No one’s listening

County council won’t appeal Ostrander Point decision

County council concluded in a special meeting last week that it won’t appeal a Ministry of Environment decision to approve an industrial wind project at Ostrander Point. But it will consider financial assistance to the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists’ appeal.

“We’ve been at this three years,” said Mayor Peter Mertens. “We’ve made a number of submissions to the province. We’ve made a number of comments. All have been ignored.

“The timing and the short opportunity to appeal was not accidental. The province is showing us we have no say in this.”

Mertens believes the likelihood of a successful appeal is slim. The onus, he says, is on the appellant to prove the project will cause irreparable harm to either human health or the environment. It is a hurdle Mertens believes too high for the municipality to overcome.

Furthermore he is skeptical that an appeal will materially alter the outcome at Ostrander Point.

“In Chatham Kent the tribunal was still deliberating while construction of the turbines was under way,” noted Mertens. “They knew the outcome before it was even handed down.”

MPP Todd Smith raised council’s concerns with the Minister of Environment in a letter last week.

“They believe that the appeals process will force them to incur an onerous cost to the municipality and that your Ministry has to stack the appeals rules in favour of the developers,” wrote Smith. “All this forces me to ask whether your Ministry has an interest in actually representing Ontarians or rather only in green lighting projects for certain energy firms in pursuit of an energy scheme which has wreaked havoc on the grid and on ratepayers.”