Minister accused of ducking wind farm protesters
A group called Wind Concerns Ontario says Smitherman's office hasn't told anyone the energy minister will attend the grand opening of the Wolfe Island wind project near Kingston.
The anti-wind turbine activists say Smitherman is "deathly afraid" he'll face protests at Wolfe Island after he ran into about 50 protesters at a wind farm near Kincardine in April.
The government hasnÂ’t made an announcement indicating that Smitherman and Environment Minister John Gerretson would be at the Wolfe Island event.
Press secretary Amy Tang says Smitherman hasn't avoided protests in the past and took time to talk with some of the wind farm opponents in Kincardine last spring.
Tang says the media can attend the Wolfe Island event, but would have to RSVP to Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., the company running the wind farm.
Wind Concerns Ontario says the industrial wind turbines pose a real health risk to people living nearby.
People living close to turbines have reported nausea, headaches, dizziness, anxiety, sleep deprivation and tinnitus – an incessant ringing in a person's ears – according to the group's website.
However, Queen's University researcher Neal Michelutti, who is studying the impact of the Wolfe Island wind farm, says there has been no substantive research so far linking those ailments to the presence of wind turbines.
The Ontario government has legislated a 550-metre setback for wind turbines, but the 86 machines on Wolfe Island that started operating in June are only 400 metres from people's homes.
Related News
Electricity Payouts on Biggest U.S. Grid Fall 64 Per Cent in Auction
NEW YORK - Power-plant owners serving the biggest U.S. grid will be paid 64% less next year for being on standby to keep the lights on from New Jersey to Illinois.
Suppliers to PJM Interconnection LLC’s grid, which serves more than 65 million people, will get $50 a megawatt-day to provide capacity for the the year starting June 2022, according to the results of an auction released Wednesday. That’s down sharply from $140 in the previous auction, held in 2018. Analysts had expected the price would fall to about $85.
“Renewables, nuclear and new natural gas generators saw the greatest increases in…
