All County, All the Time Since 2010 MAKE THIS YOUR PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY HOME...PAGE!  Tuesday, March 19th, 2024

So-called ‘green’ project unacceptable

I am a secondary school teacher, raised in Belleville, now living near Stirling, Ontario. I am contacting you about the Ostrander Point Wind Project proposed to be built by Gilead Power.

My parents and I enjoy frequent trips to Prince Edward County with my two children, sometimes to the south shore (see attached photo taken at Traverse Point in 2010). I have fond memories of my parents taking my siblings and friends there, often just to experience nature.

I am generally in favour of renewable energy projects. As I understand it, Gilead Power is seeking permission to legally kill, harm and harass endangered species on crown land, including the Blanding’s turtle and the Whip-poor-will; and that the Gilead turbines will be situated in close proximity to a globally significant birding area for migratory and breeding waterfowl, raptors, and land birds.

Why on earth, in “a big empty country” (as a European relative describes Canada), would a renewable energy company choose a location that is habitat for endangered species and hundreds of species of migratory birds? Why even have policies and laws to protect such species if, as it seems here, it will be easy to circumvent such laws? We should honour those who went before us, who advocated for wildlife, who set aside wilderness areas to protect animals from human encroachment, to save these animals for future generations, for study and enjoyment, to show respect for the environment. I agree with Nature Canada, a non-profit organization that advocates for nature, and who, despite being supportive of most renewable energy projects, strongly opposes this location.

This so-called “green” project is unacceptable to me. It is unconscionable to permit the carnage that this project is sure to inflict on the wildlife near the south shore of Prince Edward County.

I have serious questions about the Stantec Inc studies that I found on the Gilead website. The Stantec field notes (see sample document attachment) imply that dozens of species of breeding birds will continue on as before, beneath the sweep of the giant blades of Gilead’s new turbines. The study period for breeding birds was only four days (in June 2008). Only four days! Vehicle traffic studies take longer. Furthermore, if this project is given a green light, am I to believe that Stantech will NOT stand to benefit from additional site preparation and engineering contracts? I am incredulous. Finally, 57 separate Stantec field note documents have been combined into a single, large, zipped, PDF file on the Gilead website. To download this 23.4 MB file to my computer took persistence and more than 10 minutes, then more time to unzip. I have to wonder whether this was done purposefully, to discourage busy individuals from examining the notes, to possibly form their own (unfavourable) conclusions, as I have done.

As a Quinte area resident and mother of two children, I ask you please, do not grant the permit for this project to proceed.

Joni Hoover

Stirling, Ontario

Filed Under: Letters and Opinion

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  1. Lori Smith says:

    Brian, just to clarify, the past election (June 2, 2011) was Federal, not Provincial. It is the Provincial Liberals and Dalton McQuinty who are the ones responsible for the Green Energy Act, which allows our environmental and municipal laws to be circumvented. Please note too that all wind projects being planned come in under the ‘magic’ 200MW mark, which would trigger a full blown Environmental Assessement (EA)- much more complex and detailed than the Environmental Review that is required by the GEA.

    And to show how us humans can and do impact the earth and the environment on a global scale: the two days after 911, when all air traffic was grounded and not allowed to fly in American air space, the amount of sunlight reaching the ground in the USA increased by an average of 10%. This was because of the reduced contrails (cloud like streaks caused by the jet fuel gases from airplanes).

    The areas closer to the equators are possibly following a cooling trend, but only because of the increased cloud cover from pollution – the particulate matter suspened in the air from exhaust and the recent volcanic activity in iceland attracts water vapour and clouds become denser, reflecting more sunlight (and IR radiation) back into space. Also hundreds of arces of tropical forests are being burned yearly to create fields for crops to sustain human and animals as our population climbs close to 7 billion now.

    At the poles, there is very little precipitation because there are no clouds. As the ice caps melt and the permaforst recedes, the ground and exposed water are darker than snow, absorbing more of the sun’s radiation and turning it into heat, that is why the polar regions are experiencing much greater annual mean temperature rises than overall ‘world’ figures show, that include the globe’d entire surface.

  2. Brian Palmer says:

    Hey country girl…do you drive to work? How do you heat your house? Cut your lawn? How do your kids get to school?
    Any of these things require gas? If so…you had better smarten up. Not likely eh. Another quick little note, to think that us humans have a effect on the earth’s ability to sustain life for future generations is preposterous. People who think that are 1 of 2 things, egomaniacs or not educated in whats really going on. The earth has been cooling since 1998, and the majority of scientist’s believe this is being caused due to the suns lack of solar flares in comparioson to the past. Do we control that too? The answer to your power problem is nuclear. That’s the way to go.

  3. Country Girl says:

    You can’t deny that we are killing our planet. I’ve watched several news programs, read several newspaper articles, seen documentaries and they all seem to point to the same thing. Apparently, we want to help the planet but not at the expense of our “views”, birds and other speices who are all far more adaptable then we give them credit for. Just because we “think” that we are the only animals on earth that can communicate effectively.

    We need to figure this out because it seems to me that everyone thinks that they have the solution to the problem but nobody will listen to anyone else’s ides. People siting all kinds of resources, etc doesn’t fix the problem.

    Not that I don’t disagree with the wind power – it doesn’t produce as much power as other alternative forms of energy and we do have the most land per-captia in the world. However, it’s not those empty areas that need the power – it’s the city centres, etc. There is a solution and maybe it’ll be an average Joe that comes up with the answer, maybe it’ll be the big oil tycoons (haha not likely). But the issue remains – not where these alternative power sources are going to be located – just that if we don’t do something soon our children are going to have to deal with it and I’m only 35. I figure that I’ll see the end of the world unless people smarten up.

  4. Brian Palmer says:

    I don’t know what you people want. It seems to me that you are in favor of “green energy”, until it impacts your little world. Didn’t you vote for this when you decided to vote liberal? And your choice of words, carnage? That’s a bit much don’t you think. A few birds may get diced, but there not stupid animals. They will find ways to avoid these giant blades, or else.
    I’m not in support of these turbines myself. They are 3 times more costly to us taxpayers, and produce much less power. Why are we using them? Because the last polar bear is falling off the last ice flow. Because we’re killing the planet with cumbustible engines, the earth is boiling up. Im so sick of hearing this garbage. And now the poor turtles? Give me a break.

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