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Ontario PC leadership hopeful would end wind turbine ‘ripoff’ 

Credit:  DEBORA VAN BRENK | QMI AGENCY | January 12, 2015 | www.sunnewsnetwork.ca ~~

Ontario wind turbines would stop spinning for good – saving money in the long run, despite up-front cancellation costs – if he becomes premier, says the Tory leadership candidate from Southwestern Ontario.

“It’s time to end this ripoff,” said MPP Monte McNaughton, one of five candidates for the Ontario Conservative leadership and the only one from the southwest where many of the province’s wind farms are located.

“Wind power is going to cost between $20 billion and $60 billion over the next 20 years,” said McNaughton, a second-term MPP from Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.

Tearing up existing contracts would cost less than what turbines are costing Ontarians now, he said, but he had no estimates of the cost to cancel contracts and raze turbines.

“We’ve got to cut our losses now,” he told QMI Agency on Sunday, ahead of rolling out his plan Monday.

McNaughton said he’d repeal legislation that allows turbines to be built and decommission ones already on the grid.

Lightning rods for opposition in many areas, giant wind turbines were pushed by the Liberal government with hefty subsidies paid for the electricity they generate as the province phased out its dirty, coal-fired power plants.

But as Ontarians saw when the Liberals cancelled two natural gas-fired power plants in the Toronto area, moving them to the east and west at a cost of more than $1 billion, scrapping energy contracts doesn’t come cheap.

McNaughton is the first PC leadership candidate to come out swinging against one of the most contentious rural issues of the last decade.

His riding is home to several hundred turbines, many of which have triggered protests and fruitless appeals.

But while turbines are a hot issue in the countryside, with many residents saying they pose health concerns for humans and animals, they haven’t been top-of-mind for urbanites.

McNaughton hopes to draw support by pointing out that electricity prices have soared for all Ontarians – an issue he says affects home affordability and business viability.

Ontario’s former auditor general was critical of the government’s green energy program in 2011, saying its rush into wind and solar power would cost billions more than an earlier renewable energy program and push electricity bills 8% higher a year for the next five years.

Making electricity more affordable “is the single biggest thing” that can restore Ontario’s prosperity, he said.

Wind companies have built or plan to build more than 6,700 wind turbines in Ontario. They’re paid a premium for the energy they produce, a cost passed on to consumers.

McNaughton said most of that energy is surplus to Ontario’s needs and is sold at a discount to other jurisdictions so that, he said, wind represents 4% of Ontario’s production and 20% of its energy costs.

“It’s a complete failure and it will never be economical,” he said.

Former Tory leader Tim Hudak, who resigned after the Liberals won a majority government in June, had vowed to repeal the Liberals’ Green Energy Act, but stopped short of saying he’d tear up existing wind turbine contracts. Other candidates chasing Hudak’s old job are MPPs Christine Elliott, Vic Fedeli and Lisa MacLeod and Barrie MP Patrick Brown.

Conservatives will choose their leader in voting set for May 3 and 7.

Source:  DEBORA VAN BRENK | QMI AGENCY | January 12, 2015 | www.sunnewsnetwork.ca

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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