It's too late to stop the surge of wind-farm development in Ontario, even by arguing the turbines cause illness, says Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch. "As far as what they can do about it, there really isn't a heck of a lot," he said yesterday. ...Emotions ran high at Thursday's public meeting, which the health unit organized to provide wind turbine information to residents.

With the very audible rapid whirring of two ceiling fans overhead a constant reminder of the issue, about 500 people jammed into the centre to learn more about proposed industrial wind turbines in the area. Ward 16 Coun. David Marsh told the audience he was holding the town hall meeting as a means to get clarification from the private company Energy Farming Ontario about its intention to build up to 30 of the turbines. He also raised concern that the provincial government's new Green Energy Act ...removes residents' and the city's right to appeal the towers going in to their neighbourhoods.

Medical officer of health Dr. Hazel Lynn told a crowd of angry citizens opposed to wind farms last night that she also has concerns about health effects of the giant turbines, but lacks the power to alter green-energy legislation. "I certainly appreciate the fact that people are suffering and I want to know why and what to do about it," she said during an information meeting at the Grey Bruce Health Unit. However Lynn told the crowd of about 120 that their anger and frustration is aimed at the wrong people.

Just like the July public information session held by Energy Farm Ontario Inc. about its study to develop a wind turbine farm near Grafton, the public meeting held Thursday night by those in opposition, drew a huge gathering of concerned people. It was far beyond standing room only for those squeezed around the edges of the seated audience packed into the Centreton Community Centre. Some were unable to get into the building, forced to stand on the steps and sidewalks outside.

A Blenheim woman claims her family is still suffering effects from a nearby wind farm. Kruger Energy's 44-turbine Port Alma project became operational last year. Nikki Horton, who filed a complaint with the Montreal-based company, said the wind farm is impacting her family's quality of life, with symptoms such as headaches and fatigue.

Canadian Hydro Developers and hundreds of invited guests celebrated the official opening of the company's 86-turbine wind farm on Wolfe Island yesterday. The emphasis was on "invited." A long line of cars was backed up along the highway leading to the company headquarters as Ontario Provincial Police officers meticulously checked names off a list. Anyone not appearing on the list was asked to pull over and could be turned away.

Question: This week and next, the Bureau des audiences publiques sur l'environnement is holding hearings on two proposed wind projects in central Quebec. Last week, it heard from citizens affected by a 78-turbine wind farm near Thetford Mines. On Wednesday, it will hold hearings in St. Ferdinand on a proposed 50-turbine wind farm. Residents are deeply divided and some have reported acts of vandalism and threats. How concerned are you over how these projects have torn apart communities?

A group of Manitoulin Island residents is taking on a Toronto-based energy company, accusing Northland Power Inc. of fast-tracking a wind farm project without proper consultation. The dispute is the latest sign of a groundswell of unease over wind power projects in the province, fuelled by groups such as Wind Concerns Ontario, which have been highly critical of the effects of such development on local communities. ...one of the project's most vocal opponents, says Northland has essentially "bulldozed" its plan over the community with little opportunity for a meaningful public response.

Bryne Purchase, a former deputy minister of finance and energy in Ontario, now executive director of the Queen's University Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, says Dalton McGuinty's government seems to be flying by the seat of its pants when it comes to energy. "This has all been driven by relatively simple political thinking: coal bad, wind good," he says. A carbon tax, whatever the form, would have had the advantage of pricing the pollutants out of the market, rather than making wind the default winning technology.

As Brighton-based Energy Farming Ontario Inc. presents its proposals to build a series of small wind turbine farms on leased farmland in Northumberland and Peterborough counties, local communities are also becoming aware of some of the issues that have fanned the controversy around this source of alternative renewable energy.

Huron East Against Turbines (HEAT) is asking Huron East council to pass motions that will require wind farm developers to bury power lines on municipal roadsides. HEAT is also asking for a motion that requires wind farm developers to post a bond of several million dollars that would be used to pay for any necessary clean-up of roads, bridges and culverts caused by the development.

The number of people in Ontario reporting adverse health affects due to wind turbines continues to rise. The new total is now 86 which is an additional 33 new victims. This is a disturbing 62% increase from 53 as reported in the first WCO [Wind Concerns Ontario) community-based self reporting survey earlier this year. That survey was made public on April 22, 2009 by Dr. Robert McMurtry at the Standing Committee for the Green Energy Act.

Researchers at nearby Queen's University have embarked on the first study to probe whether wind turbines built over communities can cause adverse health effects. The study measures residents' health and well-being before the turbines arrived on the island, again when the turbines were built but not yet operational and again after they'd been operating for a few months.

A committee consisting of most Municipality of Bluewater councillors voted Monday to support the notion of a study into the health impacts of wind energy developments. The decision was made at Bluewater's July 13 planning committee meeting, and was a response to a request from the Huron County Federation of Agriculture (HCFA) that Bluewater and other municipal councils support two resolutions passed June 22 by the HCFA board of directors.

In Huron County, the local federation of agriculture is calling for a moratorium on projects pending results of an epidemiological study on wind power's health effects. Alternative energy companies, such as the one proposing the Middlesex project, are paying close attention to the rising opposition. "It has kind of taken off across the country."

At the latest public information meeting on July 7, they were saying the same thing, but this time with a brand new plan aimed at being implemented starting August 2009. The plan unveiled to people in St. Joseph called for a decrease in turbine power from 2.4 to 2.3 megawatts, and an increase in numbers, from 120 to 130.

A Kerwood area woman is appealing to other Adelaide-Metcalfe residents to join her in a last minute effort to stop wind turbines from being erected in the township until more information is known about possible negative health effects. "Just stop until we get some studies done," said Esther Wrightman, who recently produced a pamphlet and a website to try to increase awareness of possible health risks.

By now, the residents of Wolfe Island, Ont., are getting used to the whirr and thump of wind turbines overhead. By next year, they'll get a glimpse of whether those whirrs and thumps could be damaging their health. Researchers at nearby Queen's University have embarked on the first study to probe whether wind turbines built over communities can cause adverse health effects.

The managing director of the company behind two Oxford County wind farm proposals suggested the speakers at a recent "Wind Energy Information Night" overstated the alleged health risks of industrial wind turbines. Bart Geleynse of Prowind Canada Inc. said the speakers at the Hickson Central Public School meeting were claiming a causal relationship between wind turbines and health risks without any compelling evidence. ...Both David Colling, an electrical pollution consultant, and retired pharmacist Carmen Krogh were adamant about the link between wind turbines and a number of adverse symptoms, including dizziness, nausea, headaches and tinnitus.

A group of residents in the countryside west of Port Rowan is looking for help now that the McGuinty government has conceded that wind turbines and people don't mix very well. The McGuinty government proposed last month that new wind turbines in Ontario be at least 550 metres away from the nearest residential dwelling.