MOE pledges ongoing research on turbines, health
Thursday November 19 2009
By Richard Vivian
SPECIAL REPORT:
Conclusion of the three-part series
Provincial plans to create a streamlined approval process for
renewable energy projects have been met with a bevy of objections —
from proponents, municipal leaders, and those who believe wind
turbines negatively impact human health — and a court challenge.
The government introduced its Green Energy Act earlier this year.
Officials tout it as a means of creating “green” jobs and helping the
government live up to its oft-delayed promise of eliminating
coal-fired power plants.
Many stakeholders, however, aren’t entirely pleased with what’s on the table.
Wind energy proponents feel it takes away their flexibility in placing
turbines; municipal councils abhor losing their ability to negotiate
with project owners; and some people feel the act doesn’t go far
enough to protect residents.
Perhaps the most significant hot-button issue is the 550-metre minimum
separation between renewable energy projects and residences..
Previously, host municipalities are responsible for negotiating
setbacks using their planning authority, which can be — and, in some
cases, has been — overruled by the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
“It’s inadequate. We have evidence people living as far away as 1,500
metres are experiencing serious side effects from wind turbines,”
insists Beth Harrington of Wind Concerns Ontario, a grassroots
organization formed to raise the profile of reported health impacts
associated with industrial wind turbines. “It’s very serious what’s
going on.”
Some people who live near turbines, including several in Dufferin, say
they suffer headaches, fatigue, a ringing in the ears and more. No one
contacted by The Banner has documented evidence to draw a direct
connection between their symptoms and the turbines, but they say the
symptoms didn’t appear until the turbines were turned on.
An application was filed Oct. 19 seeking a judicial review of the Act
based on the precautionary principal, which suggests if something
can’t be proven safe, it shouldn’t be used.
The application, filed by a Prince Edward County man, claims there is
more than sufficient uncertainty surrounding wind development for the
court to strike down portions of the legislation until “proper” health
studies are conducted.
“The actions of this government have turned the precautionary
principle on its head,” says Dr. Robert McMurtry, former dean of
medicine at the University of Western Ontario, who has repeatedly
asked the provincial government to stop approving wind power projects
until a full epidemiological study has been completed.
“People are leaving their homes. Some people have had to be admitted
to hospital with hypertensive episodes,” McMurtry says.
“All the victims have one thing in common. When they go back home, or
near the wind farms, they’re worse and when they get away, they’re
better.”
Canadian Hydro Developers, which operates a 133-turbine wind farm in
the county, acknowledges it purchased the homes of at least two
residents who reported health problems related to the turbines;
however, the majority of residents around the turbines have not
reported any health problems or filed noise complaints.
“We did a jurisdictional comparison of what other countries in Europe
are doing and what they’re doing in the [United] States,” Kate Jordan,
Ministry of the Environment (MOE) spokesperson says of how the
550-metre setback was determined. “We based that framework both on
that jurisdictional scan and the science and the modelling work that
our staff did here.
“That is a protective and progressive approach that we have taken.”
Previously, setbacks were largely determined based on the MOE noise
guideline — a 40-decibel limit at the point of reception.
“We felt that was a very evidence-based process in terms of
determining setbacks. ... We have expressed concern [with the Green
Energy Act] because it does seem somewhat arbitrary, the selection of
the number,” says Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind
Energy Association (CanWEA).
“We feel we’ve actually had a very effective regulatory framework in
Ontario that has helped to determine setbacks. The use of that has
determined that some turbines can be built closer than 550 metres and
some turbines cannot be built that close and have to be built further
away,” he says, noting setbacks across the province “generally” range
between 400 and 700 metres.
Municipalities across the province passed resolutions opposing the
Act’s setbacks, including many local communities.
Conscious of reported negative health impacts, the province will fund
an academic research chair to keep on top of the latest science and
technology associated with renewable energy projects, especially wind
turbines, explains Jordan.
“That chair’s role will be to research potential public health effects
of renewable energy projects as new information and new science
emerges. That will ensure that our approvals continue to be protective
of public health and the environment. That work will be ongoing,” she
says.
