CCSAGE Annual General Meeting Minutes
2020 Annual General Meeting
May 11, 2020
Due to COVID-19 restrictions on gathering, the AGM was held as a ZOOM video meeting.
In attendance:
Directors Anne Dumbrille and John Hirsch
Advisory Committee members Marilyn Lauer, Libby Crombie, Hew Elcock and Bruce Nicholson
Guest Debbie Hughes
Meeting called to order at 2:05pm with Anne Dumbrille presiding as Chair
Voting was discussed with Anne noting that she had received one vote by mail: John held two proxies and Bruce received 35 email ballots from members.
As the agenda had been circulated in advance of the meeting by email to members, there was no need to move acceptance of the agenda.
Motion to approve the minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting as distributed by email with notice of meeting.
Moved by John Hirsch and seconded by Anne Dumbrille
46 votes in favour; none opposed
Motion carried.
Motion to approve the 2019 Financial Statements as distributed by email with notice of meeting.
Moved by Bruce Nicholson and seconded by Marilyn Lauer
46 votes in favour: none opposed
Motion carried.
Motion to elect Anne Dumbrille and John Hirsch as directors for a three year term.
Moved by Bruce Nicholson and seconded by Hew Elcock
46 votes in favour; none opposed
Motion carried.
Motion that CCSAGE discontinue the legal proceedings against the Province of Ontario.
Moved by Libby Crombie and seconded by John Hirsch
45 votes in favour: 1 opposed
Motion carried.
Anne Dumbrille initiated a discussion on where CCSAGE “goes from here”.
She asked if there was a precedent setting case that could be used.
Should we get an audience with the Province of Ontario once our action is dropped?
A public enquiry would be beneficial but highly unlikely.
John expressed his gratitude for Anne’s efforts and indicated that in discussion with Todd Smith MPP, Todd indicated that his government was working on something but did not elaborate further.
A general discussion followed with the meeting’s participants.
Anne asked that everyone send her an email of their ideas for continuation of CCSAGE.
The next step is to advise the appropriate parties that we are withdrawing our court proceedings.
Motion to adjourn made by John Hirsch at 3:10pm
January 17, 10 am Picton Court House
People across the province are still suffering adverse effects when residing near industrial wind turbines. We urge you to come out and support CCSAGE court challenge.Here are the details:
CCSAGE’s pending motions will be argued for a full day in the Picton courthouse on Friday, January 17th commencing at 10am.
Motions are usually argued in a small courtroom on the ground floor. If enough CCSAGE observers are present, we will ask the court to move the hearing to the larger courtroom.The hearing is of CCSAGE’s constitutional challenge to the Green Energy Act (GEA).The Attorney General (AG) has served a motion to strike the application in its entirety.The AG is trying to demonstrate that CCSAGE has no basis recognizable at law for its claim and thus no right to pursue the application.We think that the AG position is weak.In a similar case, the AG sought to strike a claim relating to National Steel Car, a Hamilton manufacturer which is a “heavy electricity user” .National Steel Car saw its electricity costs increase dramatically because of a dramatic increase in the Global Adjustment (GA) expenditures.The Court of Appeal held that on an AG motion to strike, the Court must consider all of the facts pleaded in the Notice of Application and in the supporting affidavits to be proven as true.Recently, the Minister cancelled a turbine project in eastern Ontario, essentially saying that the approval process and ERT decisions had made incorrect conclusions.In the motion faced by CCSAGE, we have filed 15 volumes of affidavit evidence, all of which must be considered proven as true in determining whether the CCSAGE application should be stricken or proceed.CCSAGE has responded to the AGs motion with 5 additional volumes of evidence.
Please attend and show the court we care.
Recorded Minutes of the CCSAGE 2019 Annual General Meeting,March 31,2019
Recorded Minutes
Location: Waring Hall, Waring House, Picton
Meeting called to order at 2:08pm
Chairs remarks: Anne Dumbrille
Anne referenced the current status including: WPD turbines still standing, no compensation for those affected, no turbine setbacks defined, WPD turbines manufactured “out of compliance” and other subjects.
Anne declared that those “paid up” members for 2018 would have their memberships considered paid for 2019. She mentioned that CCSAGE was not in a need for cash and identified the other County organizations which are in need of funds, among them APPEC, PECFN and South Shore Joint Initiative.
There would be no requirement for an election of directors as both Anne’s and John Hirsch’s terms had not concluded.
