Opinion: Innergex renewable energy and thier goal – ‘Environmental’ – Part one of three
Innergex plans on building 50 to 60 Industrial Wind Turbines (IWTs) in the Merrick area near North Bay. Innergex Representative Francois Morin said “the exact scope of the project has not yet been determined, although it would be a maximum 150 megawatts – approximately 50 turbines.”
These IWTs are approximately 40 stories high, and the base (footprint) for one turbine is about the size of a football field. In order to anchor and support the IWTs, they have to excavate 8 to 30 feet deep into the earth and fill it with concrete and re-bar. Depending on the terrain, they might have to drill right into the bedrock to better anchor it. Based on the size of these IWTs, the base is approximately 30,000 tons of concrete and is equal to 30,000 tons of CO2 put into the atmosphere. The ratio is 1 ton concrete = 1 ton of CO2.
Based on 50 to 60 turbines approximately using up about three acres each, these turbine will use up roughly 1500 square acres of forested land. The loss of these trees will be incomprehensible as this land will be devastated from excavation and deforestation. The IWTs could take up a lot more land because each turbine has to be spaced 5 to 10 rotor diameters apart. Because of the grand scale of the turbines, the forest and all the vegetation there in will most assuredly be destroyed. The displacement of wildlife and their destroyed habitat will be inconceivable.
Another aspect to building these turbines is transporting them to the site. These turbine blades and columns are so enormous that in order to get them to the site they will have to build new roads, bridges and culverts big enough to support heavy machinery. They will be using equipment such as: transport trucks, cherry pickers, industrial cranes, backhoes, cement trucks, loaders and dump trucks. Sometimes they use concrete to make the roads more stable before they pave over it with asphalt in order for these country road to be accessible to heavy equipment adding to the CO2 they are submitting to the air.
The building of new roads and culverts and bridges to support all this heavy equipment will pollute our streams, creeks, and rivers beds from digging and disturbing the soil or silt around them to insert culverts or to build bridges. Our lakes and aquifer are also at risk from pollution from blasting into the rock cap, and or drilling down to anchor the IWTs. With all the heavy equipment in the area, accidents are not uncommon from leakage or spills from machinery. A few examples of different types of contaminants are: oils, gas, diesel or hydraulic fluids, coolants along with waste materials such as cement and human waste materials, along with vegetation or organic materials and trees being felled into the waterways destroying the echo system like spawn beds for fish. Any number of these factors can pollute our water making it unusable for human or animal consumption. It is a known fact that these companies have broken over 20 environmental rules in other communities.
According to “Raymond” a person who has firsthand experience in this matter he stated when the trees were removed from where he lives. The trees were not harvested, nor were people allowed to use them. The trees were just thrown into industrial chippers and made into wood chips. This is a total waste and it’s insulting that the residents were not allowed to profit or use these trees to heat their houses or sell for lumber on the market. Now not only did they lose their trees that they could have sold for profit they also have no firewood to heat their houses with in the winter. This is just another waste on these corporations, and it shows that they were not willing to give anything back to the people in the form of compensation of their loss. On this acreage of land, if there are saw logs on it, there would be Millions of dollars in trees. It would be better to harvest the trees and replant the entire area then to have them fill the ground with concrete where no trees can take root and grow.
Sound, Noise & Vibrations Industrial Wind Turbines create two different types of sounds (audible & inaudible infrasound).
Industrial wind turbines produce an audible sound such as a whooshing as the blades rotate past the base of the structure; they also produce an inaudible sound called (infrasound) which know no bounds or barriers. Traveling though or around anything, Infrasound is dangerous to the health and welfare of every living creature. We will elaborate on this topic in Human Health and Wildlife. If infrasound affects humans and wildlife, then it also must do something to the living plants. But because of lack of studies and research on plant life the ill effect are not yet known.
Cape Bridgewater as far as wind farms go is not unlike hundreds of other around the world but it has become the epicenter of world debate around the safety of wind farms to human health.
One man says “they behave like a giant tuning fork, every time the blade goes past”, “and it vibrates down through the concrete I imagine through the bedrock.”
According to Steven Coopers Research, he states: “I’ve measured infrasound from the waterway wind farm at 8 km, Adelaide University, during a shutdown at waterloo, measured the Halite wind farm, which is something in the order of 30km away . This is a very interesting article as, if they drill into our bedrock will the effects be felt through our footings on houses. Little is known how this will impact our water (aquafer), wildlife, plants and even building structures.
http://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au/stories/cape-bridgewater-windfarm
Deforestation & Loss of Vegetation
There is an endangered species of red spruce; a very rare tree species in this part of the world. The protection of this distinct population has become a conservation issue in Ontario because of the rarity of species, continuing threats to its existence. The whole area where they build these turbines will be wiped of all growth because of equipment and the turbines themselves. Natural Native herbs, spices, ceremonial plants and medicines like sage, sweet grass, chaga mushrooms, golden rod, spruce gums, tree barks, tuck tuck, berries, edible vegetation, mushrooms, wintergreen, along with other species not mentioned here. We need to protect these species for future generations. Our children are growing up not knowing how to be one with nature and it’s disheartening.
Global Warming or Climate Change
There are no scientific facts to prove that Global Warming or Climate Change is happening. The Earth is not heating up and is actually cooler than it has been in a long time. Although people have been worried about greenhouse effects, people actually only produce about 3 to 11% of CO2 that is admitted into the atmosphere. All other sources are from natural occurring factors like decaying vegetation, volcanoes, forest fires, etc. Therefore the (GEA) Green Energy Act is a global scare tactic, to ensure that big corporations and companies get the consent from governments and the mainstream populous to erect IWTs. To believe that we are responsible for climate change would be arrogant, considering we did not cause the last ice age, nor did we melt the glacial ice. We cannot control volcanoes, cause the sun to heat up or align the planets.
Canada is responsible for about only 2% of 100 % of the CO2 released into the atmosphere. When you add up all of the emissions from all countries combined is estimated that humans only contribute 11% CO2 into the atmosphere. All other emissions are from Natural Sources.
In conclusion Canada being one of the lowest contributors of CO2 gasses, why would we destroy our CO2 scrubbers the forests. Trees remove CO2 from the air, no trees more CO2 less oxygen. It is said that “a mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year.” Imagine what a 1500 square acres of treed land can do. Please help us protect this area, help us save this area for future generations. Do not sit idly by and think it will just go away. These IWTs are being built on crown land this parcel of land should remain untouched and left for wildlife and human enjoyment. This land one of the last public lands available for recreational purposes and the building of these turbines will destroy one of the last pristine get away spots in the area.
INDUSTRIAL WIND TURBINES are not efficient, they will never do away with existing power suppliers. They are not as GREEN as the government would like us to believe and there is no facts to back up global warming or climate change. To read more of how CO2 works, oxygen produced by trees and Vibrations felt Click the following links, or visit our Facebook group (Wind Turbines Just Say No) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/903314503052008/) for More Information.
Diana – Singing Bear, Val – Broken Arrow & Pam – Puddle Duck