“There are more details to come on that this fall. We’re just looking
at the options right now for establishing the chair.”
Currently, the MOE doesn’t have any regulatory standards regarding
low-frequency noise — something the chair will be charged with
considering. Any recommendations brought forward by the chair are to
be reviewed by ministry staff for potential implementation.
“We intend to participate in the public process, as well as respond to
the various ministries involved,” Harrington says in reference to the
research chair’s work. “We don’t think the government should proceed
any further until these things have been looked into very closely.”
At 550, the new provincial setback is 100 metres farther than exists
today in Amaranth and part of Melancthon, home to Canadian Hydro’s
EcoPower Centre. Amaranth Mayor Don MacIver believes the increased
separation is a step in the right direction, but he questions whether
it’s enough.
“We’ve had quite a bit of concern over the current wind farm — the
transformer noise and the turbine noise,” he says.
“What I see with the Green Energy Act ... it’s going to open up the
township to a lot more wind turbine development in all sorts of
different areas. And we won’t have any power to help make
adjustments,” the mayor adds.
Through the act, a one-stop shop for renewable energy projects will be
created to help initiatives get off the ground more quickly. As part
of that streamlined process, several regulatory processes have been
amalgamated.
In doing so, the province has taken away municipal involvement.
Planning approvals, environmental assessments, certificates of
approval and other authorizations are now handled by a single
provincial body.
“We fought for everything to try to protect residents,” MacIver says,
referring to an OMB challenge initiated by Canadian Hydro. “The Green
Energy Act takes that away. Our issue was always proper planning —
that any development that comes into the town is subject to proper
planning. It’s not a question of whether you like turbines or not,
it’s a question ... of planning it and putting it in properly.”
Friday, November 20, 2009
Someone in Melancthon loves turbines
Sound of turbines very soothing
Thursday November 19 2009
Dear editor,
I am a resident of Melancthon, one of those many residents who are “surrounded by” wind generators. When I walk almost under a windidmill on a windy day, I can hear them wooshing quietly as they turn — a very constant and, I find, soothing sound. Remember, in this windy part of the province, the wind itself is pretty noisy and, like the windmills, intermittent.
While opposition to the windmills is very vocal, it is hard to gauge the real “mood” of residents in general. Satisfied people just go about their own business and rarely take the time to tell you they are “not bothered” by the windmills — likely they rarely think about them at all. (But politicians have to worry about those vocal few, don't they?)
To balance the generally negative bias of the article, I thought I'd tell you about one person who is very positively impacted by the windmills — me..
First, they add to my daily enjoyment. As I look out my windows or work in my garden, I find the gentle, constant turning of the blades to be restful, giving a feeling of serene movement to this otherwise pretty flat and boring landscape.
Second, the windmills reduce my anxiety. Ever since I was a child and the world was still reeling from the use of the nuclear bomb, I have been anxious about the dangers of nuclear power, including the potential harm from Ontario's (now aging) nuclear generating stations. Coal-fired electrical generating plants are also a danger to my environment, whether I live near them or not.
Since Ontarians continue to use more and more energy each year, the electricity has to come from somewhere. I was thrilled when Ontario began (at last) to invest in wind power as have other, more environmentally conscious countries. And pleased that I could look out my back window and see the evidence of that. Thus, Richard [Vivian], you could record one household where the turbines lower anxiety!
Barbara Herring, Melancthon
Thursday November 19 2009
Dear editor,
I am a resident of Melancthon, one of those many residents who are “surrounded by” wind generators. When I walk almost under a windidmill on a windy day, I can hear them wooshing quietly as they turn — a very constant and, I find, soothing sound. Remember, in this windy part of the province, the wind itself is pretty noisy and, like the windmills, intermittent.
While opposition to the windmills is very vocal, it is hard to gauge the real “mood” of residents in general. Satisfied people just go about their own business and rarely take the time to tell you they are “not bothered” by the windmills — likely they rarely think about them at all. (But politicians have to worry about those vocal few, don't they?)
