April 30, 2018
Ontario

Wind turbine noise issue heads to Queen’s Park

By Mark Brown | Blackburn News | April 30, 2018 | blackburnnews.com

Lawmakers at Queen’s Park will be asked to consider new regulations regarding noise testing for wind turbines.

A delegation of residents from several southwestern Ontario communities will make the trip to Toronto Monday, to watch as several MPPs deliver a petition to the legislature calling for an end to “transitional” noise requirements for new wind power projects.

The petition will be presented by three PC MPPs, Monte McNaughton of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Jeff Yurek of Elgin-Middlesex-London and Jim McDonnell of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry. McDonnell is also presenting on behalf of residents in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.

The purpose of the petition drive is to ask the Liberal majority government to rescind the transitional process between old and new noise requirements for turbine projects, according to Bonnie Rowe, a spokesperson with Dutton-Dunwich Opponents of Wind Turbines Inc (DDOWT).

Companies that build wind power generators previously had to adhere to requirements that the noise generated from the turbines not exceed 40 decibels. Rowe tells BlackburnNews.com that the issue arises from companies being able to opt-out of those requirements in the transitional guidelines.

“We really didn’t know what transitional provisions were, but we got to looking and discovered that the Ministry of the Environment (and Climate Change) had created these new guidelines on how these companies should do their noise modelling,” says Rowe.

Rowe says if these transitional guidelines stay in place, any new turbines will not comply with the new noise regulations, creating a nuisance for people living near them.

The petition only asks the government to rescind the transitional process and force all companies to follow the new guidelines for turbine noise. Rowe says there are a lot of people in the community hoping that the government reconsiders the guidelines and she expects a crowd at Queen’s Park Monday.

“A number of our community members are driving down to Queen’s Park,” says Rowe. “There’ll be people from the Wallaceburg area as well as the Ottawa area in the legislature to witness the delivery of the petitions.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/04/30/wind-turbine-noise-issue-heads-to-queens-park/