The city has asked for more information before it will sign off on proposed wind turbine sites for a controversial wind project.
Council made and passed a resolution Tuesday night requesting copies of all regulatory approvals, financial data and business plan for the proposed Big Thunder Wind Park and viewsheds illustrating the turbine locations from Horizon Wind Inc. The city also outlined in the resolution that without the requested information, a decision on the location of the 11 turbines across the Nor’Wester Mountains could not be made.
The request came after seven deputations, ranging from health concerns to environmental impacts, from the Nor’wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee were made Tuesday night as council held a special committee of the whole meeting to approve the city’s comments on Horizon Wind’s Renewable Energy Approval draft, a 700 page document the company is required to submit to the province for the project.
Both galleries at city hall were to capacity and after one deputation, supporters in the main floor lobby clapped so loud they set off the silent security alarm. Loch Lomond Ski Area owner Ward Bond started off the round of deputations. Bond said he’s spoken with all three provincial insurance companies who provide liability insurance for ski hills. With the closest proposed turbine location being 300 metres from a ski-run, Bond said the insurance companies have told him there’s no precedent for wind turbines being near a ski hill and they would have to address the matter when his insurance gets renewed. That might make the ski hill uninsurable Bond said.
"Could this happen? Could Loch Lomond close because of wind turbines?" Bond asked council. ""Without liability insurance we cannot open."
The committee asked council to hold off on a decision until Horizon Wind, whose representatives were behind a locked administration room at city hall while watching the proceedings, holds its open house on the REA which takes place Aug. 4 and 5. NEMPC member Karl Piirik said the company is holding the open houses well after they released the REA draft which does not lead to proper public consultation.
"It’s not a public consultation process any more it’s simply a presentation of a foregone conclusion," Piirik said.
Pat Manduca said the actual cost if all five proposed stages of the project goes through would be $7.11 million in subsidies to Horizon based on $90,000 per megawatt. Manduca said this would be paid for by Thunder Bay Hydro customers. Manduca said the cost of electricity would go up in Thunder Bay to cover this.
"It’s going to increase the cost," Manduca said. "They’re (Horizon) here for the subsidy."
After the deputations, council went behind closed doors for over two hours before emerging to debate the original resolution to approve comments which would be forwarded to Horizon and eventually end up in the REA. Coun,. Iain Angus said after hearing from deputants, he had concerns about what the potential impact of infrastructure could have on Big Thunder and the chances of it reopening.
"What it doesn’t deal with is the fact that the trails are proposed to be used by Horizon," Angus said. "I think it would be really inappropriate if we used one economic project to destroy another one."
After requesting that representatives from Horizon come forward to answer questions, Coun. Aldo Ruberto said his wife was a participant of the recent Pollara poll commissioned by Horizon which showed over 70 per cent of the city supported the project. Ruberto said the poll questions were misleading which led to chair Coun. Mark Bentz having to call "order" several times before Horizon CEO Anthony Zwig could respond.
"These people are experts. this is a nationally recognized firm," Zwig said. "This is how the science is done. You may not like it. You may not like the answer."
Horizon declined a request for media interviews after the meeting.
The city also referred the original approval of REA comments back to administration saying that the deputants information should be considered. That resolution will come back to council July 26.