To balance the generally negative bias of the article, I thought I'd tell you about one person who is very positively impacted by the windmills — me..
First, they add to my daily enjoyment. As I look out my windows or work in my garden, I find the gentle, constant turning of the blades to be restful, giving a feeling of serene movement to this otherwise pretty flat and boring landscape.
Second, the windmills reduce my anxiety. Ever since I was a child and the world was still reeling from the use of the nuclear bomb, I have been anxious about the dangers of nuclear power, including the potential harm from Ontario's (now aging) nuclear generating stations. Coal-fired electrical generating plants are also a danger to my environment, whether I live near them or not.
Since Ontarians continue to use more and more energy each year, the electricity has to come from somewhere. I was thrilled when Ontario began (at last) to invest in wind power as have other, more environmentally conscious countries. And pleased that I could look out my back window and see the evidence of that. Thus, Richard [Vivian], you could record one household where the turbines lower anxiety!
Barbara Herring, Melancthon
Dufferin County Wind Farm Health Effects
Selling their home isn’t something Helen and Bruce Fraser wanted to do, but they felt they had no choice. They’d bought the County Road 17 Melancthon property from Bruce’s father, included stonework from Helen’s parents in the design of the house as they built it, and spent 32 years making it their home.
It’s also where they raised their four children.
When talk of a Dufferin county wind farm first started, the Frasers thought it was a great idea. They threw their support behind anything intended to better the environment. But soon after an industrial turbine — about as tall as a 25-storey building (80 metres) — started spinning nearby, they decided they had no choice but to move away.
They’re one of six Dufferin property owners to sell their land to Canadian Hydro Developers (CHD), proponents of the Melancthon EcoPower Centre, the very same operation Fraser is convinced caused their health problems.
“I’d have such a headache I’d be holding my head thinking the top was going to come off my head — that’s how bad it was,” Helen Fraser says.
“We had no idea how they would impact us until they were put up. Basically, we were all for them because we’re for anything that’s green, until [the turbines] started running. Then we started getting the symptoms.”
The Frasers lived near the first phase of the wind farm, which started operation in 2006. Not long after, she says she started to experience headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and a ringing in her ears. Bruce, she says, began having problems with his blood sugar and when the turbine faced a specific direction, their dog would urinate inside the house at night.
They didn’t connect their troubles to the turbines at first. Fraser says that came after they went away on a couple vacations and their symptoms disappeared ... until soon after they returned home.
At the time, Fraser says they lived about 420 metres from the nearest turbine. They now live in Shelburne, several kilometres away from the turbines, where Helen says they’re doing “amazing.”
“I don’t have any of the symptoms that I had before. It’s like day and night. ... We just couldn’t go on living, for health reasons, the way we were living.”
Of the six properties purchased by CHD, Scott Hossie, the company’s Ontario environmental manager, says two were purchased as a result of residents’ health complaints.
“That’s not the preferred outcome for Canadian Hydro. We prefer to find a solution that allows us to continue operating and our neighbours to continue enjoying Melancthon and Amaranth townships. By and large, we’ve been successful in doing so,” he says.
“Really, the concerns about effects on health, or concerns raised by our neighbours of wind turbines with respect to health, are very much the exception.”
CHD purchased the other four properties, Hossie says, for storage and to house construction workers as the turbines were going up.
“It’s my understanding that all these houses, if they’re not needed by Canadian Hydro, will presumably go back onto the market,” he notes.
Hossie declined to talk about which properties were purchased because of residents’ health concerns, explaining CHD and the sellers signed contracts not to discuss their deal.
Fraser says she signed such a contract.
“I can’t discuss the sale,” she says, suggesting CHD could “come back” at her if she did. “I can discuss the turbines, but we can’t discuss the sale of the property.”
Former Seventh Line of Amaranth resident Barbara Ashbee-Lormand says she too signed a similar contract with CHD, which purchased her home.
