Naturalists ready for turbine appeal preliminary hearing
Administrator | Jan 28, 2013 | Comments 3
Prince Edward County Field Naturalists are prepared for the preliminary hearing of their appeal against the Ontario government’s approval of an industrial wind turbine development at Ostrander Point. The preliminary hearing is to be held Friday, Feb. 8 at 11 am in the Picton Town Hall, above the fire hall on Ross St.
PECFN’s lawyer, Eric Gillespie, will submit the approximately 2,000 documents the group has gathered over the past four years.
The documents have been gathered to support the contention that industrial wind turbine development on PEC’s south shore, specifically at Ostrander Point, will cause “serious and irreversible harm to plant life, animal life or the natural environment”. In addition, the group reports it has recruited expert witnesses provincially, nationally and internationally to testify at the tribunal in March.
“We really are doing this for the County” said fundraising chair, Cheryl Anderson. “We know the habitat along the South Shore is vitally important to migrating birds, bats and butterflies, as well as for preserving endangered species and species at risk. We agree with Environment Canada that it is the worst place for industrial wind turbines. For that reason we have been commenting, complaining and trying to raise awareness about this project since the beginning.”
Several additional industrial wind turbine projects are proposed for Prince Edward County. Along the South Shore wpd is seeking approval for 29 turbines. Proposals have been made for additional installations at Point Petre on the South Shore peninsula. There are four projects proposed for Hillier and one across
Adolphus Reach near Hay Bay.
“Our contention is that, not only will the Ostrander Point project destroy that important habitat, but it will also lead to the industrialization of the South Shore and many other parts of the County,” Anderson said. “There is no doubt that by helping us with this appeal, County residents are helping to defend the rural way of
life we all enjoy.”
Currently the fund raising effort is going well, even though $100,000 is an ambitious goal. The group remains confident that County residents will understand the importance of defeating the Ontario Government’s plan and will support the Field Naturalists’ appeal.
Donations to fund the PECFN appeal may be made at www.SaveOstranderPoint.org or by cheque, payable to Ostrander Point Appeal Fund, to: OPAF 59 King St Unit 2 Picton ON, K0K 2T0.
Filed Under: Local News
So many people are miseducated on the wind turbines. If you would like the real story please e-mail me at gracdawg77@hotmail.com
Wind Turbines: The best laid schemes of mice and men
On January 25, many of us honoured and celebrated Robbie Burns’ birthday. Whenever I contemplate the Industrial Wind Turbine issue here in Prince Edward County, I’m reminded of the poem “To a Mouse” written by Robert Burns in 1785. If you replace his reference to the “plough-staff” with wind turbines and see the birds, bats and turtles etc. as the “mouse” it stands as a remarkable reflection:
Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With argumentative chatter!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.
I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes you startle
At me, your poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor little beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.
Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse grass green!
And bleak December’s winds coming,
Both bitter and keen!
You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel plough passed
Out through your cell.
That small bit heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter’s sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Still you are blest, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
If you have somehow missed Terry Sprague’s article last Thursday in the Picton Gazette, I urge you to spent a few minutes and read it here. It is an impassioned plea for some sanity vis a vis the IWT projects slated for PEC.
http://naturestuff.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1603&Itemid=43