August 1, 2013
Nova Scotia

Wind farm foes appeal to URB

JOANN ALBERSTAT, BUSINESS REPORTER | The Chronicle Herald | July 31, 2013 | thechronicleherald.ca

A Terence Bay group is asking the provincial regulator to halt a small-scale wind project in the area.

The group, Friends of River Road, filed an appeal with the Utility and Review Board last week of the Energy Department’s approval of the project. Energy Minister Charlie Parker gave the nod in April 2012.

The six-megawatt project is being developed by Chebucto Wind Field Inc., in partnership with Renewable Energy Services Ltd.

Board documents, made public this week, indicate the community group is appealing on the grounds that the project didn’t meet provincial guidelines for having local support.

A spokeswoman for Friends of River Road said Wednesday residents didn’t know about the three-turbine project until a month after the project was approved.

“The community has provided many letters, a petition. We’ve provided a lot of information that proves no support,” Lynn Slaunwhite said in an interview.

The wind project would be located on private land in an area off River Road.

Slaunwhite, a River Road resident, said the group obtained a copy of the developer’s letters of support through a Freedom of Information request.

One of the form letters was from Chebucto Wind Field’s president and the other three were from people who don’t live in the area, she said. While names and addresses were removed before the letters were released, their authors live in Halifax and Hammonds Plains.

Chebucto Wind Field officials couldn’t be reached Wednesday for comment.

Chebucto official Terry Norman has said the turbine project is small and won’t harm the environment.

An environmental assessment of the project is underway now.

The project is proposed under the province’s community feed-in tariff program, which encourages the development of green energy projects at a local level by allowing them to sell electricity to Nova Scotia Power at a fixed price for 20 years.

Community groups, municipalities and First Nations are among those eligible to take part in the COMFIT program.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/01/wind-farm-foes-appeal-to-urb/