not financially feasible

Bird Deaths by Wind Turbines….NOT Sustainable!

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Red kite with broken wing awaiting slow death under wind turbine – courtesy of GURELUR
Red kite with broken wing, waiting for a slow death under a wind turbine – courtesy of GURELUR*.


HOW MUCH WILDLIFE CAN USA AFFORD TO KILL?
APRIL 2014



America’s wind farms are actually slaughtering millions of birds and bats annually


By Mark Duchamp


Originally published by The ECO Report


The Obama administration is issuing 30-year permits for “taking” (killing) bald and golden eagles. The great birds will be legally slaughtered “unintentionally” by lethal wind turbines installed in their breeding territories, and in “dispersion areas” where their young congregate (e.g. Altamont Pass).


By chance (if you believe in coincidences), a timely government study claims wind farms will kill “only” 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030 (1). This new report is just one of many, financed with taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing the public that additional mortality caused by wind plants is sustainable. – It is not.


Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually (2). This adds up to 2,900 dead “goldies” since it was built 25 years ago. Altamont is the biggest sinkhole for the species, but not the only one, and industry-financed research claiming that California’s GE population is stable is but a white-wash.

6_beheaded_golden_eagle_Altamont_Pass

Golden eagle remains, Altamont Pass windfarm, California – courtesy of Darryl Mueller



Eagles are not the only victims. Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks.


In 2012, breaking the European omerta on wind farm mortality, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) reviewed actual carcass counts from 136 monitoring studies. They concluded that Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines are killing 6-18 million birds and bats yearly (3).


Extrapolating that and similar (little publicized) German and Swedish studies, 39,000 U.S. wind turbines would not be killing “only” 440,000 birds (USFWS, 2009) or “just” 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats (Smallwood, 2013) (4), but 13-39 million birds and bats every year!


However, this carnage is being covered up by self-serving and/or politically motivated government agencies, wind industry lobbyists, environmental groups and ornithologists, under a pile of misleading studies paid for with more taxpayer money.


Wildlife expert Jim Wiegand has documented how areas searched under wind turbines are still confined to 200-foot radiuses, even though modern monster turbines catapult 90% of bird and bat carcasses much further. Windfarm owners, operating under voluntary(!) USFWS guidelines, commission studies that search much-too-small areas, look only once every 30-90 days, ensuring that scavengers remove most carcasses, and ignore wounded birds that happen to be found within search perimeters (5).


These research protocols are designed to guarantee extremely low mortality statistics, hiding the true death tolls – and the USFWS seems inclined to let the deception continue. In addition, bird mortality data are now considered to be the property of windfarm owners, which means the public no longer has a right to know.


Nevertheless, news has leaked that eagles are being hacked to death all across America. This is hardly surprising, as raptors are attracted to wind turbines. They perch on them to rest or scan for prey. They come because turbines are often built in habitats that have abundant food (live or carrion) and good winds for gliding (6).


Save the Eagles International (STEI) has posted photographs of raptors perched on nacelles or nonmoving blades, and ospreys building a nest on a decommissioned turbine. Moving blades don’t deter them either: videos show a turkey vulture perched on the hub of a spinning turbine, and a griffon vulture being struck (6). Birds perceive areas traveled by spinning blades as open space, unaware that blade tips are moving at up to 180 mph. Many are focused on prey. These factors make wind turbines “ecological death traps,” wherever they are located.

Ospreys_new_home

Courtesy of Jefferson’s Leaning Left blog



By 2030, the United States plans to produce 20% of its electricity from wind. That’s nearly six times as much as today, from three or four times as many turbines, striking more flying creatures due to their bigger size (even the mendacious study predicting 1.4 million bird kills recognizes this). Using the higher but still underestimated level of mortality published by Smallwood in 2013, by 2030 our wind turbines would be killing over 3 million birds and 5 million bats annually.


But this is shy of reality by a factor of ten, because 90% of casualties land outside the search perimeter and are not counted. We are thus really talking about an unsustainable death toll of 30 million birds and 50 million bats a year – and more still if we factor in other hide-the-mortality tricks documented by STEI.


This carnage includes protected species that cars and cats rarely kill: eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, condors, whooping cranes, geese, bats and many others. The raptor slaughter will cause rodent populations to soar. Butchery of bats (7), already being decimated by White Nose Syndrome (8), will hammer agriculture.

BUITRES - 15.2 KB

Griffon vultures killed by wind turbine, Spain – courtesy of GURELUR*



The U.S. Geological Survey says the value of pest-control services to US agriculture provided by bats ranges from $3.7 billion to as much as $53 billion yearly (9). These chiropters alsocontrol forest pests and serve as pollinators. Swedish studies have documented theirattraction from nine miles away to insects that swarm around wind turbines (10). Hence the slaughter.


Wind lobbyists claim they need “regulatory certainty.” However, eagle “take” permits will also ensure extinction certainty – and ecological, agricultural, economic and social disasters that America cannot afford.




