FROM THE KINCARDINE TIMES:
The Kincardine council chamber was packed last night (Feb. 16) as a crowd of citizens protested the proposed Armow Wind Power Project.
Ashley Duncan, representing the non-optioned landowners within the planned industrial wind project as developed by Acciona, told council she also represented neighbours of the project and concerned citizens.
“We do not wish to see our rural landscape industrialized any further,” she said. “We ask that instead of protecting foreign corporations and big oil interests, that Kincardine council ask for studies and proper consultations, and stand up beside Huron-Kinloss, Saugeen Shores and Arran-Elderslie, and protect its citizens.”
Duncan pointed to two dismal failures on the part of the proponent and the province:
The Green Energy Act was created to support planning for growth and build strong communities in Ontario, but the opposite is the case. “The Armow Wind Power Project has divided my rural community,” said Duncan. “With Kincardine council’s recent suggestions for setback distances from towns, hamlets and rural residences, the chasm for some of us widens again.”
The wind proponent failed to properly consult with the community. “To date, there has been one open house which I would consider deeply inadequate, as well as meetings with optioned landowners,” said Duncan. “The majority living within the project boundary are not optioned; therefore, meeting solely with optioned landowners does not constitute meeting with the public.”
She urged council to take control of certain aspects of the project, such as building permits, municipal road access, and liability protection for decommissioning costs.
Duncan asked why citizens in the former Town of Kincardine are afforded more protection than those living in the Hamlet of Armow or on individual farms. In the rural areas, many people work, worship and teach their own children on their properties.
She also noted the Old Order Amish of southwestern Ontario, who make up 20 per cent of the land mass in the proposed wind project area, had intended to come to the meeting but due to a funeral, could not attend. She was representing that group’s concerns as well.
The province has called for a moratorium on off-shore wind development, said Duncan. “Those turbines would have been five kilometres from lakefront houses. The rest of us remain stuck with 550-metre to 750-metre setbacks. This is adding insult to injury!”
She said studies by a variety of health officials from around the world, recommend that setbacks be 1.5 kilometres to 3.5 kilometres.
“We respectfully request that council recommend only independent and non-arbitrary setback distances, designed to protect people instead of corporations,” said Duncan. “As these do not presently exist, we ask council to hold off on issuing permits until they do.”
The group’s final concern was for support for victims, said Duncan. “Presently, there are a dozen people in our community who regularly attend monthly ‘Health Affected Residents Meetings.’ They are experiencing negative health impacts and are frustrated with the lack of assistance from our provincial government. There needs to be a plan in place to support these people.
“It is clear that the only way we can inspire provincial change and reclaim municipal control over municipal issues, is to stand up in opposition of the Green Energy Act,” she said. “Seventy-four municipalities in Ontario have made amendments, issued support or passed bylaws regarding the covering of our countryside with industrial wind turbines.”
She urged council to join the neighbouring municipalities in taking back control of industrial wind projects. The crowd gave her a rousing standing ovation.
Deputy mayor Anne Eadie thanked Duncan for her thorough and detailed presentation.
She said council is meeting with the energy minister during the ROMA (Rural Ontario Municipalities Association) convention in a couple of weeks and will let the minister know that Kincardine has concerns.
Councillor Ron Coristine said the province is making the same mistake made in the 1950s and 1960s of mixing agricultural and industrial development. If the setbacks were two-kilometres, there would be no issues.
“What we’re finding is there are best practices being done by wind companies,” he said, “but they are not happening here. Rather than stepping up and following best practices, they are pushing their own agendas, and that’s distasteful.”
Councillor Candy Hewitt said the Green Energy Act was handed to municipalities like a gift-wrapped bomb. “We’ve tried to help our citizens and we’re getting frustrated too. It’s not easy sitting in the middle and trying to mediate between the two sides.”
“This issue has divided our community,” said councillor Mike Leggett, “and it’s caused ill health for some. We need to send a strong message to premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal government that we don’t want the Green Energy Act shoved down our throats. We have to stand up to this.”
Councillor Randy Roppel said there are committees that neighbouring communities belong to, and Kincardine should have representatives on those committees. “We need to work together to send a strong voice to the province about this issue.”
Both he and Coristine volunteered to sit on those committees.
“It’s time to shit or get off the pot,” stressed Leggett. “We have to demand health and sound studies before we approve any building permits for turbines.”
Mayor Larry Kraemer cautioned council in not issuing building permits, given that wind developments are provincially-legislated and not a municipal jurisdiction.
“In the Municipal Act, there is a provision that municipal councils are obligated to look after the health, welfare and safety of their residents,” said councillor Maureen Couture. “We should do more research into the legal aspect of all this.”
“All I’m saying is we should get some legal advice before we simply refuse to allow building permits to be issued for wind turbines,” said Kraemer. “We break provincial law at the peril of the citizens of this municipality. It may seem sexy but it’s wrong. We would be endangering the resources of the municipal treasury and our citizens.”
Council agreed to direct staff to explore the legal issues surrounding wind developments, draw up draft guidelines for proposed wind projects, and do some research on committees set up by neighbouring municipalities.
Norma Schmidt, who no longer lives in Underwood because of health problems caused by the Enbridge wind development, offered council several documents and reports to read, regarding wind energy and negative health effects.
