Millbrook water defenders looking for a 007

On a recent cross-country flight, I watched last year's Bond movie Quantum of Solace.And I was struck by its down-to-earth tone. For this time, the villain wasn't the usual creepy miscreant, but a bland-looking businessman. And his dark-hearted scheme was not for world domination, but for water diversion. His nefarious plan: to steal the fresh water -the essential and increasingly precious ingredient of life -from local, defenceless citizens.

Art imitates life. How similar to the situation facing our neighbours in Millbrook. Here, politicians and developers are planning to drain and transport water from three artesian wells - located on the Oak Ridges Moraine -for 12 kilometres overland. All to service the Kawartha Downs casino expansion, a golf course, and a sprawling new subdivision. The proposed increase in water demand? 800%. Experts predict that this will leave both local residents and sensitive brook trout, high and dry.

Who will stand up to the powerful forces promoting this ruinous plan? In 2006, concerned citizens spoke out, and were threatened with a lawsuit. A shocking sign of our times. Now, unfortunately, it takes a mythical James Bond, or Jane Bond, to defend us from these corporate raiders; our elected representatives don't seem to want to. Is our government really acting with our best, long-term interests in mind? Their stony silence speaks volumes. Enough said. SUSANNE LAUTEN

Millbrook water defenders looking for a 007 - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA.

Greenbelt not saving livestock operations: study

For a protected area that was meant to preserve southern Ontario's farmland and agriculture, the Greenbelt doesn't seem to have done the job for livestock producers, a new study suggests.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that "traditional" livestock operations, such as dairy, beef and hog farms, have experienced a decline throughout Ontario since 2001.

But the new profile of the Greenbelt's agricultural economy, sponsored by the provincial ag ministry and authored by Prof. Harry Cummings of the University of Guelph's School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, finds that trend much more dramatic in the Greenbelt than anywhere else in Ontario.

For their study, which the university outlined in a release Friday (Dec. 18), Cummings and graduate students Sandra Moreau and Sarah Megens compared agricultural census data from 2001 and 2006 for the Greenbelt.

The Greenbelt is the province's designated zone of permanent protection for 1.8 million acres of farmland and other "environmentally sensitive" land around southern Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe, taking in the Niagara Escarpment, the Oak Ridges Moraine, Rouge Park, several hundred rural towns and villages, and about 7,100 farms.

The study generated the only custom-tabulated agricultural census results for the Greenbelt, as drawn from a Statistics Canada database which allowed them to analyze census data from only farms and farm parcels within the greenbelt.

The data showed the number of dairy farms decreased by 28 per cent in the greenbelt, compared to 23 per cent provincewide. Greenbelt beef farm numbers declined by 24 per cent, compared to 13 per cent across Ontario. Hog farm numbers fell by 11 per cent provincially, compared to a 27 per cent decline in the Greenbelt.

The number of sheep and goat farms, meanwhile, grew 34 per cent in Ontario between 2001 and 2006, but declined by eight per cent in the Greenbelt.

As well, the number of poultry and egg farms grew five per cent across the province in that five-year span but dropped by 19 per cent within the Greenbelt.

Both the Greenbelt and the province in general posted increased in the number of farms in the "other animal production" category: bees, horses, ponies, rabbits, alpacas, bison, wild boars and so on.

However, while the Greenbelt saw a five per cent increase, for example, in the number of horses and ponies between 2001 and 2006, it was "outpaced" by the province overall, in which the numbers rose 17 per cent in the same time frame.

Overall, the number of farms in the Greenbelt dropped by seven per cent between 2001 and 2006. That's three per cent higher than the provincial decline, the university noted.

Questions of viability

"These trends, and the difference in animal population change within the greenbelt compared to the province, raise a number of interesting questions regarding the viability of animal production in close proximity to a major urban area," Cummings said in the university's release.

"There is some indication that the Greenbelt area has unique characteristics that influence the type and scale of production within its boundaries," he added. "We need to look deeper to fully understand the causes and implications of this change."

As they do in other areas of the country, farm consolidation and retirement account for some of the decreasing farm numbers, the study authors said.

However, Greenbelt farmers who took part in the researchers' nine focus groups said they were "generally unhappy with the lack of planning policy around the Greenbelt."

grainews.ca - Grainews is a magazine and web site for farmers and farms in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Canada. - Grainews is a magazine and web site for farmers and farms in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Canada. - 12/27/2009.

TURBINE CONCERNS

Perhaps you have noticed the 'Stop the Wind Turbine' signs that have been put up along the highways and biways in the former Manvers Township in the past few weeks, and wondered why they are there.

Manvers Township, which includes Pontypool and Bethany, is in a proposed industrial wind turbine study area. As local residents who will be affected greatly if the turbines are erected, we have a number of issues relating to having up to 30 turbines, proposed in this first study, with a possible height well over 400 ft, and with rotating blades that span 260 ft.

Turbines farms in other areas have been related to health issues that include headaches, insomnia, anxiety, heart palpitations, difficulty concentrating and are connected to epileptic seizures. The turbines may well be erected in close proximity to Grandview and Rolling Hills Public Schools, which includes a daycare.

The Green Energy Act allows the turbines to be placed as close as 550 meters from the base to the center of receptors, which are homes and schools. I believe it is imperative that the provincial government perform a full health study, including effects on children, before allowing the erection of the turbines, and increase the setback to at least 1.5 kms and preferably two kms, a distance that is generally agreed to prevent negative health issues.

Other issues include the disruption to the environmentally protected land of the Oak Ridges Moraine. This disruption includes not only the area required to put up the turbines, but the roadways and transmission corridors that must be built, on land that the residents themselves cannot develop.

We do not have fire fighting equipment to combat any fires that may occur in the generators at the hub, since the turbines are as tall as a 40 story building.

There will be a negative economic impact to properties in close proximity to turbines. The shadow flicker and the noise of the turbines will deter potential buyers.

While the lure of free and green energy lulls most people into believing that wind turbines are the energy answer, they may not be aware that the turbine companies receive a feed in tariff that is more than 2.5 times the amount we pay per kilowatt hour. If the wind isn't blowing, we still need to rely on nuclear, gas and hydro-electric power generation, since electricity can't be stored.

Industrial wind turbines will affect more and more rural areas, since the province has proposed 7,000 turbines to be erected in southern Ontario. We need to increase the distance of turbines from our homes for our health and wealth.

Nancy Lichacz Pontypool

TURBINE CONCERNS - The Lindsay Post - Ontario, CA.