Adverse health impacts from ground currents
Following is a letter from Martin Weatherall and Sharon McDonald to the The Ontario Energy Board about ground electrical currents from the distribution distribution system affecting their home and health. Sent to this list by Martin Weatherall
Don
Subject: Willful misconduct and negligence of Hydro One Networks
866729 Township Road 10
R.R.#3
Bright, Ontario
N0J 1B0
29 December 2005
The Ontario Energy Board
Dear Board Members:
I am submitting this letter as a formal complaint against Hydro One Networks for Willful Misconduct and Negligence, contrary to the Distribution System Code.
My wife, Sharon McDonald, and I moved into our retirement home in August of 2003. Within a few months, I started to become quite ill with a variety of different symptoms. In time, we realized that the health problems were related to electricity that was affecting the inside of our home, even when all of the electricity to our home was turned off outside. In January of 2004, we started a series of telephone calls and letters to Hydro One to get the problem resolved. My health continued to deteriorate and, eventually, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Later, I found scientific research that indicates that my cancer may have been caused or, at the very least, highly influenced by the electrical problems affecting our home.
After conducting some superficial testing that was too limited in scope, Hydro One has continued to tell us that their electrical distribution system is not at fault and that they will not correct the situation. We were forced by this circumstance to seek professional advice and, subsequently, engaged the services of Mr. Dave Stetzer from Blair, Wisconsin, an internationally recognized expert in the field of ground current electricity and electrical pollution. The measurements that Mr. Stetzer located with his scopemeter and other specialized equipment indicated a very serious problem caused by ground current electricity originating from the Hydro One distribution system. We have attached to this letter a photograph and description provided by our consultant, Mr. Dave Stetzer, of an oscilloscope measuring the amount of ground current electricity flowing through our kitchen from the sink to the wooden floor.
The main source of the ground current electricity was found to be from two hydro poles, one that holds our transformer and one that holds the transformer of our neighbour across the road. On each of these hydro poles, there is a ground wire attached to grounding rods in the earth. Electricity passing down these grounding wires has been measured, and we discovered similar voltages and high frequencies inside our basement, on the water system, on the furnace system and on the grounding system. The high frequency energy on the electricity is non-ionizing radiation. This radiation is distributed around our home on the wiring system, the water system, the furnace system and the telephone system. It is attracted to and absorbed by the human body, which acts as an antenna. This high frequency radiation has been found to cause serious harm to human health in Canada and in many other developed countries around the world.
For the last twelve months, my wife and I have been unable to live in our own home due to the terrible ill effects of the ground current electricity and the radiation carried on that electricity. We have tried various filters, ferrites, grounding, wiring and other solutions to stop the problem, but we now realize that only Hydro One can correct the problem by upgrading their system.
Hydro One has been very negligent in this matter. They have been informed in great detail of a serious problem with their system that is causing terrible health damage, yet they have failed to take corrective action. I have been forced by their negligence to spend many months studying how the electrical system has caused me so much harm. With the assistance of my consultants and with research that I have read, I have found that the Hydro One distribution line that feeds our home and several other homes and farms in the area is faulty. Hydro One is able to take electricity out to customers on its “hot wire”, but is not able to bring it all back to the substation on the neutral wire. This occurs because the electricity on the neutral line becomes polluted with high frequencies from a variety of different sources and the neutral cannot carry it all back to the substation. The sensible and proper method of solving this problem would be to install a larger neutral line or a second neutral line to return the neutral current safely back to the substation on the wiring system. This is the method that was suggested by the Electrical Power Research Institute many years ago in their discussion of this problem and its solution. Hydro One has ignored this option and decided, instead, to use other people’s property as their own neutral current return. This is a serious environmental problem that can cause harm to any living thing in its path, including farm animals and people. Hydro One has effectively created an electrical sewer, containing uncontrolled amounts of electrical and radio frequency radiation. This pollution has been harming an untold number of citizens throughout Ontario. Many of those persons have been completely unaware of what is causing their illnesses, including cancer.
