Behind the Green Door, or, a union and the Ontario government--strange bedfellows?

 

The Ottawa Citizen recently reported on the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) meetings in Ottawa August 18-23 and in particular the fact that 62 municipalities had declared themselves “unwilling hosts” to industrial wind turbines.

   Those 62 communities (now 65) were simply taking Premier Wynne at her word based on her government’s Throne Speech:

“Your government intends to work with municipalities on other issues, too.  …They must have a voice in their future and a say in their integrated, regional development.  So that local populations are involved from the beginning if there is going to be a gas plant or a casino or a wind plant or a quarry in their hometown. Because our economy can benefit from these things, but only if we have willing hosts.”

   As it turns out, Premier Wynne's invitation backfired; maybe she didn't believe it would actually draw so much attention and cause so many communities to reflect on her rhetoric, and then declare themselves “unwilling hosts.”  The same August 20 article in the Ottawa Citizenstated that:

 “Wynne has asked the OSEA, a non-profit organization, to raise awareness in communities slated for the turbine projects about the benefits of hosting, including the financial gains that can come from being power generators in a cash-strapped economy.”

  Most people know the impact that the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association or  OSEAhad on George Smitherman when he was the Energy Minister and ushered the Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEA) through the Ontario Legislature.  It is now apparent that OSEA's influence is deeper and may reach all the way to the Premier's office.

    The Citizenarticle quotes Kris Stevens, the Executive Director of OSEA:

 “What we want is to have lots of points of light — sort of like the Internet — so that if part of the system goes off, the rest of the system can isolate it and keep running.”

   The article goes on to repeat this claim:

“He said such a change would prevent blackouts like the one that happened in much of Eastern Ontario and the Northeastern United States 10 years ago. ‘What happened in Ohio affected everyone because we were pushing power from one centralized place,’ said Stevens.”

   That claim is not supported by the Ontario's grid operator.

   Because delivery of wind and solar power is intermittent, it threatens the grid on an almost daily basis as Ontario's baseload generation must be turned on and off to accommodate the vagaries of that intermittent renewable energy.  Thatis the generation that OSEA lobbied Minister Smitherman to push through via the GEA; now the IESO regularly posts “Alerts” when they have a concern about potential grid problems usually caused by those renewables! Those “Alerts" might signal the next blackout!

   I have to ask about the Wynne announcement and the OSEA appointment: What have they done and how is it being financed?    In the last annual report posted on the OSEA website for their year ended November 24, 2010, their total net assets (capital) amounted to only $48,865 so it sure wasn't coming from that source.  Some of it may be coming from the OSEA primary funders such at the Trillium Foundation or the other four voter-owned provincial/municipal companies or ministries that OSEA list as “Funding Sources,” but OSEA doesn't disclose that, just as they now don't disclose their members.

   Nevertheless, OSEA has launched a new website: Green Energy Doors Open where they have (so far) announced a one-day event, principally in the GTA region, including an invitation to see or climb the Exhibition Place Wind Turbine.  They also have initiated a “Current Campaign” (within OSEA) titled, Municipal Outreach on Best Principles and Practices. I presume its aim is to demonstrate OSEA's ability to convince municipalities to jump onto the “financial gains” bandwagon as one of his “points of light” and become willing hosts.

  On the Green Energy Doors Open website OSEA list their sponsors; their “Gold”  sponsor is none other than  the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers (CUSW).  CUSW, with thousands of members, has contracts with Bruce Power, Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for Pickering and Darlington. Their website even has some of their minutes posted.  Item 2 under the heading “Meeting Agenda” from their National Executive Board Minutes of July 5, 2013 even lists “Liberal Golf Tournaments.” The minute records state:  “Liberal Golf Tournaments – Motion: to support the attendance of four CUSW Members at two of the tournaments being held over the summer.  Ottawa Gold Tournament Monday August 19, 2013 and Liberal Women's Caucus Tournament Thursday September 5, 2013 M/S B. Gilroy, A Tuck Consensus”. 

  Coincidently another agenda item approved expense claims including one for Mark Gallant (no relation) who wanted reimbursement for an “OSEA Energy Drinks Networking Event.” 

   And, the President of the CUSW, Joe Mulhall, is also a Director of OSEA.

   It seems strange that a union such as CUSW, whose membership benefits from contracts with OPG, would support an entity like OSEA and also have such a direct link via President Joe Mulhall and in that position should be considered as conflicted.   The imposition of the GEA that has caused so much damage to the electricity system in Ontario, resulting in the continuing decline of OPG's revenue stream while driving up electricity prices for all ratepayers seems like an odd cause to support when your members are employed by the entities you are working against.  

