April 18, 2013
Ontario

Anti-wind group targets ProWind

Tara Bowie | Woodstock Sentinel-Review | April 18, 2013 | www.woodstocksentinelreview.comTara Bowie | Woodstock Sentinel-Review | April 18, 2013 | www.woodstocksentinelreview.com

WOODSTOCK— A local antiwind group is putting a wind farm developer on notice.

The East Oxford Community Alliance alleges representatives from ProWind Canada Inc. have misled the public at meetings over the past few years, including one held in October 2012, by saying there are no adverse health effects related to wind turbines.

“They are not being forthright in the information they are providing to us and they are not providing the full picture,” Joan Morris, an East Oxford Community Alliance member, said.

Prowind Canada has received a conditional approval for a 25-megawatt wind farm on Gunn’s Hill in Norwich Township and is currently working towards final reports for the Ministry of Environment.

A notice sent in early April by the East Oxford Community Alliance through its lawyer, Eric K. Gillespie, stated the group is requesting that ProWind fulfil “its responsibilities to fully and accurately describe any negative effects on health and safety.”

The notice also includes a variety of peer-reviewed studies from the scientific community that states there is a potential for adverse health effects for those living near the site of a wind turbine.

“Basically they are claiming there are no health effects, and we’re saying that that is not true and we are providing them with the information that backs up our claims and a list of additional information they should be providing to everyone,” Morris said.

The notice closes with a warning that if ProWind omits the peer-reviewed information during meetings or while talking to the public that action could be viewed as negligent misrepresentation.

“In addition, a failure to fully disclose such information may provide grounds for a landowner to void an agreement purportedly reached,” the notice said. When contacted by the Sentinel-Review Juan Anderson, a project developer for Prowind, said he could not comment on the issue because the East Oxford Community Alliance chose to go through legal channels.

“Not at this time (can I comment),” he said during a telephone interview, “because they chose to put it through a lawyer.”

According to the Canadian Wind Energy Association’s website, “a growing body of peer-reviewed scientific evidence clearly indicates there is no direct link between wind turbines and health effects in humans.” Anderson did say Dr. Loren Knopper, a senior scientist at Intrinsik Environmental Sciences, will attend the final public meetings slated for later this month.

Knopper has published work that states wind turbines can be an annoyance for some people, and that is what is causing the ill effects.

The final public meetings are slated for Tuesday, April 23 at the Oxford Centre Hall in Oxford Centre from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The second will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 in the Vansittart Room of the Quality Inn & Suites in Woodstock.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/04/18/anti-wind-group-targets-prowind/