June 26, 2015
Ontario

Wind concerns raised in St. Clair Twp.

By David Gough, Postmedia Network | Thursday, June 25, 2015 | www.wallaceburgcourierpress.com

Although there are no current plans on the horizon to bring wind turbines to St. Clair Township; the mere thought of wind turbines has some people concerned.

A grassroots meeting is scheduled for June 30 at the Wilkesport Community Centre to discuss wind turbines in the St. Clair Township area. A group called the Community Turbine Alliance has organized the meeting, which they say is farmers informing farmers about negative issues they’ve faced in dealing with various wind companies. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

The meeting is for rural landowners and planned topics of conversation include wind contracts, the risks involved with wind turbines and what questions to ask if wind turbine companies come calling.

Additionally, a Facebook page titled ‘No to Wind Turbines! Sombra and Surrounding Areas,’ was also recently created and has attracted over 200 members.

St. Clair Township mayor Steve Arnold said council has not been approached by anyone with a wind project.

There were only ever two projects that had applied for capacity from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), Arnold said.

One was a 65 turbine project that was considered for build in time to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Arnold said it was unsuccessful because of finances and getting enough people to sign up for the turbines.

The other one was a seven turbine project in the Wilkesport area and it was called the Sydenham Wind Project. Arnold said it too was discussed many years ago.

“The company never approached council and we never were told the company name. It was a project listed on the IESO directory,” Arnold wrote to the Courier Press in an email.

Arnold said one of the issues found in St. Clair Township was the lack of consistent, financially viable wind speeds to drive these turbines based on studies conducted in the early 1990’s, and now a lack of transmission capacity on the grid.

St. Clair Township is also on record as being unwilling host to have turbines.

Arnold said the renewed fears of possible wind turbines has surfaced due to the meeting scheduled for June 30 and a similar meeting that was held on June 15. Arnold said the meetings are more in response to a wind turbine project in the Alvinston area.

[rest of article available at source]


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/06/26/wind-concerns-raised-in-st-clair-twp/