   Premier Wynne emphasized “financial gains” in her Throne speech.  Does she not understand that the financial gains for municipalities from industrial wind developments come from the pockets of ratepayers throughout the province, and flows into the pockets of mainly foreign developers and manufacturers? 

  Strange musings by our Premier, and strange bedfellows for the CUSW!

  Happy Labour Day indeed.

Parker Gallant,

September 2, 2013

The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of Wind Concerns Ontario.

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Not a Willing Host communities heard at AMO

Representatives of the now 64 communities in Ontario who have declared themselves Not a Willing Host to giant wind power developments, made their voices heard yesterday at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario convention, in Ottawa. Questions were raised during the afternoon "bearpit" session, during which Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli appeared to contradict himself, by saying that preserving valuable Ontario farmland and the quality of rural communities was a priority and then later saying that wind power was necessary for the province. He also said that there is no chance of giving municipalities a "veto" on wind power projects.
   Enniskillen Mayor Kevin Marriott remarked later that he was appalled by the Minister's "doublespeak."
   The municipal representatives held a meeting later in the day, and discussed what the effects of wind power had been on their communities to date, and what options were left open to them as they struggle to protect the health and financial wellbeing of their citizens.
   Here is a report from today's Ottawa Citizen. Comments are open at the time of writing.
  

Windmill opponents demand province give power to municipalities

 

By Teresa Smith, OTTAWA CITIZENAugust 20, 2013

 

 

 

Sixty-two Ontario communities have declared themselves ‘unwilling hosts’ to provincially approved industrial wind-power projects. They are demanding that Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government allow municipal governments to choose whether and where to put them.

Photograph by: Peter J. Thompson , National Post

OTTAWA — A coalition of 62 communities in Ontario have declared themselves “unwilling hosts” to provincially approved windmills and they’re demanding that Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government allow municipal governments to choose whether and where to put industrial wind projects.
A group of residents in North Gower, a region of Ottawa that the province pegged for a large-scale wind-power project, is supportive of the coalition’s demands, but Ottawa is not officially a member of the unwilling hosts coalition.
Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak told 1,600 delegates gathered at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference this week that, if elected, he would “scrap the Green Energy Act” entirely. If communities don’t want windmills, the municipality should not be “forced” to house “industrial wind turbines,” Hudak said.
New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath said “short-sighted” decisions on the energy file have created a needless backlash against wind power in communities that feel inadequately consulted.”
The Liberal government’s 2009 Green Energy Act gave the province control over the location of wind energy projects but, in May, the province announced changes that will require developers to work more closely with municipalities. Energy projects that are part of a co-op, owned by a First Nation or at least half-owned by a municipality, will get priority for the Feed-in Tariff program “which is good, because if the private company has community support already, then the project will be more successful,” said Kristopher Stevens, executive director of Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA).
To that end, Wynne has asked the OSEA, a non-profit organization, to raise awareness in communities slated for the turbine projects about the benefits of hosting, including the financial gains that can come from being power generators in a cash-strapped economy.
“It’s going to require a transformation in the way we think about energy,” said Stevens, who noted one of the best things about the Green Energy Act is that it supports smaller scale projects.
“What we want is to have lots of points of light — sort of like the Internet — so that if part of the system goes off, the rest of the system can isolate it and keep running.”
He said such a change would prevent blackouts like the one that happened in much of Eastern Ontario and the Northeastern United States 10 years ago. “What happened in Ohio affected everyone because were pushing power from one centralized place,” said Stevens.
So far, 62 municipalities across Ontario have declared themselves not willing hosts to wind-power projects, citing health problems and loss in property values as their main concerns.
However, while research into the issue is limited. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, in a 2010 report, concluded that “the scientific evidence available to date does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.”
The report said that while some residents might find the sound and vibrations from nearby wind turbines annoying, the sound is not sufficient to cause hearing problems and there is no scientific evidence the vibrations cause health issues.

The report recommended that “community engagement at the outset of planning for wind turbines is important and may alleviate health concerns.”
Health Canada has launched a major study into the effect of wind turbines on health.
The Marlborough 1 project in North Gower is on hold until the province announces its new procurement process. However wind developer Prowind, headquartered in Germany, has said it intends to reapply when the new process is in place.
In a letter to Ottawa Wind Concerns, a North Gower anti-wind turbine group, Mayor Jim Watson reiterated that the province is responsible for granting approval for wind projects and called the regulatory regime “quite onerous.” However, before any project is approved, he said, the city “will review all documentation and information relating to the proposed development and fully participate in any such consultative process.”
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What’s wrong with Energy in Ontario? Yes Ministers, Not “Yes Minister”

Unlike the brilliant BBC satire, Yes Minister, in which a minister of the Crown makes decisions with the advice of staff, Ontario’s energy portfolio has been headed by ministers who are inclined to say “Yes” when confronted by environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs).

