Wind turbines cause headaches in Tignish
A group of residents from western P.E.I. cornered the premier and environment minister at Province House Thursday, wanting to know why so many wind turbines are being built in their backyards.
A group of about a dozen residents of Anglo-Tignish attended the legislature session Thursday to hear a debate about wind energy development.
Lloyd Shea, one of the Tignish residents, said he is upset at proposed plans for a wind farm near his home that might see even more turbines added to the existing wind turbines in his area.
“I don’t want five wind mills in my back yard. It’s awful easy for somebody else to say, ‘I wouldn’t mind it,’ but they don’t have to live with it,” Shea said.
So, as Premier Robert Ghiz and Environment Minister George Webster were leaving the legislature at the end of the afternoon sitting, Shea and the other Tignish residents stopped them at the door, asking them to see the situation from their eyes.
“It’s tearing my family apart,” one woman told Webster. “What are you going to do about it?”
The group said they weren’t expecting to be able to talk to the premier directly about their concerns, so they were glad to have caught him on his way out.
But they weren’t too pleased with answers they got.
“When I came down those stairs, I looked at Lloyd and I said, ‘We’re going to get our windmills. It’s a done deal.’ I was discouraged,” Shea said.
Ghiz and Webster assured the crowd any plans for largescale wind farms will have to first be approved by area residents and government before going ahead.
The province announced its 10-point plan for wind energy development a few weeks ago that would see the Island’s wind energy production grow to 500 megawatts by 2013.
This will mean more wind turbines in areas of high winds, like Tignish.
But residents have complained about the noise, the look and the affect turbines have on residence values. Most homes’ market values plummet if located too close to a wind turbine.
And that’s just what the group at the legislature on Thursday wanted Ghiz and Webster to know. They want the province to mandate a larger distance between residences and turbines.
“Right now they’re too close to the houses,” said Ivan Gaudet.
He said in Germany the mandated distance is higher.
“Germany’s been in this a lot longer than us, why aren’t we following them?”
Gaudet and Shea both said they believe green projects like wind energy is great for P.E.I., but just not in their backyards.
“It’s only a small Island, don’t shove it right down our throats,” Gaudet said.
Ghiz staunchly defended his 10-point-plan against attacks by the Opposition in the house both Wednesday and Thursday. Ghiz says it will mean more revenues and more green energy for the province.
But this is little comfort to the residents living near wind turbines. The group at Province House Thursday said the noise is so loud and it actually causes a vibration in the ground. They suggested the turbines developments take place on crown land, as opposed to right next to residences.
“Why don’t they go put it on their own land,” Gaudet said. “They’re simply doing this for the money. They love the money.”
By Teresa Wright
14 November 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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