July 24, 2014
Nova Scotia

Truro-area group loses bid to block Harmony wind farm

JOANN ALBERSTAT, BUSINESS EDITOR | The Chronicle Herald | July 23, 2014 | thechronicleherald.ca

The provincial regulator has dismissed a community group’s bid to have provincial and municipal approvals of a Truro-area wind project overturned.

The Utility and Review Board ruled Wednesday that it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the complaint by the Friends of Camden, Greenfield and Surrounding Areas. The group is opposed to a 3.2-megawatt, two-turbine project being developed in Harmony, Colchester County, by Affinity Wind LP.

Lower Harmony resident Claudia LeClerc, one of two community residents who launched the appeal, said she was disappointed by the decision but not surprised.

“This was another avenue where, yet again, the door has been shut on us,” she said in an interview. “We’ve been down this road so many times, trying to be heard.”

The wind venture is a partnership involving the Nova Scotia SPCA.

The non-profit group is working with Pictou County wind developer Reuben Burge on the project. Burge is also president of RMSenergy Ltd., which operates the 51-megawatt Dalhousie Mountain wind farm through a subsidiary.

The community group had appealed a decision earlier this month by a Colchester County development officer to grant a licence for the project. Concerned residents said they hadn’t been properly notified or consulted.

But the regulator said in a preliminary ruling Wednesday that it doesn’t have the authority to review the municipal licensing decision.

The group also urged the board to overturn the Energy Department’s approval of the project, citing similar concerns.

But board vice-chairman Roland Deveau said an appeal of a ministerial decision has to be made within 60 days, which meant the timeline expired in July 2012.

The Harmony project is being developed under the province’s Community Feed-in Tariff Program, also known as COMFIT.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/07/24/truro-area-group-loses-bid-to-block-harmony-wind-farm/