There is a second serious fault with the Hydro One distribution system. Hydro One has used a cheaper and more dangerous method of attaching the neutral electrical wires of consumers to the neutral electrical distribution lines of Hydro One. Whereas the “hot wire” is separated from the consumer’s system by the transformer, there is no such safety feature protecting the higher voltage neutral line of the distribution system from the lower voltage neutral line of the consumer. In other words, the 4400 volt Hydro One distribution line neutral is directly attached to the 110 volt neutral system of the consumer. As I have already described above, the utility’s neutral is already overloaded and unable to carry what is required. Now, the higher neutral voltage has direct access to the consumer’s system. At the consumer’s electrical panel, the neutral is also attached to the entire house grounding system, thus allowing access for all the high frequencies to travel freely around the house on the electrical grounding wire. This, in turn, brings a third danger, which is the increased probability of lightning, spikes and surges damaging the electrical equipment used by the consumer. All of these circumstances add up to negligence by Hydro One Senior Management in failing to maintain an environmentally safe distribution system. My wife and I found it very ironic last year that the President and CEO of Hydro One received a large bonus as a reward for saving the utility money, when he had achieved this by failing to make repairs to his dangerous electrical system and by disregarding legitimate complaints.
We also strongly believe that serious willful misconduct by the senior management of Hydro One has taken place. In order for you to discover how this has occurred, we authorize the members of the Ontario Energy Board to have complete access to the letters that we have sent to Hydro One, to the consultants’ reports that we provided from Stetzer Electric and any files that contain our information. From all of these documents, phone logs and electronic mail, you will see that my wife and I have continually asked for important information that may have assisted us with the rectification of our electrical problems. We even considered paying to have the distribution line neutral upgraded so that we could live safely in our own home. We were never told the cost of that option. Information that was promised by Mr. Les McKay has never been provided. Regarding our consultants’ reports, we received only a vacuous response, totally lacking any meaningful content. We have been stonewalled, lied to, and misled, and we strongly suspect that other agencies to whom we have turned for help have similarly received false information from Hydro One. We believe that Hydro One Networks has acted not only contrary to the Distribution System Code of the Ontario Energy Board, but also against the Criminal Code of Canada. We ask that you ensure that a thorough investigation of this matter occurs, with both of those points in mind.
We have been greatly affected by the faulty system of Hydro One Networks, and we are familiar with many other people whose health and livelihood has been adversely affected. We know of many farmers who have livestock that has been harmed or killed. Hydro One has used the Province of Ontario as its own dumping ground to get rid of high frequency pollution and to use the earth as its own neutral return system. There is growing evidence that many persons have already been harmed by the ground current electricity and the high frequency pollution carried on that electricity. The long term environmental damage is still unknown, but the Ontario Energy Board must ensure that there is no further harm to life in Ontario. We ask the Ontario Energy Board to review all available scientific papers and evidence that links electricity / high frequencies to cancer and other illnesses. We ask that you put in place all safety measures possible to safeguard the citizens of Ontario from the dangers proven to exist by those scientific papers and evidence.
Most particularly, my wife and I are asking the Ontario Energy Board to ensure that an investigation of our allegations is undertaken by competent, objective persons as soon as possible, and that you order Hydro One to make all necessary repairs and system upgrades so that we will be safe from electrical ground current and high frequencies in our house, on our property and on our telephone line. We mention the telephone line because we have measured considerable amounts of AC current and high frequency radiation on the phone line that should not be there, this energy causes strong electrical fields around our home. Bell Canada has advised us that the unwanted AC current on their line is the fault of Hydro One’s electrical system causing electricity to be inducted on to their telephone lines. We also ask that you take appropriate actions against those who have acted improperly or unlawfully. Lastly, we request that you order Hydro One to provide damages to us at an amount similar to what may be expected from civil litigation.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Weatherall and Sharon McDonald
cc Mr. Dave Stetzer
Dr. David Fancy
Dr. Magda Havas
Mr. Ernie Hardemann MPP
Mr. Dave Mackenzie MP
Hydro One Board of Directors