Garth Manning is retiring from the CCSAGE Advisory Committee.
Anne acknowledged the significant contribution that Garth has made over his tenure on the Board and the Committee.
Garth was not in attendance and Anne identified the gift that Garth would be receiving.
Minutes of the 2018 AGM:
Motion to accept the minutes as presented made by Cynthia Huff and seconded by Alison Walker. Motion passed.
Financial statements:
Mustafa Alidina reviewed the December 31, 2018 financial results.
Motion to accept the financial statements as presented made by Bruce Nicholson and seconded by John Hirsch. Motion passed.
Mayor Steve Ferguson was introduced by Chair Anne. Steve expressed his gratitude to CCSAGE and its supporters as well as acknowledging the efforts of MPP Todd Smith.
John Hirsch spoke on behalf of MPP Todd Smith.
From a recent telephone conversation with Todd, the WPD turbines will not “come down” until after the period of blanding turtles movement. Health, safety, water quality, set-back issues are still being addressed by the new government. Todd advised of the volume of work required and the shortage of resources.
Current Status of Legal Actions:
Alan Whiteley delivered an update on the issues that residents are facing with wind turbines as well as the legal proceedings that CCSAGE has initiated.
SAGE:
Bruce Nicholson delivered an address on the subject of harnessing water for power including the potential sites and developments in hydroelectric generation of small scale projects and the harnessing of power from tides and waves.
Adjournment: Anne Dumbrille adjourned the meeting at 3:10pm
The annual meeting of Wind Concerns Ontario followed the CCSAGE meeting.
Notice of Application required to continue the Charter Challenge to the Green Energy Act by Alan Whiteley
At the CCSAGE Annual General Meeting held Sunday, March 31 in Picton, CCSAGE lawyer Alan Whiteley presented and explained the status of our legal proceedings, noting that our Judicial Review has changed to a Charter Challenge to the Green Energy Act.
Click here Notice of Application to review the Notice of Application commenced by CCSAGE in the Superior Court in Picton. It is a public document, and can be viewed by anyone.
Hydroelectric Power through the harnessing of Water (**SAGE)
Bruce Nicholson, spoke on SAGE (**Safe and Appropriate Green Energy) at the CCSAGE Annual General Meeting held Sunday, March 31, at Waring House in Picton, Ontario. The following is his presentation:
Today, I wish to speak to you on the subject of hydroelectric power through the Harnessing of Water.
An article by Gary May in the Summer 2012 issue of Watershed magazine entitled “MPP Rob Milligan’s Small Idea”, caught my interest as we were suffering the impact of the Green Energy Act. Rob was the MPP for Northumberland-Quinte West from 2011 to 2014.
Waterpower was the key to the establishment of Ontario’s industrial heartland with the introduction of grist mills along river ways.
In the 1950’s, a new philosophy took hold: bigger is better. Since then there has been a move away from small community generating stations where some 300 hydroelectric plants have been shut down.
Mr. Milligan’s idea was to resurrect some of the old generating sites that had been cast aside and mothballed. In 2012, there were 14 power stations in his riding producing 71 megawatts of hydroelectric power, enough to satisfy between 42,000 to 56,000 average homes. Most of these are on the Trent/Severn and nearby rivers.
In the article, Rob claimed that there were 45 other sites, that if utilized, could produce another 25 megawatts. Of those, about 36 were already developed as mill sites.
Todd Masse of Water Power Group of Companies claims to have identified 2,300 potential sites across Ontario. “Low-head” is a term given to short drops, locations where water falls less than 5 meters. Across Canada, there are approximately 10,000 low-head dams and hydraulic structures that have been built for flood control, water supply and irrigation.
That is a potential for 10,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 6 to 8 million homes.
Modern technology have seen the introduction of “fish friendly” generators to dramatically reduce fish mortality.
A typical grist mill on any number of rivers across eastern Ontario could be converted to produce 100 kilowatts of power annually.
From Renewable Energy World’s website, “run-of-the-river” hydropower could potentially be the answer to the renewable energy needs.This concept utilizes technology by diverting the river flow through turbines before returning the water back to the river downstream. Their focus is on new, low-impact hydropower generation at existing non-powered dams with as little modification to the dam as possible.
According to Mark Stover of Hydro Green Energy of Illinois , “when utilities start comparing our output to that of small wind and medium-sized solar projects…they realize that we are generating much more power and power that is reliable and predictable”.