* GURELUR is an association of ecologists based in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain.


____________
Mark Duchamp is President of Save the Eagles International, and Chairman of the World Council for Nature

Industrial Wind Turbines are NOT Cost-Effective!

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Liberals are idiots on green energy

BradKath

 

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2014 06:09 PM EDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2014  Antonella Artuso/Toronto Sun Files

Liberal MPP and former energy minister Brad Duguid says Tory Leader Tim Hudak is “completely irresponsible and out of his mind” for trying to extricate taxpayers and hydro consumers from the Liberals’ green energy disaster.

In fact, the only people who were completely out of their minds on the green energy file were Dalton McGuinty, Kathleen Wynne, Duguid and the entire Liberal cabinet and caucus.

First, their criticism of Hudak is a straw man.

They charge Hudak would be irresponsible to tear up absurdly generous, 20-year contracts the Liberals signed with wind and solar power developers for expensive and unreliable electricity.

Except Hudak didn’t say that. He said he won’t cancel approved projects that are already supplying power to the electricity grid because it would cost even more to walk away from them.

He did say he won’t approve new contracts and will review on a case by case basis contracts awaiting final approval from the energy minister.

Both of these measures are common sense, aimed at minimizing the enormous economic damage the Liberals have already inflicted on taxpayers, hydro consumers and manufacturers through their irresponsible green energy boondoggle.

Indeed, the only people who tore up signed energy deals in Ontario were the Liberals, who cancelled the Oakville and Mississauga gas-fired electricity plants at a public cost of up to $1.1 billion, to save five Liberal seats in the 2011 election.

The $1.1 billion figure comes from the non-partisan Auditor General of Ontario, who also concluded the premier’s office and energy ministry knee-capped provincial negotiators trying to reach a deal with the private developer building the plant, when they insisted all of its costs should be compensated before the negotiations had even started.

The auditor general further noted the Liberals ignored the advice of their own energy experts when they blundered into green energy without a business plan, thus adding billions of dollars in costs to taxpayers and hydro ratepayers for generations to come.

Finally, the Liberals didn’t need wind or solar power to eliminate coal-fired electricity, which they actually did by using nuclear power and natural gas.

In other words, only an idiot would have done exactly what the Liberals did on the green energy file.

 

Kathleen Wynne Tries to Woo Rural Ontarians….Too Little, Too Late!

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KATHLEEN WYNNE HOPES HER “FARMS FOREVER”

MESSAGE WILL BRIDGE RURAL/URBAN DIVIDE *GAG*

Richard J. Brennan — Toronto Star — May 19, 2014

BRANTFORD, ONT.—Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne is hoping that red rubber boots, a few kind words and lots of money will bridge the gap between urban and rural Ontario.
Wynne, who is agriculture minister as well as premier, visited a cattle ‎farm just outside of Brantford Tuesday where she recommitted the $400 million over 10 years contained in the budget to help farmer and the agri-food industry.
Wooing Tory blue areas outside theGTA is a major focus for the mostly urban supported Liberals‎.

“I am here because it is so critical that we understand the importance of the agri-food industry in Ontario,” she told reporters, who had successfully dodged cow patties.
“This is a $34 billion industry. There are thousands of farmers in Ontario . . . every one of them is important to the economy of the province,” she said.
Farmers have been suspicious of Wynne, a Toronto MPP‎, taking on the role of agriculture minister.
Wynne said she has heard time and again in her travels that farmers are concerned “about farmland staying farmland.”
“So another part of our plan is a farms forever plan that would facilitate agriculture easements so farmland can stay as farmland.”  Continue reading and LEAVE A COMMENT here….
.
piggy-wellies

Community Members Prepare to Defend Themselves Against Industrial Wind Turbines!

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These wind turbines are threatening watersheds & economy

Published Date Monday, 19 May 2014 08:24
Where’s the story?PointsMentioned Map1 Points Mentioned

To The Daily Sun,

It’s unusual that a $500 million investment in the Newfound Lake community is being greeted with such community concern. After all, when was the last time anyone invested that much money here?

Make no mistake about it, Newfound Lake is under attack, and it’s coming in the form of 500-foot industrial wind turbines on our ridge lines with all electricity being routed to southern states.

Newfound Lake and Cardigan residents are overwhelmingly united in their opposition to newly proposed industrial wind plants. And Concord is very well aware of our community stance against additional wind development through our direct testimonies and detailed objections. Residents have officially voted twice against additional development and have also voted-in a new “Rights Based Ordinances” laws. And yes, for much of this past winter our voices have been raised and our tempers have flared at these town hall meetings.

Remember there is no shortage of electricity in N.H. N.H. has been exporting excess electricity to southern states for decades. It’s a very successful model — and many residents are questioning why we would consider hurting that model. But the million dollar question that remains is: “Why are we paying for any of this?”

Our story is very different. These turbines are threatening our watersheds, threatening our tourism, threatening our local economy and is threatening our “Natural Rights” and our “Quality of Place”.

