Bruce County is calling on the province to study the health effects of wind turbines. "The province has stated that they are not going to do a health study. We're going to encourage them with a letter hoping that they will do an independent study for the health concerns that are out there now and possibly down the road," said Huron-Kinloss Mayor Mitch Twolan.

Despite contentious debate last week over whether the town should open itself up to wind energy proposals at all, council decided in the end it was best to put the needed regulations in place instead of leaving the town without a strategy to guide a sector that is fast developing around the world. Coun. Margaret Tusz-King said the new wind power regulations, which were approved as part of Sackville's new zoning bylaw last Monday night, include "stringent limitations on how and where turbines will be erected."

Provincial plans to create a streamlined approval process for renewable energy projects have been met with a bevy of objections ...Officials tout it as a means of creating "green" jobs ...Many stakeholders, however, aren't entirely pleased with what's on the table. ...Perhaps the most significant hot-button issue is the 550-metre minimum separation between renewable energy projects and residences.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is asking Ottawa to fund more scientific research into the potential health effects of wind turbines. The organization has asked the government to focus on two areas: low-frequency noise and electrical disturbances from industrial-scale wind developments. The issue was raised in September by three municipalities from Ontario at a national board of directors meeting.

Six Digby Neck residents will visit Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau Wednesday in Halifax to ask a few questions about a planned wind turbine park. "We're trying to find out his reasoning for approving this turbine site in the first place," Evelyn Hayden said Monday. "We're just a group of concerned citizens that are trying to protect the health of everybody down here."

Prince Edward County councillors and members of the public left the Nov. 10 special meeting over a new proposed windmill bylaw for the municipality at Shire Hall feeling impotent, bemoaning the unanswered questions. "In my opinion, the mark was missed. And in a lot of ways, it feels like we're beating a dead horse because, in the game of politics, the Ontario government trumps municipalities. And if the province doesn't want it, then the province isn't going to care what we have on paper," said Prince Edward County councillor Kevin Gale.

It was another restless night in a long string of interrupted sleep. Amaranth's Leo Mendonca didn't feel quite right, like something was wrong, but he didn't know what, or why. When he got out of bed, he was struck by a wave of nausea. ...Thinking some fresh air may do the trick, he headed out to the garden. There, he looked up and saw what he now believes is the source of his troubles ... an industrial-sized wind turbine about 600 metres away, and many more within sight.

Local wind farm opponents vowed yesterday to keep pushing for independent studies into the effects wind turbines have on people. Ontario legislators rejected Bruce- Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch's call to halt industrial wind farm development until the province's top doctor can assure the government turbines don't harm people living nearby.

Tory MPP Bill Murdoch's resolution calling for a moratorium on new wind turbines in Ontario pending confirmation that there are no adverse health effects on humans stalled in the legislature. Murdoch said his resolution was drafted in response to concerns about wind power raised by hundreds of people in his riding and across the province. "I'm disappointed and where the people go from here I don't know," Murdoch said yesterday. "The government of the day has decided that they don't count by turning down my resolution."

Three months after the Ripley Wind Farm went online in December, 2007, Dave Colling's phone started ringing. Three of his neighbours were seeing doctors about recurring ear aches. They knew Colling, a former dairy farmer who lives within two kilometres of the turbines near the southern Bruce County community, had an interest in and could test for what he calls "electrical pollution." "It's like living inside a microwave. It radiates," Colling told more than 100 people Tuesday night in Keady.

Ontario Medical Officer of Health Arlene King told a legislative committee Tuesday she wants more information about health effects of wind turbines. That's different than what a Ministry of Health spokesman told The Sun Times was King's position Tuesday, that there's no link between the noise turbines make and adverse health effects. David Jensen also said government rules covering placement of turbines and reviews of scientific literature are enough to determine a moratorium on new wind farms is not needed.

Ontario's Medical Officer of Health Arlene King doesn't see any scientific evidence that links wind turbines with adverse health effects. When contacted yesterday, Ministry of Health and Long- Term Care spokesperson David Jensen said it is King's position that there is no link between the noise turbines make and adverse health effects people claim to be experiencing, such as severe headaches and joint and muscle aches.

A Big Island resident who hopes to take the Ontario government to court to quash legislation governing wind farms says the basis of his case boils down to common sense. Ian Hanna filed an application for judicial review earlier this week in the hopes he can get the provincial government to look into certain sections of its Green Energy Act. Hanna said plans by Skypower to erect at least nine energy-producing wind turbines on Big Island - as well as in other parts of Prince Edward County - need to be properly examined before any development occurs.

A Prince Edward County man is going to court over Ontario's new setback rules for industrial wind farms. Lawyer Eric Gillespie, acting on behalf of client Ian Hanna, a resident of Big Island, has launched the first legal challenge to the Ontario government's Green Energy Act which requires wind turbines be located a minimum 550 metres from homes.

Ian Hanna said his application for judicial review, being called the first of its kind, is his latest appeal to the government after petitions failed to stop plans for five turbines about 900 metres away from his property on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte. The community of about 100 homes will be overwhelmed by the turbines, he charged. "My parents taught us when we were growing up that we should stand up for what we thought is good and right and whether that's for my family or for my neighbours, I intend to do that," he said.

"The Green Energy Act, 2009 and its regulations clearly do not appear to meet the requirements of law in the province of Ontario," said lawyer Eric Gillespie today in a news conference at Queen's Park. On behalf of his client Ian Hanna, Gillespie explained that a court application was filed earlier today for judicial review of the Green Energy Act, 2009 based on the Precautionary Principle as it applies to industrial wind turbine installations.

A farmer in Prince Edward County is taking the Ontario government to court over its plans to boost wind farm development across the province. The Ontario government has proposed building a wind farm containing five turbines within 900 metres of Ian Hanna's home on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte, just south of Belleville. His community of about 100 homes will be overwhelmed by the turbines, he said.

Green energy is the only option for ending Ontario's reliance on coal plants, a spokeswoman for Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman said yesterday. While there may be unanswered health questions related to industrial wind turbines, there's no doubt about health risks associated with coal burning power plants, Smitherman's press secretary Amy Tang said. "We have to remember why we entered into renewable energy in the first place, which was our commitment to get off coal," she said.

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch announced yesterday he will call for a provincewide moratorium on wind turbine projects later this month. Murdoch said in a news release yesterday he will introduce a resolution, which he expects to be debated on Oct. 29, that calls on the province and its chief medical doctor to state whether or not wind turbines cause health problems for people who live near them. Murdoch said the government has a responsibility as well as a mandate to investigate such claims.

Potential health affects of the alternative-energy wind turbine farm were front and centre at an independent public meeting held Sept. 30 at the Uniondale Fire Hall. The hall was filled to capacity, and some residents had to be turned away due to lack of standing room. The meeting was organized by Stew Slater, who said that he "wanted to get the community together, to ask questions -- as a community." He explained that a meeting organized by Energy Farming Ontario (EFO) in July in St. Marys was too isolating, as conversations between residents and EFO representatives were one-on-one, rather than a group discussion.