The reservoir methodology is also one that is growing in support.
Water is released from an elevated reservoir through turbines and captured in a lower level reservoir. When demand for electric is significantly below peak, such as night time, the water is pumped back up to the elevated reservoir awaiting the next cycle of activity.
A Hydro-Quebec study showed that when all costs are averaged over the lifetime of the facilities, hydroelectricity is 8 times less expensive than wind energy.
Harnessing tidal power
In a July 2018 article in The Guardian, Damian Carrington sheds light on the devices which promise to unlock the Moon’s vital energy potential.
To quote him “the ocean energy sector is frothing with ideas, with hundreds of companies developing an extraordinary array of devices and backed by billions of dollars of investment.”
A coalition of 25 ocean-faring nations, called Ocean Energy Systems, estimates a global potential for wave and tidal energy of 750 Giga-Watts by 2050 . This is almost twice today’s global nuclear capacity.
Tidal and wave energy production doubled in 2017and increasing annually.
OpenHydro, already deployed in the Bay of Fundy, utilizes giant 16 meter hoops with inward-pointing blades.
There are vertical turbines that spin like a carousel, such as Hydroquest in France and LHD in China.
Tidal energy has the advantage of being precisely predictable years ahead.
It offers ocean-faring nations, a homegrown supply fo energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Capturing wave power is even more challenging.
Some examples in use today include:
– Wedge Global which use buoys that bounce up and down on a pole, like a pogo stick
– A Finnish vessel, the Penguin, which gyrates with the waves to
convert the back and forth movement of water to electricity.
– Paddles are being deployed in a number of devices such a the WaveRoller and Wave Piston.
It is encouraging that investment and research into the harnessing of water power is growing. The future is not so bleak !
CCSAGE Naturally Green Annual General Meeting to be held jointly with Wind Concerns Ontario Annual General Meeting – Sunday, March 31, 2pm, Waring Hall, Picton, Ontario
Please join us for the CCSAGE Naturally Green 2019 AGM:Where: Waring Hall, Waring House, PictonWhen: Sunday March 31, 2019.Time: Doors open at 1:30 pm Meeting starts at 2:00 p.mThe meeting will include a President’s message, Financial Report (attached), 2018 Minutes (attached) and presentations of:
- Update and changes to the CCSAGE Naturally Green legal case
- SAGE, that is, Safe and Appropriate Green Energy.
***CCSAGE financial statement and minutes are available upon request.
Please note: In the event that you are not able to attend, a proxy vote on the acceptance of the draft financial report may be sent to Mustafa Alidina atmustdina@hotmail.com.The Wind Concerns Ontario AGM will follow, with a President’s message and presentations of:
- Up to the minute on Green Energy Act (which has NOT been repealed),
- Municipal roles,
- The new campaign by CanWEA to restart wind in Ontario.
CCSAGE points to Deficiencies in the draft Technical Requirements proposed for the decommissioning of the wpd Turbines
There are deficiencies in the draft Technical Requirements proposed for the de-commissioning of the WPD IWTs (New regulation under the Environmental Protection Act to close the White Pines Wind Project ERO number 013-3835 Comment period end Dec 1, 2018).
The response from CCSAGE regarding the draft requirements includes comments/recommendations on the areas below. For the full detailed response submitted by CCSAGE click on the link… Decommissioning input from CCSAGE
1. Overall Comment regarding: consistency with the wpd White Pines decommissioning plan, and “agreement with landowner”
2. Two year closure period
3. Monitoring including construction period
4. Removal of lines
5. Surface and ground water
6. Stormwater management
7. Unknown high water mark
8. Damage and impacts
9. Storm water pollution
10. Seasonal travel corridors
CCSAGE Remarks and Recommendations pertaining to the Repeal of the Green Energy Act
CCSAGE has made comments and recommendations pertaining to the following topics in reference to the Repeal of the Green Energy Act. To view detailed report, click here Comments on the Green Energy Repeal Act
1. Municipal Planning Power
2. Adverse Health Effects
3. REA Compliance
4. Impact and Effects of Noise
5. Impact on Adjacent Property
6. Effects on Ground and Surface Water
7. Effects on Community
8. Impact on Property Value
9. Lack of Economic Analysis
10. Lack of Thorough Scientific/Environmental Analysis
11. “First to the grid” priority
12. Curtailment of Other Sources
CCSAGE Naturally Green 