We are not going down without a fight and we want your support. Summer residents and visitors alike should voice their concerns. Educate yourself this Sunday, May 25th at The Inn on Newfound Lake from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. It’s a critical information update meeting. Everyone is welcome. There is no charge to attend this event.

I hope to see you all there! Bring a friend…

Ray Cunningham
Bridgewater

People in Maine Catching On to the Futility of Wind Turbines!

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Maine poll exposes softness in wind energy support

Credit:  Wind Poll Results: Learn More, Like Less | Friends of Maine’s Mountains | May 20, 2014 | www.friendsofmainesmountains.org ~~

(Portland, Maine) Answers to questions asked recently by an independent, nonpartisan polling firm indicate that support for building industrial wind turbines in Maine is not as strong as wind power cheerleaders have led policy makers and the public to believe.

Friends of Maine’s Mountains (FMM), a group that opposes industrial wind turbine projects, commissioned Critical Insights of Portland, Maine to ask three questions about wind energy in its semi-annual Tracking Poll. The company completed 601 telephone interviews (including cell phones) with randomly selected voters across the state between April 16th and April 24th, 2014. CLICK HERE for a PDF of the results, which indicate that support for building industrial wind turbines declines appreciably when respondents learn that:

  • Building industrial wind turbines does not significantly reduce Maine’s reliance on nuclear energy, coal or oil;
  • Building industrial wind turbines in Maine yields only a negligible reduction in carbon dioxide emissions;
  • Maine may not experience positive benefits from the proliferation of industrial wind turbines on the state’s mountains.

(Click HERE for PDF of supporting information, and click HERE for PDF of Maine generation sources.)

Chris O’Neil, spokesperson for Friends of Maine’s Mountains, said the results raise questions about the extremely positive approval numbers that wind developers routinely cite when they attempt to justify steep taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies.

“For years wind developers have peddled the general benefits of wind energy, and they have a lot of financial resources behind them that we’ll never match,” O’Neil said. “People certainly want to believe it’s all good. But impacts to Maine exceed the benefits, and these poll results point out weak support for industrial wind when that shortfall is understood. Mainers expect tangible benefits for the enormous investment the government is forcing taxpayers and ratepayers to make in wind energy.”

O’Neil noted that almost 80% of respondents reported that they’re less likely to support building industrial wind turbines “if the development will not positively impact Maine.”

O’Neil said skepticism about wind energy is increasing, and as a result Maine policy makers are starting to ask much tougher questions about the benefits of industrial wind turbines in sensitive mountain areas. He pointed to several anti-wind bills in the last Legislative session that fared well, including legislation that would have eliminated the state’s “megawatt goals” and replaced them with a policy objective of demonstrated and “tangible” benefits.

“Now that policy makers have driven a new car off the lot, they’re finally kicking the tires and looking underneath the hood. Expect to see much tougher scrutiny of proposed wind projects in the future,” O’Neil said.

For more information about Friends of Maine’s Mountains, visit www.FriendsOfMainesMountains.org. For more information about Critical Insights, visit www.CriticalInsights.com.

Just Like We’ve been saying, Shut off the Money Tap, and it’s ALL OVER!!

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Energy Market Gorillas Beat Up on the Wind Power Monkeys

May 20, 2014 by  Leave a Comment

gorillas

The opportunity to make submissions to the RET Review Panel ended last Friday. The Panel’s mailbox has been stuffed with cracking submissions from Australia’s leading energy market economists, business groups and, more importantly, the really BIG players in Australia’s energy market (let’s call them the “energy market gorillas”).

Two of the biggest – Origin Energy and Energy Australia – have been calling for the mandatory RET to be scrapped since July last year. Origin and Energy Australia are both major power generators and also run huge retail power businesses.

Origin Energy’s managing director, Grant King and Energy Australia’s managing director, Richard McIndoe have repeatedly slammed the mandatory RET as “unrealistic” and, quite rightly, blame it for needlessly pushing up energy prices. King went further and called the mandatory RET “unsustainable” (see our post here).

No prizes for guessing what their submissions to the Panel say concerning the fate of the RET.

At the time Origin and Energy Australia came out swinging against the RET, the other 400lb energy market gorilla – AGL – decided to sit quietly on the fence. Its position of apparent indifference, no doubt, due to the fact that it is a major wind power player.

Since then, AGL has clearly reconsidered the “merits” of its foray into wind farm development and as a retailer in the “market” for wind energy. It’s just worked out that it’s paying around $32 per MWh more than it needs to on the 25 year PPAs it entered as a retailer – which will see it paying $40 million more each year for power than it otherwise needed to – with a direct hit to its bottom line (see this report). Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Despite its earlier indecision, AGL has now lined up with Origin and Energy Australia and has, effectively, called for the mandatory RET to go. AGL has sent a submission to the Panel that has the wind power monkeys howling in fits of terror.

