The Enbridge Ontario Wind Power Project’s Ontario Municipal Board hearing has entered its fifth week and has raised many questions about the project and the wind industry in general.
Little is known about the issue of wind turbine noise, other than the perspectives offered by various noise experts. This issue seems to be the main purpose of the hearing, along with visual issues, as they both seem to have a significant impact on those who live within the vicinity of wind projects.
One one side of the equation we have the appellants, who have brought forward a handful of witnesses who live near wind turbines. Some have been driven from their homes, their quality of living has decreased and overall, they’re not satisfied and in some cases infuriated with how their “˜corporate neighbours’ have handled their complaints.
On the other side we have Enbridge and the Municipality of Kincardine, who have stood by their planners and noise experts, claiming the questions that have been raised will not impact the neighbours, as the appellants have warned.
Being that very few area residents, other than those living near the Huron Wind project by the Bruce Power Visitor’s Centre, have truly experienced what living near a turbine is like. Our neighbours to the south in Huron-Kinloss will be the next to see turbines with the Suncor project, so time will tell what the reaction will be once they’re erected.
Whatever changes come, out of the 38 bylaw appeals on 55 turbines, expect more news to surface as more projects unfold locally.
If locals weren’t informed before the project, they certainly will be once they’re up.
30 May 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/05/29/much-information-at-enbridge-omb-hearing/