What our government, the wind companies and their lobby groups won’t tell you about wind energy…

When Homer opens his ever climbing electric bill, he decides to go off the grid by installing a giant size wind turbine. Only to discover the “knots” of wind energy… knot cost-effective, knot quiet, and knot reliable since the wind is knot blowing all the time.

You can watch the entire episode right here…

Didn’t there use to be a big tree where the wind turbine now sits? Talk about reducing your carbon footprint!!!

My favorite part is when Bart is out spinning the blades manually to keep the television powered. Of course that can’t last forever. The second half centers around a beached whale no doubt trying to escape the industrialization of offshore wind factories.

You know you’re in trouble when the Simpsons are making fun of you…
Ahem… Dalton.

Seems an appropriate slogan for the SouthPoint Wind development planned for Pigeon Bay in Lake Erie just one kilometer (half a mile) off the shores of the City of Leamington and Kingville.

It would appear that there is no cost too high in the name of green energy… even when other environmental factors are at risk. Pigeon Bay is one of North Americas busiest migratory paths for hundreds of thousands of birds and Monarch butterflies.

Will this be their fate…

Of course developers and proponents of wind energy will argue that more cats, cars and buildings kill birds than wind turbines. While this is true, it is certainly not in proportion. Of course they do… there are millions of them! But per unit, wind turbines win the award.

Others will argue that the average number of bird deaths is only 2.18 birds per turbine per year. That sounds great if you’re comparing apples with apples. But this is basically a wildlife park, not the middle of nowhere land.

Just imagine the migration of Canadian Geese…

And the Monarch Butterflies…

As they journey thousands of miles only to be welcomed by 180 wind turbines and their slice-and-dice blades swinging in their wake. Birds will be falling from the sky.

Even the developers own 2009 bird study for the project area revealed over 1400 birds at risk in their 11 day survey period. Note, each day consisted of one and a half hour sessions and the project size consisted of 15 turbines… Now 180 turbines planned for the same area.

Imagine the true numbers of birds that will soon be falling from the skies.

The ironic part is that these birds are federally protected by the Migratory Bird Act and the Monarch Butterflies are federally protected by the Species at Risk Act.

Unless the federal government intervenes, it’ll be “OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”

Look to be slapped with a new tax.  Those subsidiaries for the development of green energy projects don’t come free… We get to pay for it to the tune of $53 million dollars.

The new tax will appear on your hydro bills just as the 13% harmonized sales tax (yet another McGuinty scam) is about to be charged.  Our esteemed Premier of Ontario hitting us below the belt during these hard economic times.   But don’t worry, “it’s about $4 for this year for consumers and it’s a one-year program. It gets reassessed every year,” the Energy and Infrastructure Minister said.

Hmmm… I wonder if it’ll be lowered next year?
Not.

Just how will all those laid off workers pay for these extra taxes?    Ahhh… but wait… here’s the promise of new green jobs.  How unfortunate that they’ll all be temporary and at the cost of tourism in quaint rural Ontario.

But my question is why are we taxpayers bearing the costs?

Let’s remember that these subsidies will be used so that “for profit” businesses can develop green energy projects.  And with a guaranteed payout rate of $0.13/kWh (on land) and $0.19/kWh (for offshore) for electricity sent to the grid.

Someone stands to make an awful lot of money.

Consider that a 2MW turbine (your average 400 foot turbine) can produce 6 million kWh per year. That’s 52,560 million kW per year.   The government will pay him 13.5 cents per 1,000 kW that is put into the electrical grid.  By my calculations that amount’s to $6.8 million per turbine per year for land turbines and $9.9 million per year for offshore turbines.

FOR TWENTY YEARS!!!
Again… why are we the taxpayers footing the bill?

Is it any wonder SouthPoint Wind of Leamington is fighting so hard to ruin Lake Erie and Lake St.Clair with the development of 715 of these industrial metal monsters placed in the center of  what is essentially a provincial wildlife water park.

This is the color of green in Ontario.

SouthPoint Wind is back…

This time they want to put 180 industrial wind turbines in Pigeon Bay just 1-2 km off the shorelines of Kingsville and Leamington in Lake Erie.

I’m a nimby and proud of it.

There’s a reason why people don’t want these monsters in our backyards and the Provincial Government of Ontario knows it. Instead of environmental assessments and health studies, they passes the anti-democratic Green Energy Act to force green energy projects into communities.

Unfortunately the real green is the color of the money being promised to developers with feed-in tariffs that guaranteed them a fixed rate for the next 20 years… $0.13/kWh for land projects and $0.19/kWh for offshore projects.   It’s no wonder SouthPoint Wind wants to ravage our lakes will their greed.

Since we only pay $0.06/kWh right now in Ontario, you can easily see how this will bankrupt us all.

With only a few more days until Christmas and another winter storm hitting the northeast coast,  we’ve only had a sprinkling of snow.   I’m no fan of winter, but man, it’s just not Christmas without it.

While we haven’t had much snow fall from the sky, we’ve had a plenty from the lake.

It’s neat how the spray from the waves crashing against the shore turns to ice snow on it’s way down… forming snow dunes on the lakes edge.

The Ontario Government is trying to put wind turbine farms in our beloved lakes.

Not way out deep in the middle of the lake, but within 1.5 km of the shoreline… that’s less than 1 mile off shore.  Right in the middle of our public beaches, national parks and marinas.

The new Green Act overrides the municipalities and puts all the power in our now-elected officials… Leaving crucial Environmental Assessments in the hands of the developers!???

While I am all in favor of green energy, are our lakes the right place?

A few years ago, my husband and I moved our family as far south as we could go… Point Pelee is the southernmost tip of Canada.

We were fortunate to find a little place on the shores of Pigeon Bay in Leamington.

With bird sanctuaries everywhere, it’s bird heaven… even in the winter.

Now someone wants to ruin it with an industrial wind turbine farm.  The new proposal is for 15 wind turbines measuring 410 feet high placed in the lake  just 1.5 km (that’s not even a mile) off the shoreline and public beaches.

This is just Phase I, the original proposal was for 119 turbines.

And what a great summer it’s been!

While the weather has been cooler than most years, it’s actually been wonderful… not quite as hot and humid.   And fewer late afternoon thunderstorms.

We’ve spent most of our days at the park and at the beaches.  Here’s Tabytha her first time out on rollerblades.   She didn’t fall, not even once.

Austin, on the other hand, was trying to show off and landed  on his keister a few times.

And then there’s my big kid…

Our summertime friends were back again to visit.  Some days they fly in by the hundreds.

It seems like summer just started and here we are with only one more week until it’s back to school for the kids.

Hard to believe Austin will be in the eighth grade – one more year until high school – and Tabytha starts grade one.   She’s so excited to be one of the big kids now.

As am I…

It’s been 13 years since I’ve had my days to myself.   It’s hard to imagine.  What will I do?