   On June 2, 2008, the Toronto Star published an article by Tyler Hamilton, former environmental columnist for the paper, that described the ideas formulated by the ENGO crowd, including quotes from David Suzuki, Kristopher Stevens, Executive Director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, as well as Deborah Doncaster, who was and still is heading up the Community Power Fund (a fund granted millions of dollars by those “Yes Ministers” of the McGuinty government).

    Doncaster once made a presentation to the committee established to review the premise of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEA) and said this:  “Finally, we believe that one of the most significant features of the act is that it will create jobs—tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of jobs.”  We are still looking for those “hundreds of thousands of jobs.”  

   Marion Fraser, who claims “architect” status of the GEA, was also quoted in that Tyler Hamilton article.

    The fact is, the individuals instrumental in persuading the then Energy Minister, George Smitherman, to produce the controversial GEA  are still around and are as active today as they were in 2008. 

    Ontario has had six Energy Ministers since the start of 2008 (Gerry Phillips served twice) making the average term less than a year.  In that period, the various ministers issued 45 directives to the Ontario Power Authority dealing with all aspects and types of generation, smart meters,  smart grids,  transmission, conservation, grants (via the Community Power Fund), etc.  Is it really possible to understand Ontario’s complex electricity system in less than a year? Or is it possible that there is influence from individuals who are designing a system that will be beneficial to them and their close business associates?

    We are now about to see the current Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli demonstrate his knowledge as he launches a purported  redesign of the Long-Term Energy Plan (LTEP) together with the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and MicroFIT programs and the process for siting large generation projects.  The LTEP was a creation of Energy Minister, Brad Duguid, who launched it in November 2010 approximately one year after his appointment as Minister. 

     Premier Wynne is big on “conversation” so Minister Chiarelli says he wants one with all interested parties.  The conversation is off balance, however, in that it appears that many conversations are one-on-one with ENGOs.  Look at the submissionmade by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) on June 7, 2013 and you’ll see that conversations with the rest of Ontario will be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.  OSEA’s suggestions include the establishment of two committees to recommend changes to both the siting of large generation projects and the MicroFIT program.  In other words, the changes should be overseen by the very people who were responsible for the design of the GEA! 

    Worse, it seems the intent is to continue actions spurred by the GEA that increase electricity costs, and benefit only those involved in sectors of the renewable energy business. To hell with Ontario's ratepayers and taxpayers!  

    Will this Minister abide by their wishes?

    Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO)  has already seen evidence that the concerns of rural Ontario will be ignored.   WCO's submission to the joint task force (IESO/OPA), to review the “siting” of large energy projects was made after intense discussion and deliberation, and with the best of intentions.   The recommendations of WCO, and those of other stakeholders, were basically ignored in the OPA/IESO document provided to Minister Chiarelli on August 1, 2013, although they at least noted our involvement.

    The WCO and many community groups have encouraged and supported rural municipalities to pass resolutions to indicate they are “not a willing host” to monstrous industrial wind turbines; currently, 62 municipalities have done so. The submission by the joint committee on the “siting” aspect made no mention of the “willing host” concept.

   The principal influencing ENGO is OSEA, which not only published its June 7 recommendations, but also organized a “webinar series” in August, aimed at developing further input.  In a brazen demonstration of confidence in their role as an influential organization, they even invited Colin Andersen, CEO of the OPA, to join them.  (He wisely declined.)  The webinar panel is identified on the OSEA website and includes such luminaries as Chris Benedetti of the Sussex Group,  (which famously was seen in a leaked strategy documentrecommending that the Liberal Party “dupe” the public about the true cost of the  government's push for green energy), and others who directly benefit from the FIT and MicroFIT program.  

    No doubt the post-webinar OSEA recommendations presented to Minister Chiarelli (who met personally with Kristopher Stevens of OSEA recently) will favour the companies and individuals who benefit from the continued largesse of the GEA, FIT and MicroFIT programs. 

    I expect that when the current Yes Minister of Energy Mr. Chiarelli deals with the LTEP he will do as his predecessors have done— ignore the public and accommodate the ENGOs.  Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers will continue to hand over their hard earned income via their electricity bills, to fulfill the ENGOs’ “green” dreams.

   

Parker Gallant,

August 15, 2013

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the policies of Wind Concerns Ontario.

Scene from the BBC hit comedy, Yes Prime Minister, in which Sir Humphrey explains the balance of power in government decisions to Bernard
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