Wind turbine reforms fail to quell anger of rural voters

The Toronto Star's Thomas Walkom has a column on Wynne's attempt to "defuse" rural anger on the industrial wind turbine issue.

Walkom feels Nextera's lawsuit will worsen troubles for Wynne, who will be seen as firmly on the side of Goliath (Nextera) in bullying David (Wrightman).

Wind turbine reforms fail to quell anger of rural voters - The Toronto Star:

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After years of dismissing rural opposition to wind turbines, Ontario's Liberal government is belatedly trying to defuse the problem. Its efforts may be too little. They are definitely late.
In cities, the giant, industrial three-blade windmills are back of mind. When, as has happened in Toronto, urban voters do object to wind turbines, the Liberal government is quick to back off.
But most wind farms are slated for rural Ontario. And here, the government, until now, has been unbending. It refused to accept persistent claims from local residents that wind farms put their health at risk. It overruled municipalities that tried to regulate or ban turbines.
Instead, in virtually all cases, the Liberals sided with the big, private generating companies seeking to establish these profitable wind farms.
No wonder, then, that the Liberals were virtually wiped out in rural Ontario during the last election. Wind turbines helped to deprive them of their last footholds."
The new premier, Kathleen Wynne, has been trying to fix that.
But the Wynne government's efforts to date are grudgingly minor. A new policy outlined by Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli last week would require large wind-farm proponents to "work directly with" municipalities on where to locate any new turbines.
But there is no suggestion that municipalities would be given the power to veto or otherwise regulate schemes they dislike.

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