The third gorilla to join the pack has told the RET Review Panel that:

AGL believes that there is a material risk that the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET) cannot be achieved. A convergence of factors is making future investment in renewable energy intractable. These factors include: policy uncertainty, associated barriers to exit (due to policy uncertainty); declining electricity demand; and the design of the National Electricity Market (being an energy-only market).

…

In the short term, it is clear that the existing policy will not be able to achieve its objectives … Investment has become intractable. There is little point continuing with higher targets for the LRET in the future if the underlying economic fundamentals prevent investment in new renewable capacity. In this context, it is critical that existing investments be appropriately recognised as having been made due to legal obligations to invest in new renewable energy projects or enter into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

When AGL says that “it is critical that existing investments be appropriately recognised” it’s running much the same line pitched by Infigen’s, Miles George: that wind power companies should automatically be compensated (by Australian taxpayers) for the “losses” sustained, in the (highly likely) event that the government decides to withdraw the most generous subsidy ever paid to any industry in the history of the Commonwealth (see our post here).

The “protection” of existing investments that AGL is looking for has been loosely referred to as “grandfathering”. Let’s put some meat on that expression, shall we?

Infigen (or Babcock and Brown as it then was) has been collecting a pile of Renewable Energy Certificates since 2005 (from Lake Bonney 1) and AGL has been stuffing its pockets with them since 2005, too (from Wattle Point): from 2005 both of them have developed numerous wind farms and, between them, have collected millions of RECs since then, cashing in at prices of up to $60 per REC.

So, when the term “grandfathering” is used, what’s really meant is that the $millions worth of RECs – which wind power operators have already pocketed (at power consumer expense) – are not enough and they want MORE. And by MORE, these thieves want the RET/REC gravy train to continue unabated (to their complete and unbridled advantage – and at power consumer expense) until 2031.

Now, why didn’t they just come out and say so?

From the noises coming from within the Coalition, AGL will get precisely what it wants when it comes to scrapping the mandatory RET. However, with the Coalition in its very first budget signalling an end to the “age of entitlement”, AGL’s plea for its existing investments to be “protected” is likely to fall on deaf ears. And so it should: this is – as Angus “the Enforcer” Taylor described it – “corporate welfare on steroids” (see our post here).

Joining the growing band of energy market gorillas calling for the mandatory RET to be scrapped is Queensland’s largest power generator, Stanwell Corporation. Stanwell have already described the RET as a perverse market distortion which has led to spiralling power prices (see our post here).

Stanwell have delivered a submission to the RET Review Panel that – in no uncertain terms – calls for the mandatory RET to be scrapped outright. Here’s The Australian’s take on Stanwell’s submission.

Renewable Energy Target ‘at odds with Libs vision’
Annabel Hepworth
The Australian
20 May 2014

THE renewable energy target is subsidising technologies that are already widely used around the world and is at odds with the Abbott government’s crackdown on corporate welfare, according to Queensland’s biggest electricity generator.

The demand by Stanwell Corporation for the RET to be abolished to cut power prices comes as major energy users say they have been hit with significant electricity price rises because of the subsidies for rooftop solar panels.

The Stanwell submission to the RET review panel chaired by businessman Dick Warburton points to Joe Hockey’s budget night speech, where he declared that instead of corporate welfare the government wanted to focus on letting business create more jobs.

“Through the RET the government has intervened in the efficient operation of the electricity market in order to subsidise certain electricity generation technologies,” the submission obtained by The Australian says.

“In most cases, these technologies are already established and widely deployed around the world. As well as adding to electricity prices, this behaviour is inconsistent with the government’s desire to end corporate subsidies.”

The submission also warns rooftop solar is causing voltage fluctuations and “power quality issues”, while the volatile nature of wind farms has meant excess capacity has to be kept in reserve to meet the demand for power when there is little wind.

Instead of multiple federal and state green schemes, the electricity generator says these should all be rolled into the Emissions Reduction Fund, the centrepiece of the Coalition’s climate change policy.

Meanwhile, the Energy Users Association of Australia says in its submission it is sceptical that large-scale renewable industry would be able to “scale up” capacity to meet the RET targets by 2020. “Energy users may face a significant impost to meet undeliverable targets. This is the worst of all worlds,” EUAA chief executive Phil Baressi says.
The Australian

When a government policy is unsustainable it will either be scrapped or simply fail.

In Australia, the wind industry is a “dead man walking” and – when it comes to paying attention to the growing roar of the energy market gorillas – is like the wise monkey – refusing to hear any word on the “evil” that’s about to befall it. Well, boys – listen up – the gorillas are angry and they’re after you!

three wise monkeys

 

 

The Liberals Belong in Prison, Not Queen’s Park! Check this out!!

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Monday, May 19, 2014

A Voice of Reason, from a CAW member (retired)

Why Would Any Ontario Voter Want Even One More Minute Of This?



