LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Pier turbine reconsidered? 

Credit:  Daniel Nolan, www.thespec.com 11 June 2012 ~~

BURLINGTON The idea of a wind turbine on the Brant Street pier isn’t dead if Councillor Marianne Meed Ward gets her way.

The Ward 2 councillor wants her colleagues to revisit the scheme in the wake of information from staff that it did not have all the data for council when it voted in early May to nix the turbine on the pier because of cost.

Staff had originally told councillors the city would have had to spend $70,000 to add a battery pack to the turbine and that it would take 53 years to see a return on its investment. Staff then found out the power generated by the turbine could be linked into a transformer station through a program run by the Ontario Power Authority. City manager Jeff Fielding apologized for staff’s misstep at a recent community services committee meeting, where council decided not to reopen the issue.

Meed Ward told council Monday night that many residents have approached her in support of seeing the turbine on the pier and that she remains “unsettled” on whether council made the right decision to nix it. The turbine was supported by BurlingtonGreen and other green energy proponents.

“I think on this important issue we need to make the right decision,” Meed Ward told council. “I am not clear, and still not, why at the end of the day we have cancelled this project … My view is that we need to continue the dialogue. I think the process has been unsettling.”

Her council colleagues appeared lukewarm to reconsidering the issue, but noted the correct spot for her to restart the debate is at the next community services committee meeting.

Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor said none of his constituents have raised the issue of the turbine on the pier with him. He also said if the city was to revisit the issue it might have to look at additional costs because the original turbine planned for the pier “might not be the most up-to-date.”

In other news, council received information the troubled pier is facing another work delay due to the rejection of steel plates that did not pass a quality assurance process. That has pushed work back four months to August. The $15-million pier is set to open June 2013. The pier was supposed to open in 2010.

Meed Ward noted problems remain for the pier, even though the contractor has been changed and more oversight is in place. She asked whether the problems will ever be solved.

Fielding said he wished he could offer 100 per cent assurance the pier will be delivered on time, but said he recently talked to all those involved in building the project and was “confident that we are all on the same page. That’s the best assurance I can give you.”

Council also approved the contractor to rehabilitate the Drury Lane pedestrian bridge. Jarlian Construction Inc. of Burlington won the tender with a bid of $350,339.55.

Council in February approved spending $380,000 on interim repairs to the bridge over the CN Rail line between Drury Lane and Orpha Street. The city closed it last November due to safety concerns.

The total cost has now been budgeted at $440,000, taking into account design and contract work, and flagging by CN Construction is to run between June and August.

Source:  Daniel Nolan, www.thespec.com 11 June 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky