Comment ID: 210798 I am…

Comment ID: 210798

I am very concerned (and disgusted) that the MOECC is in the process of granting Renewable Energy Approval for yet another power project when there are thousands of unresolved complaints and problems around the health, economic, environmental and social issues which have arisen from a deeply flawed implementation of renewables in our province. I am one of many residents in this province who has spent countless hours coming to an understanding of these issues and doing everything I can at a municipal, provincial and federal level to have these issues dealt with and resolved. My involvement stems back to November of 2010 when my community was facing the proposed construction of the K2 Wind Project in the Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh in Huron County. Our concerns fell on deaf ears at all levels of our provincial government. Our rural community took a huge hit - as do all communities which have had to face this ill thought out implementation. I see where no real, comprehensive acknowledgement and/or action has taken place to date. There are wind turbines in the K2 project which are clearly out of compliance (as acknowledged by the MOECC) but they are still operating and people are being impacted. We know there is a problem with noise emissions from wind turbines installed in Ontario when the MOECC has citizens all over the province filing reports of excessive noise. The wind power developers are not responding to these reports. The MOECC process for managing wind turbine noise complaints is largely non-responsive at worst and deeply ineffective at best. It is well understood in rural Ontario that the McGuinty/Smitherman "renewable energy plan" was beyond problematic. No cost/benefit analysis was done, there was little understanding and/or respect shown to rural Ontario residents and urban votes were paramount. Money flowed recklessly with ill founded promises of jobs and prosperity and a "cleaner, greener" province. We now have a very large energy portfolio mess on our hands and everyone knows it - rural and urban voters alike. Even wind turbine leaseholders in our municipality acknowledge this mess and are angry about it. THE MOECC SHOULD NOT APPROVE A SINGLE NEW WIND POWER PROJECT (INCLUDING THIS ONE) UNTIL ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS AND ISSUES ARE ACKNOWLEDGED AND RESOLVED TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE PEOPLE OF ONTARIO. IT'S HIGH TIME TO HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON AND STOP THIS RUNAWAY TRAIN BEFORE EVEN MORE DAMAGE IS DONE. THE MOECC NEEDS TO LOBBY THE CURRENT POLITICIANS AND HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE. YOU FOLKS KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND AND YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO STEP UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING HERE. IT'S CALLED DUE DILIGENCE. LET'S AVOID ANY MORE TIME AND MONEY WASTED ON LAWSUITS AND COSTLY ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW TRIBUNALS. LET'S AVOID A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT IF WE CAN.