Green Energy Act raises concerns
Municipality of Bluewater council is correct to be concerned about the province’s proposed wind turbine regulations that fall under the Green Energy Act.
As reported on page one of this week’s Times-Advocate, some councillors are worried that the proposed regulations will limit growth of towns like Zurich, Hensall or Bayfield if they allow wind turbines to be erected 500 metres from residences, as could happen under the Green Energy Act.
Bluewater already has its own bylaw regulating wind turbines that don’t allow wind turbines closer than one kilometre from Hensall, Zurich or Bayfield. There are concerns, however, that provincial regulations would overrule Bluewater’s bylaw and similar bylaws across the province.
Does an act coming out of Queen’s Park truly take in the concerns of municipalities and communities across the province, particularly rural communities? Are the architects of the act familiar with the local concerns about wind turbines that prompted Bluewater to include the one kilometre limit in its bylaw?
Municipalities have until April 22 to submit written grievances concerning the proposed Green Energy Act and it’ll be no surprise if the standing committee dealing with these issues finds itself extremely busy. Bluewater is among the municipalities submitting concerns to the committee. That municipality won’t be alone.
15 April 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