Let alone 4 more years:

The Liberal record:
1. “We will hold the line on taxes”
— McGuinty’s signature promise in the 2003 election campaign,
which he shredded with a $2.6 billion tax grab, the largest in Ontario history.
The HST, which massively extended the reach of the province’s 8% sales tax
to such necessities as gasoline, electricity and home heating fuels, soon followed.
2. “We will not raise the debt”
— The Liberals have doubled Ontario’s debt to $281 billion since taking office.
Paying interest on debt, at $10.6 billion annually, is now our third-largest expenditure,
after health and education.
3. “We will make sure the debt goes in only one direction, down” — See above.
4. “We will stop the waste of taxpayers’ dollars”
— The Ornge, eHealth and gas plant scandals alone,
in which billions of tax dollars were wasted, put the lie to this Liberal promise.
5. “We will respect your hard-earned tax dollars” — See above.
6. “We will balance the budget” — See above.
7. “We will live by the balanced budget law”
— In 2003, McGuinty pledged, in writing:
“I … promise if my party is elected as the next government, that I will:
Not raise taxes or implement any new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters.
And not run deficits.” After the election, he broke all three promises.
8. “We will measure every investment against results.” If the Liberals had kept this promise,
the eHealth, Ornge and gas plant scandals would never have happened.
9. “We will make sure your health care dollars are invested wisely” — See Ornge and eHealth, above.
10. “We will bring peace and stability to our schools”
— Ontario students have just lived through a year of teacher unrest,
including the shutdown of extra-curricular activities, over the Liberals’ belated
attempt to rein in teacher salaries and benefits, after nine years
of throwing our money at them.
11. “We will ensure there is transparency in public education”
— Instead, the Liberals unleashed a controversial sex education curriculum
with no warning to ordinary parents. Now we’ve learned
Education Minister Liz Sandals doesn’t even read the curriculum documents she signs.
12. “We will ease gridlock with a seamless transportation network across the Greater Toronto Area”
— After 10 years in power, gridlock across the GTA is worse than ever and
the Liberals are making exactly the same broken promise again.
13. “We will shut down Ontario’s coal-burning plants by 2007”
— The Liberals still haven’t closed them, now promising to do so in 2014.
14. “We will bring clean, renewable energy to Ontario”
— Under the Liberals, wind and solar power are producing minuscule amounts of
unneeded, unreliable, inefficient and expensive electricity,
which has to be backed up by fossil fuels. This will, according to the Auditor General,
cost Ontarians billions of dollars extra on their hydro bills, for decades to come.
15. “We will bring stability to Ontario’s electricity market” — See above.
16. “We will respect the views of rural constituents by giving their MPPs free votes”
— If that was true, Liberal MPPs wouldn’t be responding to furious complaints
from their constituents about having industrial wind turbines rammed down their throats
with form letters.
17. “We will ensure that all developers play by the rules”
— Unless they’re wind developers, where the Liberals took away the rights of local citizens
to oppose wind projects.
18. “We will give real legal rights to victims of crime”
— In 2007, Ombudsman Andre Marin described Ontario’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Board
as “unreasonable, oppressive, unjust (and) wrong,” stooping so low as to
humiliate a grieving father when he asked for funds to help bury his five-year-old daughter,
who had been raped and murdered.
19. “We will lift the veil of secrecy on government agencies and appointments”
— In fact, the Liberals routinely resort to obfuscation, stonewalling, misdirection and
deceit when answering even basic questions about who does what in their government.
Think of their farrago of lies in the gas plants scandal.
20. “We will help create jobs and spur economic growth”
— According to the Auditor General, Ontario is losing two to four jobs for every
“green” job the Liberals create, due to skyrocketing electricity costs.
– The EHealth scandal
– The slush fund scandal
– The lottery corp scandals
– The CancerCare scandal
– The MPAC scandal
– The Children’s Aid scandal
– The hospital consultants scandal
– The Niagara Parks Commission scandal
– The tire tax
– The electronics tax
– The cheap beer surtax
– The hidden hydro tax
– The planned hidden gas tax
– The ‘smart meter’ tax
– The ‘Eco’ tax
– The auto pension bailouts
– The Nortel pension bailouts
– No reduction in HST despite $4.3 Billion from the feds
– The forcing of WSIB on all construction owners
– The staggering increase in the Sunshine List
