March 29, 2012
Ontario

Kincardine group petitions for Kincardine council to stop further wind developments

By Barb McKay, The Kincardine Independent, www.independent.on.ca 28 March 2012

Rural Kincardine residents are asking the municipality to step up and use its authority under the Municipal Act to stop further industrial wind turbine developments.

A number of residents are in the process of circulating a petition through Kincardine, which calls on Kincardine council to “defend the health, safety and well-being of our community … to stop further construction of industrial wind turbine projects in Kincardine until problems caused by the Enbridge projects are completely resolved.”

Rachel Thompson, whose property neighbours wind turbines, says the group is getting plenty of support and a number of businesses, including Eight Sisters, The Sugar Shack and Fine Fettle in Kincardine,

Bumpers Pizza and Daisy Mart in Tiverton, Cottage Grocery and Restaurant in Inverhuron and Lake Huron Rod and Gun in Underwood have all agreed to post copies of the petition.

Allard Eisen, who lives at the south-east corner of the soon to be constructed 180-megawatt Armow Wind Project, said he doesn’t have a problem with small renewable energy projects, like a small individually-owned solar panel, but has concerns with large scale industrial wind developments.

On his own, going door-to-door on Concession 5, the Northline, Highway 9 and the Southline, he collected 210 signatures.

“As I went up and down some concessions in the last couple of weeks, my suspicion was confirmed that the vast majority of rural Kincardine (residents) are opposed to industrial wind turbines,” he said. “As family after family signed the petition, I was puzzled how it could be that so much land was signed up on these Samsung-Pattern maps. The majority of that land must be owned by people not living on these concessions.”

Kincardine council has expressed a number times since the Armow Wind Project was announced that it does not have authority under the Green Energy Act to stipulate where projects are developed. Council members have been meeting with representatives from Pattern and Samsung to discuss components of the project.

Council recently threw its support behind a motion from the Municipality of Clarington, calling for a moratorium on the construction of industrial wind turbines for a period of one year until the concerns of municipalities are properly studied and addressed.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/03/29/kincardine-group-petitions-for-kincardine-council-to-stop-further-wind-developments/