“At this point, we can state that we and Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. are pleased that we have reached a comprehensive settlement which addresses, to the satisfaction of all parties, the issues that had arisen between us regarding the performance of the General Electric wind turbines at the Melancthon EcoPower Centre,” she wrote in a statement emailed to The Banner. “The parties have all agreed that the specific terms of the settlement will remain confidential.”
Prior to the settlement, she complained vibrations from low frequency noise kept her and her husband, Dennis, up at night. She said they worked “diligently and openly” with CHD to resolve the issue without success, before they hired a lawyer to take up their case, which resulted in a settlement being reached.
The majority of people living near the local turbines don’t appear to suffer the symptoms experienced by some nearby residents.
“We’re having no problems at all,” says Melancthon’s Randy Nielsen, speaking for his wife and two teenage children. “We’re surrounded by turbines.
“We’ve had people come to visit and they all like them.”
Of about 300 neighbours, the Ministry of the Environment has received complaints from 17 regarding the Melancthon EcoPower Centre.
“If you have problems with wind turbines in your home, and you’re really having difficulty, the wind industry will eventually settle with you,” suggests Dr. Bob McMurtry, a former member of the Health Council of Canada and former dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario.
“It’s worked out best for (the wind industry) if they keep those things quiet. There’s no requirement by the government for the wind industry to report settlements.”
McMurtry acknowledges he has spoken on behalf of Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO) — a grassroots group dedicated to raising the profile of health complaints from people living near turbines — but maintains he has no formal affiliation with the group.
Like WCO, McMurtry is convinced of a link between wind turbines and public health problems — a link other health professionals, government officials and wind industry leaders insist has never been proven.
“Despite individual concerns on occasion, peer-reviewed literature has never indicated any trend associated with health effects coming from wind turbines,” says Hossie. “From Canadian Hydro’s perspective, if anybody has a concern, we deal with it proactively on a case-by-case basis. We certainly do take those very seriously.”
Most of the time, he says, noise complaints are mitigated through routine maintenance and upkeep of the turbines.
“In North America, we now have more than 10,000 wind turbines operating. Concerns that have been expressed with respect to health impacts across that entire fleet are few and far between,” adds Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). “Our common understanding is that the overwhelming majority of people who live near wind turbines actually have a quite positive experience and are living productively and harmoniously with those turbines.”
McMurtry takes a different perspective on the existing literature.
“It’s remarkable. [Turbines] been around [in Canada] for over 20 years and no one’s done an adequate study to demonstrate their safety,” the doctor says.
He believes a “proper” study of the issue would take about five years to complete, with a budget of at least $1 million to complete the work.
“The only people with the resources to do that kind of thing ... is either the industry, which won’t happen I imagine, and certainly the government is responsible too, and haven’t done so.”
It’s also where they raised their four children.
When talk of a Dufferin county wind farm first started, the Frasers thought it was a great idea. They threw their support behind anything intended to better the environment. But soon after an industrial turbine — about as tall as a 25-storey building (80 metres) — started spinning nearby, they decided they had no choice but to move away.
They’re one of six Dufferin property owners to sell their land to Canadian Hydro Developers (CHD), proponents of the Melancthon EcoPower Centre, the very same operation Fraser is convinced caused their health problems.
“I’d have such a headache I’d be holding my head thinking the top was going to come off my head — that’s how bad it was,” Helen Fraser says.
“We had no idea how they would impact us until they were put up. Basically, we were all for them because we’re for anything that’s green, until [the turbines] started running. Then we started getting the symptoms.”
The Frasers lived near the first phase of the wind farm, which started operation in 2006. Not long after, she says she started to experience headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and a ringing in her ears. Bruce, she says, began having problems with his blood sugar and when the turbine faced a specific direction, their dog would urinate inside the house at night.
They didn’t connect their troubles to the turbines at first. Fraser says that came after they went away on a couple vacations and their symptoms disappeared ... until soon after they returned home.
At the time, Fraser says they lived about 420 metres from the nearest turbine. They now live in Shelburne, several kilometres away from the turbines, where Helen says they’re doing “amazing.”