– The failure at Caledonia
– Selling out to the teachers & civic unions
– The blatant Nanticoke lie
– The squandering of record revenues
– The nanny-state banning of nearly everything
– The public funding of sex-changes while de-listing eye exams phsyio & chiro  <<<======
– The billion-dollar-per-year burden of Family Day
– The billion-dollar flip-flop on The Oakville gas plant
– Saddling rate-payers with billions in subsidies to Samsung & Ikea
– The various Ombudsman/Auditor-General condemnations
– Turning Hydro into a luxury for the rich
– The by-election bribery’s
– The refusal to correct foreign ownership of our beer market
– The outrageous property assessments
– The stifling of private health services
– The illegal and unconstitutional secret G20 law
– The acceptance of garbage-striker extortion
– The harassing labour inspectors
– The idiotic preoccupation with homosexuality lessons for third-graders
– Dumping the blue box program onto small businesses
– Imposing blood alcohol rules that punish the innocent
– The $58 Million ‘severance’ to tax-collectors who didn’t miss a single day’s work
– Socialized daycare
– Canceling the ‘mandatory’ LHIN review & giving their CEO’s $15000 raises
– Sneaking tax-dollars into Liberals campaign team coffers
– Raising tuition & auto insurance to highest in Canada
– Sinking Ontario into Have-Not status.
-And just in time for the election: cleaner kickback scandals
-The Centre of Forensic Services cutbacks
-The Ontario Health Premium
-The Introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax
-Wynne’s brother-in-law appointed as $210,000/year interim eHealth CEO
-The London CAS charged $1.4M for false accusation and deleting documents
-David Peterson, brother-in-law of Deb Matthews,
appointed Pan American Games organizing committee chair
-Health Minister Deb Matthews blames doctors for nursing homes drugging residents at an alarming rate
-The Ring of Fire fiasco
-The 500+ deaths in hospitals with c. difficile and then all reports on the quality of care
made subject to privacy legislation
-Wynne’s wife owns 50% of a consulting company that gets government business – including Ministry of Health
-The numerous CAS problems identified by Provincial Auditor General include luxury vehicles,
resort vacations, etc.
-The lack of oversight regarding how often babies die in unregulated child care
-The lack of enforcement of education law by the Ministry of Education
-The billions in subsidies to Samsung and Ikea
-The Northlands fiasco – more costly to shut down than to operate
-The huge severance packages and bonuses paid out by taxpayer dollars
-The creation of the Ontario College of Trades
-The Solid Gold scandal
-The AGCO decision disallows contract brewers like left field brewery at events that are
licensed with a Special Occasion Permit (SOP)
-The Full Day Early Learning – Kindergarten Program
-The Drive Clean Program changed to cost more
-The 21,000+ adults and children with developmental disabilities on wait lists
-The proposed hospital and winery grant to to win another by-election (fails)
-The minimum wage increase concerns
-The $1.4B Windsor Parkway’s serious safety flaws from substandard materials
-Mike Crawley awarded $456M wind contract while Liberal Party president
-The $2.5B lawsuit from cancellation of turbines of Scarborough shore which
saved 2 Liberal seats and led to WTO ruling
-The mishandling of the outlaw of pit bulls
-The $10 tax on tax increase on license plate stickers every year for the past 3 years
-The introduction of a “modest” 70% increase on the heavy truck licensing sticker fees.
-The lack of provincial action regarding the Law Society of Upper Canada that
does not protect the public from lawyers who steal from their clients.
-Millions spent to remove the “C” from OLGC – to redesign our Provincial logo
while at the same time telling us that $5 was more than enough to feed seniors
in a nursing home every day
– $4 billion dollars taken from the debt retirement charge fund, thereby adding 5 more years
to the payoff time
-The whole new division of civil servants when McGuinty hired people all over Ontario to plan
bus routes for school kids – before that it was done FREE by the school bus companies
and school management – a mess because McGuinty’s people sit in a room with a map and school
bus companies drive the route to make sure it’s safe for kids but McGuinty’s people don’t know
what side of the road the sidewalk is on – total chaos and we now pay more people for a terrible job.
-The Liberal’s clean air reports over the years. They change the data from year to year,
and explain that away as “updated information”. So for example, if you superimpose the
new data over the old, what they claim as a reduction in emissions, is actually stagnant
straight line. Nothing but a constant barrage of lies, lies and more lies.

