September 15, 2010
Ontario

Wardens band together on wind farms

By BRIAN SHYPULA, BEACON HERALD STAFF, stratfordbeaconherald.com

Municipalities in Ontario’s windy west are tired of feeling powerless when it comes to the regulation of wind farms.

“A number of municipalities out there just aren’t comfortable with that, just rolling over and playing dead,” Kevin Eccles, chair of the Western Ontario Warden Caucus representing 15 municipalities, said Friday.

The group has formed a committee whose job it will be to write a report for the province by the end of October. The group also wants to meet with the Canadian Wind Energy Association and the McGuinty government about standardized review and approvals processes.

“We’ve got so many different interpretations,” Eccles said.

The concern is the Ontario Green Energy Act takes away decision-making authority away from municipalities.

As a result, wind farm developers are ignoring municipal councils in the placement of turbine installations.