{"id":7966,"date":"2016-10-25T13:42:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T17:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=7966"},"modified":"2016-10-26T11:09:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T15:09:12","slug":"e-newsletter-october-25-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=7966","title":{"rendered":"e-Newsletter \u2013 October 26, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Current summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The proponent still does not have all the approvals needed to construct their proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls.<\/li>\n<li>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ProposedBalaGeneratingStationFlowSimulation,20160725.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">major issues of public safety<\/a> still unaddressed.<br \/> \u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Our Fall 2016 update<\/strong><br \/> Read it <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/SaveTheBalaFalls.com,Fall2016update.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<br \/> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ontario announces it has enough power generation<\/strong><br \/> On September 27, 2016 the Ontario Liberal government announced that as <strong>Ontario has an adequate electricity supply for the next ten years<\/strong>, they were cancelling the planned procurement of additional renewable power generation\u00a0\u2013\u00a0saving Ontarians $3.8 billion. Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault said it only makes sense to \u201cmake common sense adjustments\u201d. View the video of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SNX4i2sKTfU\" target=\"_blank\">announcement here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ontario-suspends-large-renewable-energy-procurement,20160927.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">press release here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While this announcement would not directly affect the proposed project to build a hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls, it does show the government now accepts and admits that new electricity generation based on renewable energy is too expensive and will not be needed for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For the proposed Bala generating station, we have shown the unaddressed public safety concerns (some <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/ProposedBalaGeneratingStationFlowSimulation,20160725.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>). If the proponent continues to refuse to show how or if they could operate their proposed Bala generating station safely, we request the governent not provide any further approvals, as this proposed project can be cancelled <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=6206\" target=\"_blank\">without cost or penalty<\/a>.<\/em><br \/> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ontario announces electrical power trading agreement with Qu\u00e9bec<\/strong><br \/> Earlier this month, the Ontario government <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/ontario-and-quebec-working-together-to-drive-economic-growth,20161021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a> an agreement with the province of Qu\u00e9bec which includes Ontario purchasing 14 TW\u2022h (that is 14 million megawatt-hours) of hydro-electricity over a seven-year period. As the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls would produce up to 20 GW\u2022h of electrical power per year, this agreement will provide Ontario with<strong> one hundred times<\/strong> the power that would be produced by the proposed Bala generating station.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The Montr\u00e9al\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/affaires.lapresse.ca\/economie\/energie-et-ressources\/201610\/21\/01-5032749-hydro-quebec-signe-un-contrat-ferme-avec-lontario.php\" target=\"_blank\">La Presse newspaper<\/a> (translated <a href=\"https:\/\/translate.google.com\/translate?sl=fr&amp;tl=en&amp;js=y&amp;prev=_t&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Faffaires.lapresse.ca%2Feconomie%2Fenergie-et-ressources%2F201610%2F21%2F01-5032749-hydro-quebec-signe-un-contrat-ferme-avec-lontario.php&amp;edit-text=&amp;act=url\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>) reports that for this agreement, Ontario would pay 5 \u00a2\/kW\u2022h, which is less than half the 13\u00a0\u00a2\/kW\u2022h to 17 \u00a2\/kW\u2022h which Ontario would be paying the Bala proponent for the heavily-subsidized power their proposed generating station would produce\u00a0\u2013 even when it is not needed.<\/em><br \/> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highway bridge rehabilitation work<\/strong><br \/> If you drive through Bala you&#8217;ll see that the rehabilitation work has begun on the District Municipality of Muskoka&#8217;s two Muskoka Road 169 bridges (over the Bala north channel and Bala south channel). This work; is unrelated to the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls, is expected to be completed in the spring, and must be completed before the proponent could begin any of their planned work. The District&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.muskoka.on.ca\/en\/live-and-play\/Road-Closures-Construction-and-Restrictions.