January 25, 2013
Ontario

Capital Power shut down, message sent to NextEra over eagles

By Chase Jarrett, Writer | Turtle Island News | www.theturtleislandnews.com

An almost three dozen car caravan shut down four Capital Power sites and delivered a powerful message to a fifth NextEra site outside of Hagersville Thursday.

Both companies are constructing wind turbines on Six Nations treaty lands.

“We delivered a message today that when they (NextEra) cut down the eagle’s nest, it was a violation to us against Creation,” said Hazel Hill, interim director of the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI). “So we’re here to deliver a really strong message today that if they continue with these types of actions we’ll be shutting them down as well.”

Four nearby Capital Power sites were shut down earlier in the day.

“Our goal is to have developers show some respect to the Haudenosaunee when they come in our treaty territory.

These are our treaty lands,” said Hill. “When our chiefs give a cease and desist order they’re to respect it.”

HDI issued a September cease and desist order on behalf of Confederacy Council, but were alarmed when Capital Power ignored the order and began building roads into construction sites.

The shut downs began at 11 a.m. at a Capital Power development site on Conc. 3. About 35 Six Nations activists were on site enduring frigid temperatures with numbers growing to 45 by the end of the day.

Across the road, resident Betty Kollee was happy to see Six Nations protestors and even opened up her home for bathroom use.

“It’s a damn sin,” she said about the Capital Power wind turbines.

Kollee moved in 10 years ago with her husband to retire but said now she’s relocating.

“We’re going to look into going back where we came from,” she said.

To Kollee, potential health risks and wildlife damage aren’t worth the trouble of a turbine. “The (affected) wildlife bothers us the most,” she said, adding that she often visited the woods to bird and deer watch.

“It’s all going to be gone.”

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URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/01/25/capital-power-shut-down-message-sent-to-nextera-over-eagles/