We Have Enough Electricity, We Don't Need More Wind Turbines

Here are some important comments from North Gower-based risk management consultant Dan Scharf:


"So today, in Ontario, we have 30 per cent more generating capacity than we have need for - Because of the downturn, we simply do not need [extra] electricity for at least four years," said North Gower-based risk management consultant Dan Scharf, who added Quebec has more than enough power to meet Ontario's current and future needs anyway.

"We have the world's largest supplier of hydroelectricity a couple of hundred miles down the road, willing to sell it to us at approximately five cents [per kilowatt hour], and we are not even entering into an agreement with them," Scharf remarked with a tone of outrage. "And if that's not enough, folks, if you happen to be on the west end of Ontario, Manitoba's building a whole bunch of hydro as well. So this country is flush with power. We don't need wind turbines."

He asserted that anyone who believes in wind projects to consider the question: "What happens in Ontario if we don't build even one more turbine, what happens to our province?

"Nothing. We get cheaper electricity. That's what happens," he declared.

Scharf's main presentation highlighted the alleged safety risks of those employed in the wind industry, holding down what he deemed "McWind" maintenance and "low-level assembly" jobs.

"They're putting kids through paid-for programs in college right now to go up and do cleaning on blades on a 600-foot tower. One more little thing. This is an industry with one of the worst occupational health and safety records," he said, alleging the issue is suppressed by the sector. "People who work on these things are typically not well-trained, and strangely enough, many of them fall, many of them get hurt, and even get electrocuted - and it's just not talked about. Health and safety in the industry.

By "any statistical measure," the nuclear industry has a better safety measure than wind, he said. "You cannot come close to the amount of people that get hurt in the wind industry - as a person working in a plant, I'd much rather work in a nuclear plant than work on a wind turbine because it's just a safer place to work.