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Road Closures, Construction and Restrictions web page<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/muskoka.civicweb.net\/document\/28424\" target=\"_blank\">this report<\/a> on the contract.<br \/> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Proposed wind turbines near Collingwood<\/strong><br \/> For over six years, a company has been pursuing the construction of eight 476&#8242;-high wind turbines near Collingwood. Among the concerns expressed by the community are that serious harm to human health would result as these wind turbines (each taller than a 45-storey building) would be located too close to two nearby aerodromes, the dangers being due to both direct aircraft impact and due to the air tubulance caused by these proposed wind turbines. (Aerodromes have fewer staff and facilities, and are typically used by smaller airplanes than traditional airports.)<\/p>\n<p>Despite years of detailed concern and opposition from the community, in February 2016 the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change approved this controversial proposed project. As a result, a local property owner, a local Councillor who also owns one of the aerodromes,<strong> the Town of Collingwood, the Township of Clearview, and the County of Simcoe all appealed<\/strong> the MOECC&#8217;s approval to Ontario&#8217;s Environmental Review Tribunal.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 15 experts testified at the nine-day hearing which was during May and June of this year. Earlier this month the Tribunal <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/EnvironmentalReviewTribunal,CollingwoodWindTurbines,20161018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">released their decision<\/a> that the appellants had met the high test required to show that <strong>serious harm would occur<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em> This is a very significant finding, that <strong>the MOECC&#8217;s approval did not adequately consider dangers to the public<\/strong>. The Tribunal is allowing further submissions on how these dangers would be addressed, and the company has stated it is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theenterprisebulletin.com\/2016\/10\/08\/wind-turbine-appeal-leaves-wpd-spinning\" target=\"_blank\">now considering<\/a> their next steps.<\/em><br \/> \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sad anniversaries<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In less than two weeks, it will be <strong>a full year<\/strong> since the proponent has updated their web site (and that update removed most of the information they previously had posted).<\/li>\n<li>It has been <strong>eight years<\/strong> since the proponent has held a public meeting.<\/li>\n<li>The proponent has been pursuing this proposed project for <strong>more than 11 years<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is a floundering proposed project that finally needs to be put out of its misery.<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thank you volunteers<\/strong><br \/> SaveTheBalaFalls.com volunteers were out in Bala all day both on the Thankgiving weekend and the Cranberry festival weekend talking to the public, answering questions, and providing information. There were thousands of visitors to Bala, and we heard loud and clear, again and again, that; NO ONE likes Kathleen Wynne, NO ONE wants a hydro plant in Bala, NO ONE likes Hydro One bills, and NO ONE trusts politicians \u2013 people are informed and upset. Conversely, we now know; EVERYONE loves Don&#8217;s Bakery brownies, EVERYONE appreciates SaveTheBalaFalls.com&#8217;s efforts on all fronts, and EVERYONE says they want to help.<\/p>\n<p>One of our volunteers summed it up: <em>&#8220;People are VERY pissed at this government!\u00a0\u2013 It isn\u2019t right, we don\u2019t need the energy, we don\u2019t want the high energy prices and we don\u2019t want the Government\u2019s blindness to hurt Bala with that Hydro Plant. &#8220;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our volunteers found it very compelling and confirming to work the front lines and hear first-hand the opinions that really do matter. It was busy, and we&#8217;ll keep at it.<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Donations to support our work<\/strong><br \/> As the end of the (tax) year approaches, keep in mind that you can make tax-deductible donations to help us continue to work to ensure the government realizes and addresses the extreme dangers which the construction of the proposed Bala generating station would create. Your receipt for income tax purposes is provided immediately when your donation is made on-line, details <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?page_id=21\" target=\"_blank\">are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>SaveTheBalaFalls.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current summary The proponent still does not have all the approvals needed to construct their proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls. There are major issues of public safety still unaddressed. \u00a0 Our Fall 2016 update Read it here. \u00a0 Ontario announces it has enough power generation On September 27, 2016 the Ontario Liberal <a href='https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=7966' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7966"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7990,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7966\/revisions\/7990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}