February 5, 2018
Ontario

Seeking answers over wind turbine

By John Divinski | Bayshore Broadcasting | February 5, 2018 | www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca

Saugeen Shores council has approved extending an invitation to the manager of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), Rick Chappell to a future meeting of council to talk wind turbines.

Specifically, council wants to question him about the concerns of residents near the UNIFOR turbine in south Port Elgin, affected by night time urban noise and the health issues it creates.

In a prepared notice of motion, council wants “To hear first-hand, the MOECC’s position in regards to regulating or the lack thereof” when it comes to turbines.

Saugeen Turbine Operation Policy (STOP) spokesperson Greg Schmalz, who spoke during the Open Forum portion of the meeting on Monday, January 29th is not impressed with Chappell’s work.

Schmalz accuses Chappelle of allowing the testing of the turbine to be voluntary rather than mandatory.

He states, “When the Director of Approval says this must be tested as part of the requirements..of doing the approval and you (Chappelle) the cop, on the beat, chooses not to enforce the law, something’s happening.”

The UNIFOR turbine, formerly the CAW turbine, has been an issue in Port Elgin for the past five or six years.

Still there is no definitive audit study of the turbine.

Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau says council has sent a letter to the Ontario Ombudsman, looking for help and direction, only to receive an answer that has been called “a catch-22” reply.

Charbonneau says the letter intimates that, “You have to do an audit before you can prove non-compliance but you have to prove non-compliance before you can do an audit. The Ombudsman didn’t say that was a problem but it seems like a problem to me.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/02/05/seeking-answers-over-wind-turbine/