Government lacks power over turbines
www.chathamdailynews.ca 13 October 2011
On Oct. 4, my letter concerning the legal action at the Kent Breeze Wind Farm was published. I outlined the problems and the government’s failure to provide help to myself and many other people in Ontario. I also stated that Mr. Pat Hoy, then-Liberal MPP for Chatham-Kent Essex, never personally responded to my complaint.
The day after my letter appeared in The Chatham Daily News, I received a message from Mr. Hoy stating that many months ago he called a company on my behalf. I was not aware that this phone call ever occurred and I do not have any evidence that it occurred. And I have never been given any details of what was said during this alleged phone call.
He also stated that his office assistant offered to come out and “have a listen.” This part is true and it came from his office assistant, not Mr. Hoy. This is an extremely interesting comment. Does Mr. Hoyís office assistant have extraordinary listening skills that are superior to MOE (Ministry of Environment) equipment? That is very possible because the MOE doesn’t have any equipment to measure noise from wind turbines. The MOE is supposed to be responsible for regulating the wind turbines.
On March 28, 2011 I received a message from Mr. Hoyís office without a signature. I do not know who sent it. It stated, ìhas the MOE investigated? They have the power to shut down the turbine and force the company to make adjustments as required by law.î
I passed this message along to a senior MOE officer. The officer responded: The MOE has no protocol for measuring the noise from wind turbines. The MOE staff has no training for wind turbine noise situations. The MOE does not have the legal authority to shut down any wind turbines.
I then sent the officer’s response to Mr. Hoy. I received the response, “excellent updateî signed by the office assistant at Mr. Hoy’s Chatham-Kent office.
I believe the MOE staff would like to do something about these problems. There have been other instances were MOE staff has made it very clear to the Liberal government all of the problems involved with wind turbines. For instance in a document recently made public, Mr. Gary Tomilson, senior environmental officer, Guelph District Office, made similar statements. Such as: ìMOE field staff have no approved methodology to determine compliance with the noise levels identified in the Guidelines\Certificates of Approval Air for noise emissions . . .î
So yes, the Ontario Liberal government has purposely set up a situation where wind turbines are not regulated. Many people living near these industrial wind farms are having many problems and the Ontario government refuses to do anything about it.
I have all of the written documents to back up all of my statements in both of my letters to the Chatham Daily News (October 4 and this letter). And I hope anyone else who decides to comment will have the same proof.
David Libby
Ridgetown
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/10/14/government-lacks-power-over-turbines/