February 8, 2014
Ontario

Huron County couple denied wind turbine appeal

By: John Spears Business reporter | Toronto Star | Published on Fri Feb 07 2014 | www.thestar.com

A tribunal has rejected a Huron County couple’s claim that a nearby wind farm will violate the Charter of Rights by threatening their health.

Shawn and Tricia Drennan have a 300-acre farm in the area where K2 Wind Ontario proposes to develop a wind farm with 140 turbines.

A dozen turbines and a big transformer station will be within two kilometres of their farm, and high voltage wires will cross the area.

The Drennans appealed to the Environmental Review Tribunal that the development could harm their health.

Failing to do so, they said, could threaten their right to security of the person under the Charter.

But the tribunal has released a decision rejecting the claim.

“There is no reliable evidence to demonstrate that the project will cause serious physical or any other serious harm,” it ruled.

A number of witnesses who live close to existing wind farms testified that the turbines had damaged their health.

But the tribunal said that they did not provide professional medical opinions that would establish a “causal link” between their ailments and the turbines.

Shawn Drennan said in an interview Friday that he hadn’t yet spoken to his lawyer, but expects to appeal the ruling in the courts.

He didn’t expect a favorable ruling from the environmental tribunal, he said: “They’re meant for the public to lose.”

“The government made the rules, appointed the judge and brought its own lawyers. The chances of winning that are pretty slim.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/08/huron-county-couple-denied-wind-turbine-appeal/