Horizon Wind Inc. has drawn a line in the sand and says it won’t consider any further concessions when it comes to the proposed location of 18 wind turbines it wants to install on the Nor’Wester Mountain Range.
On Thursday the company announced it has decided to relocate six of the planned turbines an additional 600 metres from nearby residences, setting up a minimum 1.1-kilometre buffer zone.
Opponents say the hit to the company’s bottom line still doesn’t satisfy their concerns.
However, company CEO Anthony Zwig said enough’s enough.
"They can think what they want," said Zwig, who will present his new plan to city council on Tuesday. "But we live in a land with laws and the province of Ontario has said 500 metres is enough. What we’ve done here, is from the closest homes, we’ve doubled that distance, and for 98 per cent of the homes, it’s about four times the distance. (The opponents) don’t really have any valid reasons for saying we have to move it.
"We can’t cherry-pick the laws we’re going to abide by and which ones we’re not. This is the jurisdiction we live in."
Zwig said Horizon is trying to be a good community partner, noting they are under no legal obligation to make the changes announced on Thursday. But they’re doing it anyway, he said.
"This is not without cost to us. Those locations were amongst the best ones we had. But you offer win-wins in life and in business, so that’s what we’re looking to in here," he said.
"It’s going to hurt (our bottom line). Our output’s going to go down a bit, but the project is still viable. We can’t move any more, but we looked hard at what can we move and this is what we’ve come up with," Zwig said.
Margot Freitag, a member of the Nor’Wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee who is studying the effects of wind turbines on human health, says Ontario’s current guidelines aren’t working – even though Horizon’s new plan will place the vast majority of nearby homes two kilometres or more away from the turbines, four times the provincially mandated 500 metres.
"They have been done by computer modeling," Freitag said, adding it’s failed elsewhere in Ontario. "People are abandoning their homes to protect their health. The wind developers are buying people out and they’re forcing them to sign non-disclosure agreements. So they know what’s going on."
Freitag said the latest research she’s seen suggests a minimum buffer of 3.5 kilometres from the nearest home is recommended, with greater distances on mountainous terrain, for people to escape the noise and the low-frequency sound
"We know that on mountainous and hilly terrain noise is more pronounced. It’s been shown in several studies around the world."
Freitag is also concerned about a pair of endangered species, the peregrine falcon and the bald eagle, that call the escarpment home.
Calling the site, which is adjacent to the Loch Lomond Ski Area, one of the top five tourist attractions in the area, Freitag said once the turbines are in place, the city can never go back.
"Turning this into an industrial facility will completely destroy any future recreational or educational potential for the mountain," she said.
Other NMEPC members have in the past suggested property values will plummet when the turbines arrive.
Project co-ordinator Nhung Nguyen said Horizon received more than 200 emails – both for and against the windmills – via the Internet. She said Thursday’s announcement is a show of good faith on the company’s part that demonstrates they’ve been listening to what’s been said by the public.
"This is not the optimal layout for the best wind resource or energy production, but it is the best layout when you take into consideration social and environmental and financial considerations. Horizon is an environmental company. We’re in the green business, so in this day and age we really have to take those three considerations in mind. It’s about the triple bottom line, not only the financial bottom line," Nguyen said.
According to company figures, the region’s first wind farm will create 30 direct jobs and 90 indirect jobs, will remove 15 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide power to 9,000 homes in Thunder Bay, making up for the loss of power when the province shuts down its coal-fired generating stations in 2014.
After presenting to council next week, where more than a dozen opponents have asked to make deputations, Nguyen said Horizon wants to release the environmental assessment report.
Construction, Zwig said, is probably about a year away and should take between six and eight months to complete.
