Dec 28 2010
The wind project of International Power Canada in Bruce County has evoked a good amount of discussions among the county and municipal officials. The company is looking forward to adding 50 new wind turbines in addition to the 18 wind turbines existing in the Ripley area of Bruce County.
Mitch Twolan, Mayor of Huron Kinlos suggested for a more concerted overture in the introduction of wind energy development. He expressed pain about the different views expressed by the eight municipalities and suggested to have a county level discussion during early part of next year. He added that a number of people have expressed their anxiety about the wind project and opposed to it. He clarified that most of the time the municipalities hear of such proposal only at the end instead of at the beginning. He expressed frustration for not having worthy discussion or consultation over such projects, which requires them to answer a barrage of questions from the tax payers.
Mike Smith, a warden from Ontario said that the group of wardens from western Ontario is looking forward to teaming up with the eastern Ontario wardens to take up the issue with the regional government and request for more regulatory powers to the municipalities on wind energy development related issues. He added that the procedure will remain incomplete until it receives concurrence of the local municipalities.
Chris LaForest, head of planning, during the meeting of agriculture tourism and planning committee said that the eight municipalities have taken various positions right from we don’t require wind turbines in our place to have them. He wanted to know at which level of discussion the officers will be allowed to participate with the municipalities and the wind farm developers. He said that an introduction of a procedure will give the required structure to initiate discussions with wind farm developers.
Source: http://www.brucecounty.on.ca/