This is in regard to the 'Green Energy Bandwagon' and the media's comments that go something like, "It's not as if wind power is controversial." Wrong, wrong, wrong. More than 4,000 (some say as high as 7,000) of these massive, noisy, 250-foot high industrial behemoths are being erected in the backyards of people living in developed communities throughout south central Ontario, for no practical reason whatsoever. A cost-recovery-benefit calculation of Dalton's Green Energy brain cramp shows his part-time industrial wind power plan is only beneficial to, and lucrative for wind turbine promoters and builders.

Normally, I don't write about problems I encounter in getting information from government because I feel it's too "inside baseball" for readers. I'm making an exception because I think this incident illustrates the problems besieged opponents of industrial wind turbines living in communities across Ontario are encountering in getting straight answers from their own government. This, as Premier Dalton McGuinty appears hell-bent on erecting these giant steel structures, up to 40-storeys high, as fast as he can. The last time McGuinty was this juiced we got ... eHealth.

Barbara Ashbee distributed this letter to all media in Ontario Canada. Ms. Ashbee and her family abandoned their home due to wind turbine noise and other impacts which have harmed their health and quality of life.

Too clever for his own good? That might be the case for Energy Minister George Smitherman, who aims to turn Ontario into a renewable-energy superpower and create thousands of green-collar jobs. Both are great ideas. But a deal being made on the sidelines could undo much of what Smitherman and the Liberal government are trying to accomplish.

When industries look for government subsidies for money-losing propositions, a common business model these days, one of the most important strategic elements is to make sure you have a well-oiled public relations machine to keep the facts from getting in the way. Voters don't like to back money-losers, which means keeping them steadily misinformed or at least confused. Renewable energy industries - wind, solar, biomass, human treadmills - have a particularly tough job.

It's never pretty watching people's rights getting trampled by a government caught up in the latest fad, but it's happening across Ontario. The victims are citizens living mainly in rural communities. Their concerns about the possible adverse health effects of industrial wind turbines are being rolled over by Premier Dalton McGuinty. We should all pay attention because our rights could be next.

Let me argue that the first test of an energy policy for the new age is not "alternative energy" at all - but rather conservation first, then energy efficiency and decentralization of the power structure. Renewables should serve these ends rather than be an end in themselves that may, in fact, be mostly useless. Wind power is especially troublesome in that regard. Even if NSP reaches 25 per cent renewables by 2015 based on wind, it will not have cut 25 per cent of greenhouse gases, which, after all, is the main goal. It may not have cut much greenhouse gas at all, in fact.

I wish to express my grave concerns with the passing of Ontario's Green Energy Act. No matter where anyone buys a home, if it is near agricultural land, there is no guarantee that this land will not be used to erect industrial wind turbines more than 400 feet high, a mere 550 metres from the centre of your home, and residents are now powerless to prevent such an unwanted intrusion.

At the G20 Pittsburgh summit, Canada endorsed a commitment to end subsidies to fossil fuel industries and step up subsidies to renewable energy sources. "We commit to...stimulate investment in clean energy, renewables, and energy efficiency," said the leaders. If anybody wonders what stimulating clean and green energy programs might mean to economic policy, a working model comes into effect today in Ontario.

The National Post ran a story today about a group of Manitoulin Island residents who are attempting to take on a Toronto-based energy company, Northland Power Inc. The residents are accusing the company of fast-tracking a wind farm project without proper consultation. What that means for those not up to snuff on their provincial consultations, is that any company building wind farms is required to conduct what the province calls an environmental screening.

If you promise something, you should deliver it. And sooner rather than later-especially if you engage in questionable PR tactics to win your case. I have argued in favour of governments financing both wind generation and nuclear generation, but not because both are equally capable of providing zero-carbon electricity. They are plainly not equal: nuclear provides large-scale, cheap, on-demand power; wind provides small-scale, expensive, erratic power. Comparing the two is like comparing a top-level NHL hockey player to a mosquito-level beginner.

Recently, I've been reading up on Alberta's oil sands development because that's going to be a huge issue in determining Canada's response, or lack of one, to reducing man-made greenhouse gas emissions. But anyone who believes this means the rest of us can self-righteously look down our noses at Alberta, doesn't understand the science or the reality. In Ontario, for example, Premier Dalton McGuinty can't call out his Alberta counterpart, Ed Stelmach on the oil sands, until he shuts down Ontario's coal-fired electricity plants, a promise he's been breaking since first making it in 2003.

You knew it was going to happen at some point. All those efforts at producing electricity without creating greenhouse gases were going to backfire. ...It would be naive to think that green energy ventures were going to run perfectly. But did scientists and public officials not think this through at all?

Has anyone ever interviewed any of these protesters, asking for their reason to take time off work and travel to these sites to protest? And in spite of these existing +13,000 German wind turbines, not one single coal-fired power plant became shut down. ...George Smitherman's attitude and gag-order, abrogating municipal councils' democratic mandate to act in the best interest of all citizens remains despicable!

Adams believes so-called "green" energy decisions by governments are best made by paying attention to such old-fashioned ideas as democracy, due process and paying for the real costs of electricity. This as opposed to turning the energy market into a giant casino where governments arbitrarily decide winners and losers among energy producers and consumers by cabinet decree, after consulting with favoured environmental groups and renewable energy industry lobbyists.

About now, Neal Michelutti and two colleagues at Queen's University are receiving responses to a survey about wind turbines on Wolfe Island, which sits in Lake Ontario near Kingston. They want to find out whether, as many suspect, the turbines rob people of sleep and hearing, or cause stress, skin rashes, headaches, high blood pressure or a host of other ailments.

The winds of dissent are blowing across southern Ontario, buffeting the dreams of entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on elevated support for renewable energy. "There's a lot of controversy about it coming out now," said Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture president Dave Riddell in a recent edition of the Alliston Herald newspaper, when asked to comment about prospective wind energy projects.

The list of areas where the government has chosen to exert the force of law over the persuasion of education is becoming legion, including but not limited to smoking, cellphone usage and, most importantly, wind power. Ontario Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman reinforced the position Monday. "We passed a law, and the law does not create an opportunity for municipalities to resist these projects just because they may have a concern," he said.

Ontario's new Green Energy Act passed third reading in the Legislature Thursday by a vote of 59 to 13. And it's fair to say that never in the field of legislative conflict was so much ballyhoo and promise hustled through so quickly with so little input from so few. ...And now we get to find out who was right, for better or for worse. Probably, it will be some of each. It's the size of the portions that is in question.

I didn't ask to have wind turbine complexes placed near me and my neighbours. I've lived here for 20 years and some neighbours, for a lifetime. We do not deserve to have our families and homes exposed to this for ANY reason. The fact that these wind turbines are so ineffective is only insult to injury, literally. The government needs to decommission the turbines that are causing such problems instead of adding more to the problem.