People of Port Elgin Discuss Wind Turbines, and the Troubles they Cause!

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Friday, May 16, 2014 2:38:36 EDT PM

The Unifor (former CAW) wind turbine in Port Elgin

The Unifor (former CAW) wind turbine in Port Elgi

A town hall style meeting was held at Maple Hall in Port Elgin Thursday night on the subject of wind turbines.

The meeting falls shortly after the one year anniversary the Unifor turbine blades started spinning it was fourth in a series of open meetings for continued education. The turbine meeting, which was hosted by Saugeen Shores Turbine Operation Policy (S.T.O.P) brought in two speakers with new theories and histories in the fight against wind power.

Organizer Greg Schmaltz quipped “people are probably tired of hearing from him,” so he brought in some featured speakers from Toronto.

First to speak was Sherri Lange, the co-founder of Toronto Wind Action “whose claim to fame is that they beat the turbines on the Scarborough Bluffs down in Toronto,” said Schmalz.

Lange is also CEO of NAPAW (North American Platform Against Wind).

The second speaker Thursday evening was Kevin Dooley “who likes to be called an inventor and he truly is, with over one hundred US patents’ to his name,” Schamlz added. “He is a retired jet engine turbine specialist; his life’s mission is all about vibration which of course noise is a vibration.”

The S.T.O.P spokesperson said Dooley has interesting theories about how people suffering adverse effects from industrial turbines are in fact identical to motion sickness that you would experience on a boat caused by atmospheric pressure changes “which is a pretty cutting edge scientific data.”

Dooley’s presentation showcased The McMauley Hypothsis about infrasound and how it causes tempera illness. He displayed acoustic data captured from Port Elgin homes showing the rate of the blade passing the tower in a pulse spectra analysis.

“These frequencies of thumping are specific to each wind turbine”, said Dooley.

Following his presentation the room was open to public questioning and Dooley was happy to simplify the statistics that he presented in his presentation which followed Lange’s.

“This is a worldwide movement with cases and court proceedings stretching out as far as Germany,” said Schmalz. “The movement on a worldwide basis needs to be based on scientific fact. You have to really prove without a shadow of a doubt you can show how and why people are being made sick through low frequency noise and that’s [Dooley’s] mission.

“The struggle will continue until you can get to court and prove that they should not be operation,” he said.

A key point that the S.T.O.P wants to make clear is its fight has nothing to do with the people that work for Unifor. That [members] believe it truly is a policy that the directors have taken and they propose a meeting with representatives from Port Elgin.

“We just want a knowledgeable civil discussion on how to mitigate the harm that their machine is doing to the neighbor’s that surround their facility,” added Schmalz. “There is no questions the harm was not there before that change was made–by putting that one machine in the neighborhood.”

S.T.O.P would appreciate the opportunity to sit down and share all the measurement data collected which indicates the high levels of low frequency noise in the victim’s homes.

“There’s a huge amount of information about what extended exposure to low frequency noise does to the human body and it’s identical to what the people of Saugeen Shores are experiencing,” concluded Schmalz.

 

The “Gang-green”, would like to eradicate the Humans on this earth!

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Marita on the Well Being of Humans

Some people are convinced that we have no business on this earth, and we have no right to use the resources–the planet should be some kind of park.

 I would disagree, at least until I am dead or demented. Marita explains how modern exploration and production processes are enviro- friendly. But these greenies are really people haters, no question. If somebody needs electricity in the 3rd world, better not violate some green idea of what’s right for mother Gaia. Guess what, Mother Gaia doesn’t exist, except in their true believer heads.

Marita’s essay for this week.

For immediate release: May 19, 2014

Commentary by Marita Noon

Executive Director, Energy Makes America Great Inc.

Contact: 505.239.8998, marita@responsiblenergy.org

Words: 1606

The liberty and energy connection

Following my appearance on the Daily Show, I’ve received emails and phone calls from people who don’t agree with my views about energy and the advantages America’s energy abundance provides—benefits that drive both progress and prosperity.

Some of the emails can’t be read in polite company, but one that can asked: “Please explain how energy from mountain top removal, fracking, and tar sands makes America great.” The word choices Greg selected tell me that he isn’t truly seeking enlightenment and is instead aiming to antagonize me. The next day, he sent another: “I have yet to hear back on this simple question. Please respond.”

It does seem like a simple question. One I should be able to answer in an instant. But I didn’t want to offer platitudes. I felt the question deserved a thoughtful answer. So, Greg, here you are.

I’ve spent the past couple of days at a conference on “Energy, Economics and Liberty.” There discussions took place on the energy debate, government’s role, market solutions, and the geo-politics of energy. About twenty men—all experts in various aspects of energy—attended. I wasn’t just the only female I was the only energy advocate. The topics brought Greg’s request to mind and the conversations helped form the answers.

One of the participants, Jim Clarkson, wrote an article titled: “The Shale Gas Paradigm,” in which he states: “Increased access to energy is a key to economic progress in the undeveloped world.” Similarly, in my book, Energy Freedom, I quote Robert Bryce, author of Power Hungry, who says: “Electricity is the energy commodity that separates the developed countries from the rest. Countries that can provide cheap and reliable electric power to their citizens can grow their economies and create wealth. Those who can’t, can’t.”

Senate Major Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) once said: “Oil and gas are making us sick.” But I contend that they—along with coal—are the very things keeping us well. In Energy Freedom’s introduction, I point out: “Energy saves lives. When fire strikes or hurricanes are bearing down upon a city, it is energy—in this case in the form of gasoline—that allows people to drive away and escape death. … When weather is extreme, it is energy—usually in the form of electricity (most frequently from coal or natural gas)—that keeps people alive. Air conditioning allows people to live in comfort in Arizona in the summer. Heating keeps people from freezing to death in Alaska in the winter. Energy keeps us well. Energy makes us comfortable.”

The Energy, Economics and Liberty conference was hosted by the Liberty Fund. On its website, it offers this definition of liberty: “the beginning and the source of happiness from which all beneficial things flow in return.” Much like liberty, energy is the source from which many beneficial things flow. Energy has been a source of America’s freedom, a big part of what has made America great.

