Tuesday, May 01, 2012

When Green Energy Meets Endangered Species In Ontario

...you get something like this decision from the Environmental Registry, allowing Grand Valley Wind Farms Inc. to build nine wind turbines in the Township of East Luther Grand Valley on Bobolink habitat.  The restrictions seem quite elaborate, and involve "more than mitigation measures or “replacing” what is lost", for example providing and maintaining 12.5 hectares of Prime Bobolink habitat on nearby Grand Valley owned land and timing construction activity to avoid the bird's nesting season.  An idea of the amount of resistance to the project can be gleaned from this passage:

A total of 89 comments were received in response to this Environmental Registry notice. Forty-eight responses were form letters which objected to allowing a private developer to harm species at risk and questioned how such authorizations can be justified under the ESA. The individual comments expressed concern that the focus was on business interests rather than protection of species at risk and urged consideration of alternatives which would not have a negative impact on Bobolink (five responses were duplicates).


Looks like the form letters came from the now defunct Wind Concerns Ontario

2 comments:

morningglori said...

Not sure where you get the idea that Wind Concerns Ontario is now defunct.

It's right here.

http://freewco.wordpress.com/

There's also the massively huge spin off group, Ontario Wind Resistance.

http://ontario-wind-resistance.org/

As well as this new rising star...

Quixotes Last Stand
http://quixoteslaststand.com/

In fact, there are now in excess of 60 anti-wind grassroots groups across Ontario.

bigcitylib said...

Didn't realize that they had reconstituted (WCO). A shell of their former selves, however.