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.

It is important to understand why the Danish government, which appears to have commissioned Mr. Pedersen's comments, is sensitive to critiques of the Danish experience with wind power. Denmark is home to Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, with 20,000 employees and a market share of between 20% and 25%. As the market for its turbines in Denmark and other European countries becomes saturated, it seeks to export the Danish experience worldwide. To this end, it recently ran a multi-million dollar global ad campaign with the slogan, "Believe in the wind," claiming that Denmark has solved the problem of dirty electricity through wind power.

The first complaints were of the visual impact of wind farms on their landscapes and waterscapes. Now a new concern is emerging. People who live near wind turbines are complaining of health problems such as sleep disorders, migraines, tinnitus, equilibrium problems, depression and anxiety attacks, and in children, learning disabilities. A 2008 California study and a 2007 British study have dubbed the "wind turbine syndrome," an effect on the inner ear by low energy noise from the turbines. There may also be an effect from air pressure changes from the turning turbines.

The ripple of controversy prompted Premier Dalton McGuinty to vaguely promise to investigate: "We'll take advantage of the very best information that's out there to make sure that we're doing something that's intelligent," he said after Dr. Robert McMurtry, a former dean of medicine at the University of Western Ontario, presented the survey results. ...And after so many things - cigarettes, asbestos and pesticides - that were initially considered innocuous turned out not to be, I wouldn't dismiss concerns.

Years ago, Princeton economist Alan Blinder famously exhorted policy-makers to frame policy that was based on soft hearts and hard heads. The McGuinty government's proposed foray into investments in wind generation upends this admonition by giving us policy that is soft-hearted - and soft-headed.

In 1996, after working for 41 years in the public service, (15 years in the R.C.A.F. plus 26 years teaching and administration) I retired in New Denmark for what I thought would be peace and tranquility with my neighbors and environment. NOW because of the proposed wind "farm", things have changed, and pitted neighbour against neighbour!

The Green Energy Act (proposed in Bill 150) will allow the Ontario Government to push through the installation of thousands of industrial wind turbines across the province without going through the time-honoured environmental assessment process. ...Premier McGuinty and his deputy seem to believe the thousands of complaints they are receiving about Bill 150 can be ignored. Doesn't it matter to them that the bill allows the World Biosphere Niagara Escarpment to be devastated by infrastructure development, or that our precious natural heritage systems will no longer be protected ...?

Michael Trebilcock, a renowned economist and friend of the environment, appeared before the Ontario legislature in April to argue against the Ontario government's proposed Green Energy Act (Bill 150). For the many good reason he outlines, this green act is anything but green. Trebilcock's submission is provided below.

Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark's largest energy utilities) tells us that "wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions." The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that "Germany's CO2 emissions haven't been reduced by even a single gram," and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery. Indeed, recent academic research shows that wind power may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions in some cases.

We do need to invest in technologies that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. But I believe we must do so with intelligence and not be seduced by vague or reckless promises that clearly do not stand up to scrutiny. Nor should we proceed with enormous public expenditures without appropriate due diligence and reasonable care, especially when it comes to the health and welfare of our fellow citizens and the future of our children.

With the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, it actually seems as though Ontarians are being asked to "buy in" to having no say as to what happens in their "backyard." The wind turbine development on Wolfe Island is not only unsightly on what was once a beautiful, peaceful and pastoral island but it will provide insignificant power to the grid at only intermittent intervals.

It was with a great measure of trepidation that I watched George Smitherman introduce the much vaunted Green Energy Act (Bill 150) in the legislature last week. It only got worse. As I read the Bill, visions of Orwell's Big Brother danced in front of my eyes. The Liberal government has managed to take the same action we did - making it easier for private sector risk takers to invest in Ontario - and use that to completely undermine a competitive market for energy in Ontario.

Ontario's Green Energy Act should more accurately be called Ontario's Gangreen Act. No piece of legislation in memory will do more to simultaneously undermine Ontario's economy and environment. This one act rolls back decades of environmental gains in the energy sphere and opens the door to a future of environmental outrages. ...The Green Act undermines the advance of conservation by making renewable energy, particularly wind power, the enemy of conservation.

There is an awfully big push these days to have farms turned into wind factories, to take agricultural land and turn it into an industrial wind turbine complex, complete with all the infrastructure of access roads, poles and wires. This is NOT farming. This is not even remotely similar to farming even though many still like to call a gaggle of 400-foot wind turbines a wind 'farm'. They are nothing more than an industrial use of agricultural landscape.

The objective of the GEA, which turns Ontario's electricity market from a low-cost system to a whatever-it-costs regime, is allegedly to reduce the province's carbon footprint. But no carbon-reduction targets have been set or will ever be set, no doubt because it is highly unlikely any significant reductions will occur. It is a myth that solar and wind power have no carbon emissions, as news reports often say. The main policy vehicle for renewable power is a massive subsidy regime.

Premier Dalton McGuinty wasn't kidding earlier this year when he vowed that he wouldn't tolerate NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) when it comes to the province's green energy polices. His government's Green Energy Act, introduced last week, contains a section that would ...effectively place the burden of environmental assessment or proof on anyone who challenges a proposed "green" development. Environment assessments wouldn't be automatically required.

The Green Energy Act seeks to do away with any need for proper environmental assessments for renewable energy projects, strip all planning decisions from municipalities, silence citizens and give more power to the energy companies with the help of a new Energy Czar. Rural Ontario will be wide open for exploitation and local government will be have absolutely no say. This is greenwashing with a gun to your head.