Inching ahead

Ostrander wind factory inches closer to construction

A project to construct nine industrial wind turbines on Crown land at Ostrander Point took a step closer to construction last week as Gilead Power proposed industrial wind factory was posted on the Ministry of Environment’s environmental registry.

The public has 60 days—until January 30—to provide comment or input on the project. This includes comments on an application by Gilead Power to set aside provisions of the Endangered Species Act to allow it to kill, harm and harass the Blanding’s turtle and whippoorwill as well as damage and destroy the habitat of whippoorwill. Both the Blanding’s turtle and whippoorwill are listed as threatened on the Species at Risk in Ontario List.

The Minister of Natural Resources can grant this application if they are of the opinion that “an overall benefit to the species can be achieved within a reasonable time” if the developer takes certain prescribed actions. This includes acquiring and maintaining land outside the project area for the use of the Blanding’s turtle and whippoorwill. (How this will be explained to these species is not described in the provisions.)

Meanwhile the County will use this comment period as an opportunity to put its list of unanswered questions to the province. Earlier this year council, along with municipal officials, prepared a list of questions on the Ostrander Point project to Gilead Power and the province.

“Their response track record to date has not been great,” said Gerry Murphy, the County’s planning chief, speaking of the province. “We received answers from the proponent. But basically the answers fell into two categories: those they could control and those that were the responsibility of provincial authorities.

“On the issues they control they indicated they would be willing to work with us to address the issues. On the other issues they passed them along to the province. We have not heard from the province.”

Murphy said the short comment period (60 days) poses a challenge given municipal administrative procedures and the upcoming Christmas break. Nevertheless he said he would bring a recommended response to council so that they could, if they choose, file it as part of the environmental registry comment process.

Many individuals and groups, including Nature Canada, Ontario Nature and the South Shore Conservancy, warn that the development of an industrial wind factory on Prince Edward County’s South Shore will be devastating particularly for migrating bird populations.

Last week Canada’s Senate unanimously backed a motion by Senator Bob Runciman calling for a moratorium on wind energy developments along Lake Ontario’s eastern shore. Runciman cited the high rate of bird and bat kills by turbines on Wolfe Island as the basis for calling for a moratorium on new wind energy development.

Meanwhile Mayor Peter Mertens expressed his disappointment that the provincial government had given such short shrift to Prince Edward-Hasting MPP Todd Smith’s private member bill to restore local decision-making regarding renewable energy projects.

“The bill Todd Smith proposed was a progressive step that could have been taken to make the Green Energy Act more acceptable to many municipalities in the province,” said Mertens. “It is really unfortunate that more members of the legislature weren’t prepare to support it.”