Irene Bond says there are plenty of reasons the province should reject Horizon Wind Inc.’s bid to build a turbine farm on the Nor’Wester Mountain Range.
Improper noise studies and wildlife analysis and errors in consultation are just some of the objections the Nor’Wester Mountain Escarpment Protection Committee filed with the ministry of the environment last month in opposition to the Toronto-based companies renewable energy assessment.
Bond, NMPEC’s spokeswoman, on Thursday said there are just too many questions left unanswered for the province to give the project the OK.
Take the noise study, she said.
“They used a computer model called Wind Pro, and even in the manual itself it says this model is inappropriate for cliffs,” Bond said, pointing to the rocky face of the mountain range.
“Our expert said it would not be to the MOE’s 40-decibel standard, so the noise is a major issue.”
Bond said their expert, who they’ve chosen not to name at this time, found gross inadequacies in the moose-study report and its methodology.
“Basically Horizon did a two-day field study and a limited literature review. And that’s inappropriate, considering what’s being proposed here and the moose population and the wildlife impact on the watershed,” she said.
Bond claims data is missing from the consultation report, and the company did not consult the proper people to get local knowledge to make the proper decisions, said Bond, who is not against turbines, simply the location Horizon wants to build.
“They kept making decisions without consulting properly. They basically alienated most of the community. They soured those relationships,” Bond said, adding NMPEC was by no means the only Thunder Bay-area group to oppose the project, including MPP Bill Mauro.
The city, she said, has had a muted response, the result she believes of a $126-million lawsuit Horizon filed nearly three years ago against the municipality.
The lawsuit has since been dropped, after the city changed its tune on objections over turbine locations.
Bond does expect the province will decide not to allow the project to go ahead.
“We fully expect this project to be shut down now that they will see these submissions and how poor the REA application is,” Bond said.
Should the province not see things from NMPEC’s viewpoint, Bond said there’s still at least one more avenue for them to halt the project.
On Wednesday a review tribunal reversed the MOE’s approval of a wind park on Ostrander Point in Prince Edward County, about 40 kilometres southeast of Belleville, Ont.
Should all else fail, Bond said NMPEC will take advantage of the 15-day window they’d be given to make final objections.
“The opinion of the tribunal of this natural environment was not an appropriate site for industrial wind turbines. So if worse comes to worse we will be ready for that,” she said.
An MOE official said Thursday they hope to have a decision ready within six months of the start of the comment process, which would mean no later than October.
