Queen's Park takes another shot at stray farm shocks

Thursday, February 18, 2016

by SUSAN MANN

For the second time in 10 years, Ontario politicians are considering a legislative fix to uncontrolled, underground electrical currents, a problem that particularly harms some farmers’ livestock.

Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls, a Conservative, introduced the Elimination of Ground Current Pollution Bill in the Ontario Legislature earlier this week. The proposed law passed second reading Thursday and is headed to the general government committee for discussion, says a staff member in Nicholls’ office. It’s up to the government to set the date it is discussed, the staff member says.

Nicholls couldn’t be reached for comment.

The bill would make it mandatory for electricity providers such as Hydro One to respond to a complaint about uncontrolled ground current, sometimes incorrectly called stray or tingle voltage, within 10 days of receiving it. Providers must also investigate the claim within 30 days of getting it and take all necessary steps to eliminate the problem within five months of receiving the investigator’s report, if the provider is responsible. The provider must also take steps to ensure the problem doesn’t reoccur.

The bill says the scientifically correct term is ground current or uncontrolled electricity and provides for fines of $1,000 a day at the end of the five-month period if the provider fails to comply.

In a Feb. 18 news release, Nicholls says former Liberal MPP Maria Van Bommel, from Strathroy, tried to pass a similar private member’s bill passed in 2006. Her bill influenced his proposed legislation, he says.

Nicholls' staff member says Van Bommel’s bill also passed second reading. It was widely lauded in Queen’s Park at the time for receiving rare support from all parties. However an election was called before it advanced further and it was removed from consideration.

Former Chatham-based agricultural representative Barry Fraser, who worked closely with Van Bommel on her bill, says she raised the public’s recognition of the problem in Ontario. He also talked to Nicholls about the matter.

Van Bommel’s bill led to an energy minister’s directive to the Ontario Energy Board, which “developed new protocols that never existed prior to that. Those have helped,” Fraser says.

An Ontario Federation of Agriculture fact sheet defines uncontrolled electricity as a constant underground current that runs through the soil and can be detected on barn floors or through metal in the barn, such as feeders, drinkers and stabling. The unwanted electrical currents can cause serious harm to livestock.

President Don McCabe says the problem of uncontrolled electrical ground current “has been around for a very long period of time. It’s just an imbalance in the power system and can come from different sources.”

Nicholls, the critic for community safety, says in the release “ground current pollution has led to a decrease in production for livestock, reproductive problems, and in some cases even the death of animals. Questions have also been raised about the potential impact of ground current pollution on human health.”

He also notes he’s heard from dairy and other livestock farmers along with concerned citizens across the province who want action on the matter.

Ontario has two years from the date the bill receives Royal Assent to develop a plan to eliminate uncontrolled electrical ground current in the province and 10 years from the date of Assent to implement the plan throughout the province.

Fraser, who says he has pulled back from being directly involved in the ground current matter, adds Nicholls’ bill is “quite clearly very much going in the right direction. The problems haven’t been solved. There are still major problems out there.”

Nicholls’ bill “goes to underscore the need for improvement of rural, electrical infrastructure, which is deteriorating over time,” Fraser says. “The problem is going to get worse as the rural electrical infrastructure ages and the demand keeps going up,” he predicts.

Ralph Dietrich, Dairy Farmers of Ontario chair, says a board member is on the Stray Voltage-Uncontrolled Electricity Agriculture Working Group, looking into uncontrolled electricity. “We’re aware of the problem and we’re doing what we can.”

 The working group includes representatives from Farm & Food Care, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, interested farmers, electrical experts and consultants.

 “I think it’s very important it’s being looked into and investigated and hopefully they can come to some resolution for this,” Dietrich says.

About the bill’s chances of being passed since it’s a private member’s bill and they almost never get passed, Dietrich says he doesn’t know if it will succeed. “Sometimes they don’t pass for political reasons, which is unfortunate.”

McCabe is more optimistic. He says some private members’ bills have been successful “and made it all the way through the system.”

However, “any opportunities that will eliminate this (uncontrolled electrical ground current) from impacting animal welfare is a good thing,” he notes. BF