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.

MPP Leona Dombrowsky already knew opposition was growing to industrial wind turbines in Prince Edward County. But as she gazed upon the packed, standing-room-only community centre in Picton last week, the scene likely reinforced how difficult wind energy will be to sell in this community- particularly to those who earn their livelihood from the natural beauty of the rural, island landscape. Certainly since Wolfe Island has been transformed by 86 40-storey turbines, there has been a spike of concern in this community about the impact a similar alteration of the landscape might have on the health and prosperity of County residents.

Energy Farming Ontario has blown into the City of Kawartha Lakes to trumpet wind farms, but the lack of details of the proposal has frustrated residents and the fact that the company has been quiet about itself. "They were very vague last night," Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Rick Johnson told The Lindsay Post regarding Energy Farming's answers at a public town hall held by Ward 16 Coun. Dave Marsh on Sept. 28.

Two Calgary, Alberta-based companies, TransAlta and Canadian Hydro Developers, appear to have made amends with a sweetened deal. The companies jointly said today they have entered into a definitive pre-acquisition agreement. TransAlta plans to amend its existing share offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Canadian Hydro for C$5.25 per share in cash, for a total value of C$1.6 billion.

When the wind blows, a massive amount of power flows to the grid and "any time you get that amount of power into the auction system of the power pool, it's going to crush price," said Rob Falconer, director of distributed generation for the utility. The push to buy carbon offsets in a carbon-constrained world plays a strong role in developers' estimating profit margins, but existing uncertainty over prices makes the debate over sinking billions of dollars into extensive transmission projects even more relevant, he said.

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.

Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. acknowledged yesterday that it does not yet have the rights to build a large wind farm offshore in Lake Erie. The company has agreed to buy a Canadian subsidiary of Utah's Wasatch Wind Inc. that has applied for those rights, but they have not yet been granted.

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.

Neither of the companies that announced the transfer of development rights for a massive wind farm on Lake Erie owns those rights, Ontario authorities told The Associated Press on Thursday. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources disputed accounts offered the day before by a U.S. company, which said it had acquired and was selling the rights to operate giant wind turbines on the Canadian half of Lake Erie, and a Canadian company that said it was buying those rights.

Opinions varied as much as the wind during a special council meeting on industrial wind turbines at the Prince Edward Community Centre Tuesday evening. Nearly 300 crowded the hall, with more than 30 people taking the podium for 10-minute deputations. With the legislation of the Ontario Green Energy Act in May, municipalities now have little power in the decision of allowing wind turbine projects to proceed.

An information meeting came close, at times, to transforming into a witch hunt, after more than 400 people crowded into the Manvers Arena to voice concerns over a proposed wind tower project. Monday (Sept. 28) night's meeting was called by Ward 16 Coun. Dave Marsh after many area residents felt they were treated poorly and did not receive important information on the project during an open house hosted by Energy Farming Ontario in Pontypool on Aug. 27.

Entegrity Wind Systems of P.E.I. has been given another 10 days to complete its financial restructuring and avoid bankruptcy. The company faced a deadline Monday, but all parties involved in the proceedings — shareholders and creditors — agreed in P.E.I. Supreme Court to the extension Monday.

Ontarians need to know exactly how provincial government contracts for wind-generated electricity will impact their hydro bills, Tory energy critic John Yakabuski says. "I think we need full disclosure on these contracts when they're signed with wind developers," he said yesterday.

More than 100 people packed both Leamington and Kingsville council chambers Monday night as the councils asked for a full environmental assessment on a proposed wind farm in Lake Erie. "There's a lack of detail," said Leamington Coun. Rick Atkin. "No management plan? I was just blown away by that," he said.

Giant conglomerate Samsung is apparently pondering a wind farm comprising 200 turbines on the north shore of Lake Erie but the Ontario government would only confirm Sunday that talks with the Korean-based company are in advanced stages. The proposed wind farm, part of Samsung's new push into renewable energy, would stretch about 25 kilometres from Port Maitland toward Nanticoke, an area considered to have excellent wind potential.

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.

Ontario released the much-anticipated regulations for its new Green Energy Act Thursday, including minimum setback distances for windmills from roads and houses. Under the new rules, turbines in an industrial wind farm must be built at least 550 metres from the nearest home. That's a problem for the first wind farm planned for Niagara, said Tom Rankin, who has partnered with Niagara Region to build five turbines in Wainfleet capable of churning out 10 megawatts of electricity.

The tricky business of going green in Ontario just got more complex yesterday, as the McGuinty government introduced a mandatory "Buy Ontario" component for new solar and wind projects. The changes were part of a bundle of new policies designed to spark homegrown green manufacturing, as well as the wide deployment of its products -- everything from small, rooftop solar panels to industrial-sized wind farms. But in trying to strike a balance between competing interests, the Liberals appear to have rattled all sides.

A Canadian company is seeking wind power developers to move electricity along a pair of $3 billion transmission lines in Montana and Wyoming -- potentially spurring a major increase in renewable power exported from the Rockies to the Southwest. The two lines would move 3,000 megawatts of power from each state. That's more than three times as much wind power as Wyoming currently produces and eight times what Montana has.