Now, more than ever

The folks who are the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists have faced an array of well-financed and motivated opponents so far in their struggle to protect the habitat and endangered species threatened by the development of nine industrial wind turbines on Ostrander Point, a rugged and largely unspoiled bit of shoreline in South Marysburgh.

The developer, Gilead Power Corporation, is growing more desperate to see its project overcome the roadblock thrown in its path by an Environmental Review Tribunal that revoked the project’s approval last July.

The Tribunal reasoned that its role was that of a detached and objective guardian of the living things that stood to be damaged by this large scale industrial installation. The panel concluded, based upon the evidence it heard over several months, that the threat to the Blanding’s turtle was too simply too great. The turtle’s plight was too perilous. The risk posed by the Ostrander Point project exceeded even the recklessly absurd standard of “serious and irreversible harm” set by provincial mandarins rabid to see Ontario’s countryside transformed by industrial wind turbines and thousands of acres solar panels.

The developer is represented by McCarthy Tetrault, one of the largest legal firms in the country. About 650 lawyers toil for this behemoth.

The Ministry of Environment (MOE)—despite the common perception the government agency’s purpose is to protect and preserve the environment—has already expended a vast amount of energy, resources and taxpayer funds on clearing the path for this developer. The MOE’s in-house counsel battled side by side with Gilead Power through more than 40 days of hearings this past spring, arguing that the birds and beasts at Ostrander Point are expendable, even those whose very existence on this planet is considered endangered and threatened.

Both Gilead Power and the MOE have the means and the determination to carry this fight as far as the courts will allow them.

For PECFN the struggle is more precarious. They comprise a small group, many of whom are grandmothers, who share a passion for wildlife and the special habitat that Prince Edward County affords a diverse array of species. They are not legal experts. Nor are they particularly experienced at raising the funds necessary to hire the legal talent needed to wage a fight of this complexity and duration. But they share a commitment to do whatever is needed to protect Ostrander Point and the south shore of Prince Edward County.

They are ably represented by Eric Gillespie and Nathalie Smith. Eric’s firm is small and young, compared with the forces arrayed against PECFN in this fight. Yet, in this epic David and Goliath battle, it is the diminutive PECFN and Gillespie who have collectively struck the first blow—staggering the developer, the MOE and perhaps even the provincial government, in its victory before the Tribunal.

In January, the fight moves to an Ontario Superior Courtroom. There, a small army of very expensive legal talent will argue with great vigour that the Tribunal was mistaken in its ruling, that the court should overturn its decision and reinstate the approval of the Ostrander Point industrial wind turbine installation.

But when the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists travel to Toronto next month to resume its defence of this precious habitat—it will be taking on more than a well-financed and motivated developer and an obtuse and misguided provincial government. It will be going head to head with the entire wind energy industry.

CanWEA, the association of wind energy developers in this country, has applied for and been granted intervenor status in the appeal hearing. That means yet another set of lawyers, these funded by the wind industry, arrayed against Myrna Wood and her fellow Field Naturalists. It is an obscenely grotesque exhibition of legal might being brought to bear upon a handful of grandmothers and a turtle.

It is, however, a measure of the threat that big wind views the Tribunal’s decision made in July, that it must unleash its forces upon the Feild Naturalists. It is a measure of the significance of PECFN’s victory.

PECFN needs your help to preserve this victory. This community has given generously so far. An improbable victory has been achieved. Now the Field Naturalists need your help more than ever to ensure the victory remains intact.

Please, in this holiday season, consider giving generously to help save Ostrander Point—and the creatures that live there and those that simply pause on their way through.

It is an unfair fight—but such improbable victories frequently define history.

saveostranderpoint.org.

269 Main St. Wellington, ON K0K 3L0.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca