Wind turbines have invaded many of Ontario's most scenic and ecologically rich areas. They're invading coastal wetlands and spreading along major migratory flyways - up the Bruce Peninsula, west to Lake Huron, south to Lake Erie, and east to Prince Edward County, where environmental groups are fighting a major wind development in Ostrander Point, an important bird area. "We have no idea whatsoever of the cumulative impact of these things," says Dr. Petrie. Turbines chew up birds and other flying things, and they disrupt wildlife habitats.
But, in Ontario, nothing is allowed to trump Big Wind. Ontario's Green Energy Act, the brainchild of outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty, gave the green light to rampant wind development. By 2016, the goal is to more than double the amount of wind power being generated now Wind companies are not owned and operated by idealistic entrepreneurs. They are run by some of Canada's, and the world's, biggest corporations, including pipeline and pulp and paper companies. Wind contracts are flipped like other financial instruments. NextEra, the outfit that cut down the eagle's nest, is the largest generator of wind and solar power in North America. Because of a lucrative U.S. tax break for wind power, the company has paid no U.S. corporate income tax for several years, despite billions in profits. Big Wind is among the biggest lobbyists in Washington. Dalton McGuinty's Green Energy Act was a spectacular policy blunder, based on a string of faulty premises: that coal emissions were killing us (they weren't), that we'd soon be running out of fossil fuel (we aren't, and Ontario doesn't use much anyway), and that switching to green energy would help save the planet (not in our lifetime). As the price of fossil fuels went up and up, the reasoning went, renewables would become more and more competitive. Just one problem: The price of fossil fuels has plummeted. http://m.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/mcguintys-legacy-is-a-green-nightmar e/article8131320/?service=mobile _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
