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No room for eagles in Green Energy Act?
The incident didn't provide the kind of optics usually associated with green energy. There was no ribbon-cutting ceremony, no photo of back-slapping politicians wearing hardhats. And yet photographs snapped by residents have gone viral, eliciting all kinds of opinion from Canadians and others. Most people appear to be horrified, while others are taking note of the hypocrisy of a government that says its Green Energy Act was launched to help save the environment, yet will permit the removal of the nesting home of what's arguably the environment's most beloved winged symbol.
Credit: By Peter Epp, QMI Agency | January 11, 2013 | www.chathamdailynews.ca ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
Premier Dalton McGuinty probably wasn’t thinking of this when his government introduced the Green Energy Act several years ago.
Last week, on Jan. 5, workers employed by a subsidiary of an American-based energy company removed a bald eagle nest to make way for a wind turbine.
And NextEra Energy had the blessing of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
Chainsaw-wielding workers were spotted by horrified residents in Haldimand County, who watched as a tree limb, with a huge eagle’s nest attached to it, was removed by an overhead crane.
NextEra Energy is planning to erect 56 turbines at its Summerhaven Wind Energy Centre near Fisherville. But the eagle’s nest was apparently not in NextEra or the government’s plans. The MNR approved the nest’s removal on Dec. 31 without public input, and posted notice of its removal only a day before the deed was done.
The incident didn’t provide the kind of optics usually associated with green energy. There was no ribbon-cutting ceremony, no photo of back-slapping politicians wearing hardhats. And yet photographs snapped by residents have gone viral, eliciting all kinds of opinion from Canadians and others. Most people appear to be horrified, while others are taking note of the hypocrisy of a government that says its Green Energy Act was launched to help save the environment, yet will permit the removal of the nesting home of what’s arguably the environment’s most beloved winged symbol.
MNR officials say no eagles were harmed, and suggest that by removing the nest this early in the year, the eagle pair will have a chance to “safely relocate” to another site.
Wow. Can you imagine a farmer or other rural landowner trying to use that excuse? It just wouldn’t wash. Some landowners in Southwestern Ontario aren’t even allowed to use their own man-made irrigation ditches because a rare species of fish or amphibious creature has been found in those waters. But it’s okay to relocate bald eagles for the sake of pushing through a political agenda the government says is good for us?
Here’s what the McGuinty Liberals say on a government website about the Fisherville energy project: “Expanding clean and renewable sources of energy is key to the government’s plan to phase out coal-fired generation, mitigate climate change, create green jobs and support technological innovation in renewable energy.”
Blah, blah, blah… that’s just a lot of high-sounding nonsense.
Just ask the eagles of Haldimand County.
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