“I don’t have any of the symptoms that I had before. It’s like day and night. ... We just couldn’t go on living, for health reasons, the way we were living.”
Of the six properties purchased by CHD, Scott Hossie, the company’s Ontario environmental manager, says two were purchased as a result of residents’ health complaints.
“That’s not the preferred outcome for Canadian Hydro. We prefer to find a solution that allows us to continue operating and our neighbours to continue enjoying Melancthon and Amaranth townships. By and large, we’ve been successful in doing so,” he says.
“Really, the concerns about effects on health, or concerns raised by our neighbours of wind turbines with respect to health, are very much the exception.”
CHD purchased the other four properties, Hossie says, for storage and to house construction workers as the turbines were going up.
“It’s my understanding that all these houses, if they’re not needed by Canadian Hydro, will presumably go back onto the market,” he notes.
Hossie declined to talk about which properties were purchased because of residents’ health concerns, explaining CHD and the sellers signed contracts not to discuss their deal.
Fraser says she signed such a contract.
“I can’t discuss the sale,” she says, suggesting CHD could “come back” at her if she did. “I can discuss the turbines, but we can’t discuss the sale of the property.”
Former Seventh Line of Amaranth resident Barbara Ashbee-Lormand says she too signed a similar contract with CHD, which purchased her home.
“At this point, we can state that we and Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. are pleased that we have reached a comprehensive settlement which addresses, to the satisfaction of all parties, the issues that had arisen between us regarding the performance of the General Electric wind turbines at the Melancthon EcoPower Centre,” she wrote in a statement emailed to The Banner. “The parties have all agreed that the specific terms of the settlement will remain confidential.”
Prior to the settlement, she complained vibrations from low frequency noise kept her and her husband, Dennis, up at night. She said they worked “diligently and openly” with CHD to resolve the issue without success, before they hired a lawyer to take up their case, which resulted in a settlement being reached.
The majority of people living near the local turbines don’t appear to suffer the symptoms experienced by some nearby residents.
“We’re having no problems at all,” says Melancthon’s Randy Nielsen, speaking for his wife and two teenage children. “We’re surrounded by turbines.
“We’ve had people come to visit and they all like them.”
Of about 300 neighbours, the Ministry of the Environment has received complaints from 17 regarding the Melancthon EcoPower Centre.
“If you have problems with wind turbines in your home, and you’re really having difficulty, the wind industry will eventually settle with you,” suggests Dr. Bob McMurtry, a former member of the Health Council of Canada and former dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario.
“It’s worked out best for (the wind industry) if they keep those things quiet. There’s no requirement by the government for the wind industry to report settlements.”
McMurtry acknowledges he has spoken on behalf of Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO) — a grassroots group dedicated to raising the profile of health complaints from people living near turbines — but maintains he has no formal affiliation with the group.
Like WCO, McMurtry is convinced of a link between wind turbines and public health problems — a link other health professionals, government officials and wind industry leaders insist has never been proven.
“Despite individual concerns on occasion, peer-reviewed literature has never indicated any trend associated with health effects coming from wind turbines,” says Hossie. “From Canadian Hydro’s perspective, if anybody has a concern, we deal with it proactively on a case-by-case basis. We certainly do take those very seriously.”
Most of the time, he says, noise complaints are mitigated through routine maintenance and upkeep of the turbines.
“In North America, we now have more than 10,000 wind turbines operating. Concerns that have been expressed with respect to health impacts across that entire fleet are few and far between,” adds Robert Hornung, president of the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). “Our common understanding is that the overwhelming majority of people who live near wind turbines actually have a quite positive experience and are living productively and harmoniously with those turbines.”
McMurtry takes a different perspective on the existing literature.
“It’s remarkable. [Turbines] been around [in Canada] for over 20 years and no one’s done an adequate study to demonstrate their safety,” the doctor says.
He believes a “proper” study of the issue would take about five years to complete, with a budget of at least $1 million to complete the work.
“The only people with the resources to do that kind of thing ... is either the industry, which won’t happen I imagine, and certainly the government is responsible too, and haven’t done so.”
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