{"id":17053,"date":"2011-09-14T14:01:35","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T18:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/static\/?p=17053"},"modified":"2012-02-03T05:07:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T10:07:55","slug":"big-wind-gags-wts-victims-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/2011\/big-wind-gags-wts-victims-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Wind gags WTS victims (Ontario)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Farm couple challenges gag order of those who sell land to wind farms”
\n\u00b7\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>This image was not part of the original article—Editor<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7<\/span>
\n\u2014John Spears, TheStar.com<\/a> (9\/13\/11)<\/p>\n

A Huron County farm couple is asking an Ontario court<\/a> to lift gag agreements that were a condition of sale for landowners who sold their property to wind farms.<\/p>\n

Shawn and Trisha Drennan<\/a> are worried about the possible impact of a large wind farm planned for their district<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project would place 100 to 150 large turbines in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township north of Goderich, with the nearest turbine as close as 650 metres from the Drennans\u2019 home.<\/p>\n

Developers of two other large wind projects in the general area bought the properties of a number of nearby residents.<\/p>\n

The Drennans asked to interview six of the former residents, in order to ask them if they had suffered any health problems. Neighbours of some wind farms say they\u2019ve suffered various ills, including headaches, to ringing in their ears, dizziness and nausea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a lawyer for the former residents replied that they are \u201cprohibited by agreement\u201d from answering questions about their health. Silence was a condition of the sales.<\/p>\n

The Drennans want the gag removed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of Terry Davidson, Toronto Sun<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In an application to Ontario Superior Court of Justice<\/a>, their lawyer Julian Falconer argues that \u201cthe concealment by contract of serious public health and safety concerns is fundamentally against the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The application notes that a decision of the province\u2019s environmental review tribunal earlier this summer acknowledged \u201cthere are certainly legitimate concerns and uncertainties about the effects of wind turbines on human health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tribunal, however, said the onus is on landowners to demonstrate the risk of health problems.<\/p>\n

That means it\u2019s up to the Drennans to collect information on the health effects, if any, of a large wind farm.<\/p>\n

The non-disclosure clauses that the former residents signed when they sold their properties, however, prevent the Drennans from doing just that, their application argues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvidence of former residents who chose to leave their homes entirely could represent evidence of the most extreme cases of adverse health effects,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n

The application also argues that the approval of turbines close to the Drennans\u2019 home \u201cimplicates their right to security of the person\u201d as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights, in view of the potential health impacts.<\/p>\n

The Drennans have the right to oppose approval of the turbines, it argues. But the non-disclosure clause impairs their ability to gather evidence. That impairs their right to the security of the person \u201cin a manner contrary to the principles of fundamental justice,\u201d the application says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Farm couple challenges gag order of those who sell land to wind farms” \u00b7\u00a0 This image was not part of the original article—Editor \u00b7 \u2014John Spears, TheStar.com (9\/13\/11) A Huron County farm couple is asking an Ontario court to lift gag agreements that were a condition of sale for landowners who sold their property to wind farms. Shawn and Trisha Drennan are worried about the possible impact of a large wind farm planned for their district. The project would place 100 to 150 large turbines in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township north of Goderich, with the nearest turbine as close as 650 metres from the Drennans\u2019 home. Developers of two other large wind projects in the general area bought the properties of a number of nearby residents. The Drennans asked to interview six of the former residents, in order to ask them if they had suffered any health problems. Neighbours of some wind farms say they\u2019ve suffered various ills, including headaches, to ringing in their ears, dizziness and nausea. But a lawyer for the former residents replied that they are \u201cprohibited by agreement\u201d from answering questions about their health. Silence was a condition of the sales. The Drennans want the gag removed. Photo courtesy of Terry Davidson, Toronto Sun In an application to Ontario Superior Court of Justice, their lawyer Julian Falconer argues that \u201cthe concealment by contract of serious public health and safety concerns is fundamentally against the public interest.\u201d The application notes that a decision of the province\u2019s environmental review tribunal earlier this summer acknowledged \u201cthere are certainly legitimate concerns and uncertainties about the effects of wind turbines on human health.\u201d The tribunal, however, said the onus is on landowners to demonstrate the risk of health problems. That means it\u2019s up to the Drennans to collect information on the health effects,Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[167,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.windturbinesyndrome.com\/static\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}