Portrait of a madman | Wellington Times

By Rick Conroy - from the Wellington Times

Just how far will he go?

Since Dalton McGuinty stared into a television camera in a leaders’ debate in 2003 and promised he would rid the province of coalfired electricity generation by 2007, there has been no barrier, no regulation, no safeguard strong enough or important enough to slow Dalton McGuinty from his futile obsession with wind and solar powered generation. Never mind that eight years later Ontario is still generating electricity from coal, and despite lavishing developers, conglomerates and others with billions of taxpayer’s dollars—he is no closer to his goal than he was in 2003.

So he has become more desperate. Now he appears willing to throw entire species under the bus for the sake of a piddly and unreliable trickle of electricity that might from time to time be emitted from an array of massive turbines on Crown land on Prince Edward County’s south shore.

A quick recap of the madness that has twisted Ontario’s energy supply so far under Dalton McGuinty’s guidance:

- billions of dollars spent and committed to developers to erect an intermittent power supply that cannot be harnessed by our grid operator or consumers;

- billions more committed to Korea’s Samsung in a deal negotiated in secret and of which Ontarians remain in the dark;

- legislation that removes local government input and authority over wind and solar factories in their jurisdictions;

- the replacement of environmental, archeological, social and economic impact scrutiny applicable to every other power or infrastructure development by a check-thebox process for wind and solar factory developers. Did you consult with the community? Yes? Check. Did you consult with the municipality? Yes? Check. It matters not that any of the folks consulted had critical objections, only that they were consulted;

- Crown land, set aside by our ancestors to preserve natural features and beauty, sacrificed and handed over to developers— whose interest in the land extends not one second past the 20 year life of the guaranteed power purchase contract it holds;

- residents forced from their homes and made ill due to vibration and noise from neighbouring wind turbines; and

- not as well understood are provisions in the Green Energy Act that compel the Ontario Energy Board and grid operators to take intermittent electricity from wind and solar electricity generators. These utilities have no use for electricity they can’t dispatch (turn on or turn off) so, under orders, they take the wind and solar-powered electricity and fork over to other markets or risk putting the system out of balance. Those markets like Michigan and Ohio are happy to take it off our hands—for a hefty fee.We are being held ransom daily in the electricity market by one man’s misguided obsession. In the United Kingdom the government has begun paying intermittent electricity generators to disconnect from the grid for the same reason.

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Portrait of a madman | Wellington Times