well.
Watch for more on this story.
Not sure if I have this correct but these companies can’t just put these turbines anywhere they feel like it. Do they not have to get permission from the farmers or landowners. If the latter is true then I think everyone should be up in arms about the greed these landowners have. They should have their names published like the sunshine club