Wind study announced, calls for moratorium 

Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker is once again calling for a moratorium on wind turbine development in the province.

Thee call comes just as Health Canada announces a two year study on the impact giant industrial wind turbines have on the health of people living near them.

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the research was prompted by concerns from residents living near wind farms about possible health problems related to low-frequency noise from the turbines.

The study will initially focus on residents in two thousand dwellings selected from eight to 12 wind-turbine installations across Canada.

Researchers will assess residents’ blood pressure and take other physical measurements, conduct in-person interviews, and measure noise levels both inside and outside some homes.

Some people complain that exposure to low-frequency noise and vibrations from turbines can lead to sleep disorders, headaches, depression, anxiety and even blood pressure changes.

Aglukkaq says results will be published in 2014.

Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker claims the federal government has concluded it could not rely on provincial findings concerning wind turbine noise.

So far, Queens Park has denied any health risks associated with the noise and vibrations emitted by wind turbines.

In the immediate area, the Conservative MPP says it is ridiculous that the McGuinty government is pushing ahead with plans to approve 275 wind turbines on the Bruce Peninsula, when the health affects are not yet known.

There are also plans for 142 wind turbines along Lake Huron north of Goderich that Samsung wants to install.

Since the Green Energy act was passed in 2009, the Conservatives have proposed six pieces of legislation calling for a moratorium on wind turbines, all of which were rejected by Liberal and NDP members.

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Ontario must bring in wind moratorium now: Walker

OWEN SOUND – Local MPP Bill Walker today repeated his call for an immediate moratorium on new wind power development in Ontario after Health Canada announced it was conducting its own study on the potential health impacts of wind turbine noise.

The new two-year-year study headed by Health Canada and Statistics Canada will be supported by independent experts in areas of noise, clinical medicine and epidemiology as they investigate the symptoms displayed by people living near wind turbines in Canada.

“That the federal government concluded it could not rely on nor trust the provincial findings on wind turbine noise is reason enough to stop any more wind turbines being built anywhere in Ontario right now,” said Walker.

The provincial government has so far denied any health risks associated with the noise and vibrations emitted by wind turbines.

Walker said the impact of turbine noise on health should be of concern to the government given its plans to double wind turbine production in Ontario. On the Bruce Peninsula alone, about 275 turbines are currently being considered for development.

“I continue to hear every day from people in Bruce and Grey and all across Ontario who live close to wind turbines about the health effects they suffer. It’s completely irresponsible of this Liberal government to continue to use rural Ontario as a dumping ground for industrial wind turbines without having completed a proper epidemiological investigation of the full impact on human health,” said Walker.

Since the passing of the wind turbines enabling legislation, the so-called Green Energy Act in 2009, the Ontario PC’s have put six pieces of legislation before the House, calling for a moratorium on wind turbines, all of which were rejected by Liberal and NDP members.

Walker said wind power policies have brewed more bad than good for Ontario.

“It has divided communities, it has increased the cost of power to both homes and business significantly, and has only added a small number of short-term jobs during construction as opposed to the thousands of jobs that were purported to be created,” Walker said.

“Wind legislation is Ontario’s most undemocratic and unsuccessful undertaking. Local municipalities have no ability to veto local wind projects and taxpayers are forced to subsidize it at twice the cost of electricity,” Walker said. “Dalton McGuinty needs to stop wind power development right now.”