(July 20, 2012) A new report finds the provincial government’s renewable energy policies are jeopardizing Ontario’s economy and inflicting unnecessary environmental costs and health risks on communities.

A new report, by Professor Michael Trebilcock, Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Toronto, finds the provincial government’s renewable energy policies wanting. His study relays a sorry and sobering story of how a combination of unreflective environmental fundamentalism, a massive feeding-frenzy by corporate rent-seekers, and political hubris has the makings of an economic disaster for a province already in serious fiscal difficulties.

Unfortunately, this sorry story does not end here. The environmental assessment processes put in place under the Green Energy Act to review industrial wind turbine projects located in many rural communities throughout Ontario reflects administrative deficiencies and is inflicting substantial environmental costs and health risks on these communities without effective evaluation. The paper documents these deficiencies.

To see what Professor Trebilcock has to say about the economic and environmental legacy of Ontario’s present green energy conditions, read the full report here.

Michael Trebilcock sits as a director on the board of Energy Probe’s parent organization, Energy Probe Research Foundation.