Prince Edward County residents have their say about wind turbine plans

By Nicole Kleinsteuber
Courtesy of www.princeedwardcountyvoice.ca

The wind farms have been an issue for over a year and came to a head during last Sept. provincial election. Residents now want new Conservative MPP Todd Smith to make a change.

Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith wants to give Prince Edward County residents the opportunity to have their say when it comes to wind developments planned along the county’s south shore.

Smith has invited the community to participate in a public consultation tonight at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton at 6 p.m.

Join Prince Edward County Voice reporter Nicole Kleinsteuber on Twitter @ PECVoice for live coverage.

“We thought it would be a good idea to have a town hall meeting so we could send all of the different thoughts on this project to the directly to the Ministry of Environment,” said Smith.  “We want to make sure the messages from the members of this municipality get sent to Queen’s Park and the message is sent loud and clear on this issue.”

Gilead Power is the wind company whose proposal for a nine turbine wind farm on Ostrander Point is in the final stages of review by the Ministry of Environment.  At Smith’s request the public was granted a three-week extension to comment on the pending project.

Smith said he thinks the community hasn’t been given the opportunity to voice their concerns until now.

“The government says that it wants to hear from the public.  We just don’t know how sincere they are when they say that, because there has been no real public consultation in this process,” said Smith.

Seven different stake holder groups in the area are invited to speak for 10 minutes each.  Smith said there will be an opportunity for the public to voice their concerns on the issue as well.

Smith said he expects there will be both members from the community who are opposed and in favour of wind projects proposed for the county.

“This meeting will act as a clear record on what the thoughts are of the members of this municipality,” said Smith.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, who is a caucus colleague of Smith’s and an energy critic, is to speak at tonight’s meeting.

The public has until February 19 to comment on the ministry’s EBR.