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Merrick wind farm next in crosshairs
Credit: By Jeff Turl | March 18, 2015 | www.baytoday.ca ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
The Mattawan wind farm may be dead, but Innergex Renewable Energy says that won’t affect its plans to put up to 60 wind turbines in Merrick Township, just north of North Bay.
But not if Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli can help it.
Pleased with the victory in Mattawan, Fedeli says he plan to “keep the pot boiling” to keep the turbines from being built.
“So now we’ll turn the guns, clean them and aim them towards (the wind farm) in North Bay, says Fedeli.
“We’ll let the people know on a really, really massive scale, what the consequences of that wind project will be. And 32,000 wind brochures went to every household in Nipissing to explain why their hydro bill has tripled.”
The MPP is also planning a town hall meeting next Tuesday at the Davedi Club.
“I congratulate Innergex because they say they will not proceed if it doesn’t have social acceptability, and they heard loud and clear in Mattawa that they didn’t. With the proposal in North Bay, we just need to show them this project will not have social acceptability here.”
Meanwhile, François Morin, the Senior Advisor for Development, Partnerships and Community Relations with Innergex told BayToday that Merrick township plans won’t be affected by what happened in Mattawan Township.
“We’ll still continue to have consultations with stakeholders about it,” he said.
Morin says the company met last week with representatives from the airport and city, including Mayor Al McDonald.
“We have proposed a solution to put the project outside a zone of 15 kilometres from the airport. We have agreed to have a layout that will be outside 15 kilometres, which was the main concern of the airport.”
“We’re confident that we’ll continue,” Morin explained. “It was the solution to one concern, but we’ll have many meetings in the future to ensure that we answer concerns and comments of the population and stakeholders. I’m confident we can work with stakeholders and find solutions.”
Morin doesn’t expect to see any construction start before 2019, but hope to award the contract late this year or early next year. After that will come the permitting and environmental assessments and consultations.
Morin says Innergex needs more information on the connection capacity of the line, but expects the project to build between 50-60 wind turbines.
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