August 10, 2005

Energy diversification from Lake Erie shoreline
Rob, Josh and I have been knocking on doors throughout the riding in the past week.  After discussing the unprecedented heat, people at the door are talking about the related issues surrounding electricity – both pricing, and the daily warnings that we are facing a shortage. 

As we grow accustomed to a steady diet of bad news regarding the Province’s electricity sector, it is worth noting that Norfolk and Elgin landowners are contributing solutions.  These landowners have agreed to harness the wind along the Lake Erie shoreline into the Province’s badly starved electricity grid. On a related note, a possible wind development in the Dunnville area - currently in the early planning stage - will only serve to further bolster this area’s reputation as a diversified energy producer.      

After eight years of robust economic growth, Ontario is now looking down the barrel of an electricity crisis.  We simply do not have the electricity capacity to spare- and as I can attest from door knocking this summer, months of heat only compound the crisis. This problem could spell disaster if the McGuinty government continues to blindly rush the elimination of a quarter of our electricity capacity by closing down our coal-fired power plants.  Ontario is the only jurisdiction that is actually reducing capacity!  It’s time for government to cool its rhetoric about coal and focus on real solutions for the Province’s environment and electricity needs.

Clearly, in addition to conservation efforts and maintaining the diversity of power we currently have, one part of the solution involves new power production.  As such, the Lake Erie windmills are a welcome development.  Since the project’s inception, I have worked with local landowners and AIM PowerGen in teaming up to contribute a small but welcome addition to the electricity grid. 

Much of my work also involved setting the stage for wind mill installation on the crown land under Lake Erie-for the proposed site west of the tip of Long Point, south of Clear Creek.

One of the most often cited concerns about wind generation- whether on land or out in the lake- is its potential to harm birds.  Because of this, I have taken the time to study the impact other wind farms have had on the surrounding avian population.  What I discovered was promising. 

According to several studies, the danger of wind farms is minute compared to the potential of birds to be struck by cars, or for them to collide with the glass windows of high rise buildings in urban areas.  Further, with proper planning, and consultation with experts, wind developers are often able to reduce the risk to the bird populations even further.
 
In a recent discussion with the President of AIM PowerGen, and Bird Studies Canada, I learned that these organizations have agreed to cooperate on the issue of turbine location. Moreover, they have both expressed a desire to further study the impact of wind turbines on bird behaviour.

I am heartened that local landowners have been supportive of this wind generation.  With the decline of agriculture and this government’s recent cuts to the Ministry of Agriculture, the prospect of $5000 per year for a single turbine is an attractive option in our area.

As host of a diversified range of power generation, our area can be part of the solution to the Province’s critical deficit in electricity supplies.