The conflicts in Ukraine have made the importance of energy freedom clear. Because of being on the Daily Show talking about fracking, I’ve been given other opportunities to address the topic. One was with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura for his show Off the Grid. At the end of the twenty-minute interview, he asked me for closing comments. I said something like: “Because of fracking, OPEC would never be able to use energy as a weapon as it did to America in 1973 and as we see Russia doing to Ukraine today.”

Greg’s email to me used terms that lead to three different energy sources: coal, natural gas, and oil—and each have been big contributors to America’s progress and prosperity. Each has made the personal lives of Americans more pleasant and less painful. Together these energy sources have made America energy secure.

The email used the term “mountain top removal,” which is a method by which coal can be mined. It is safer than underground mines because it removes the risk of mine accidents, the horror of which we’ve recently witnessed in Turkey. (Note: America has far more stringent mining regulations today than does most of the world.) Greg likely selected the term “mountain top removal” because it sounds harsh. In fact, in the mountainous regions of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, this surface mining process allows for hospitals, housing developments, shopping centers to be built—all which bring more economic development and much needed jobs.

I’ve toured regions where “mountain top removal” is being done and stood on top of the massive coal seam. The procedure is amazing. Picture the region like lots of upside down ice cream cones next to each other. Hills and valleys—but no place to create a community. In that mountain is a thick layer of coal that goes all the way through the mountain, north to south, east to west. To access it, the dirt, the tip of the ice cream cone, is taken off and the coal is removed.

In the past, when the coal had been extracted, a private landowner could ask the mining company to level out the land—making it economically productive. However, today’s regulations take away that property owner’s rights and require that the mountain be rebuilt and put back to its original condition. If the landowner wants to turn his land into a housing development, he then has to incur the expense of, once again, removing the peak and leveling the land.

The coal provides, and has provided, America with low-cost, base-load electricity—which, as we’ve already addressed, has given us a competitive advantage in the global marketplace and unmatched personal progress. And, therefore, energy from mountain top removal makes America Great.

Fracking—short for hydraulic fracturing—combined with the amazing technology of horizontal drilling, has brought America into a new era of energy abundance. Clarkson states: “Gas using industries are expanding while we enjoy a distinct advantage over the rest of the world.” He explains: “Shale gas lay worthless beneath the earth’s surface for the whole of man’s previous existence until human intelligence made it valuable”—and that was done with fracking.

One of the definitions of liberty found at Dictionary.com is: “freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.” Clarkson points out: “There were no federal programs with subsidies, tax breaks, and mandated markets to favor the shale industry. …The new shale order of things is a triumph of free enterprise over government planning. The shale revolution shows that the good old American know-how and individual initiative that made this country great have survived the burden of big government and can still create economic miracles.” Clarkson closes with: “Some observers are already calling this the century of natural gas. This could also be the century of prosperity, free markets, and optimism as America regains its energy mojo.”

Unlike the pariah Greg presumes fracking to be, it is responsible for the shale gas phenomenon.

Last, Greg asked about tar sands and how they make America great. Tar sands, or oil sands, allow America to get oil from our friendly Canadian neighbor and reduce our need to import OPEC’s oil. We then refine that oil into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that fuels our transportation fleet—something that wind and solar power cannot do.

I have been to the oil sands of Canada and what they are doing there is, like fracking and horizontal drilling, a technological miracle.

If you have ever walked on a California beach and stepped on a tar ball (created when the oil seeps out of the ground and is washed ashore mixed with sand), you have a clue what the tar sands are like. The naturally occurring tar sands are a layer in the earth (much like coal). This layer has raw crude oil mixed with the dirt/sands. I recall driving to the tar sands from the town where we stayed. As the elevation increased, I noticed that trees reached a certain height and then died. It was explained that as soon as the roots hit the bitumen (or tar) it kills the tree.

At the extraction site, the tar sands are bulldozed and dumped into giant trucks (much like surface coal mining). The tar and sand mixture is processed to separate the oil and the sand. (Think of taking that tar ball from the beach and boiling it. The oil melts and floats while the sand drops to the bottom.) The oil is now available for use and the clean sand is put back into the earth—only now the trees can actually grow. The reclaimed land is teaming with wildlife that lives in the healthy forest the extraction process provides. As a result, when the Keystone pipeline is approved, America would be far less dependent on people who aim to do us harm and OPEC couldn’t cause an instant recession as it did in 1973. Plus, Keystone will be safer and cheaper—not to mention creating more jobs—than shipping the oil via rail as we are currently doing.

And that, Greg, is how tar sands can make America greater.

Yes, mountain top removal—or coal; fracking—or natural gas; and tar sands—or oil, make America great. The use of natural resources are a part of liberty: “freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.”

People like Greg want to interfere, restrict, and hamper North America’s energy abundance—which will take away America’s ability to provide cheap and reliable power to her citizens and take away the ability to grow the economy and create wealth. Why would anyone want to do that?

The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE)