Wind farm will cause serious irreversible harm to wildlife, Tribunal finds
South Shore of Prince Edward County: [Photo Court Noxon, courtesy Point To Point Foundation]
The decision on the appeal of the White Pines wind power project in Prince Edward County was released yesterday: the Environmental Review Tribunal found for the appellant and the environment (in part), in that serious and irreversible harm would result to the endangered Blandings turtle and the little brown bat. The Tribunal also noted risk to migratory birds.This is a victory for a very hard-fought battle as members of this community fought to save the environment from Ontario’s own Ministry of the Environment.
Statement from Orville Walsh, president of the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County:
We are pleased to announce that APPEC’s appeal of wpd’s White Pines Wind Project has been upheld in part. The Tribunal has found that the White Pines project will cause serious and irreversible harm to Little Brown Bats and to the Blanding’s turtle.
The Tribunal did not find serious and irreversible harm to human health, to hydrology or to migratory birds. However in regards to the latter the Tribunal did note that this wind project presents a significant risk of serious harm to migrating birds and that the project site was poorly chosen from a migratory bird perspective.
We are cautiously elated! The Tribunal acknowledges that engaging in this wind project in accordance with the REA (Renewable Energy Approval) will cause serious and irreversible harm to animal life. Therefore wpd no longer has an REA to stand behind.
The ERT has ordered a hearing of submissions with respect to potential remedies.
The board will be studying the decision over the weekend and following consultation with our legal counsel Eric Gillespie, will have more information to give you next week.
Orville Walsh
President, APPEC
Please go to the Save the South Shorewebsite for information on how to donate toward the legal costs of this fight for the environment. The work done by the community groups in Prince Edward County, Eric K. Gillespie’s legal team, and the witness statements benefit everyone in Ontario.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eric Gillespie is also legal counsel for Ottawa Wind Concerns.
2 thoughts on “Wind farm will harm endangered wildlife, Ontario Tribunal finds”
Sommersaid:
“This is a victory for a very hard-fought battle as members of this community fought to save the environment from Ontario’s own Ministry of the Environment.”
The irony of having to pay for such a legal proceeding to protect our environment from Ontario’s own Ministry of the Environment is absolutely outrageous. While I congratulate all and I sincerely hope people will help to pay for the legal challenge, I have to wonder…..
When people appeal to those who are paid to protect our environment as we report to them that these turbines have ruined our environment and we’re told by them again and again and again that the turbines are ‘in compliance’, then we can only conclude logically that these turbines sited so close to our homes were meant to ruin our environment. Otherwise the paid protectors of our environment would have the turbines turned off in order to restore our environment from the noise and infrasound, thus protecting us from further harm.
One has to wonder why the judges throughout the many tribunals that have taken place in this province, as well as the judge that presided over the Falconer human rights case, did not make judgements in favour of protecting the innocent men, women and children who were pleading for protection?
The panel members are not “judges”; they are lawyers who are employees of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The grounds for appeal of wind power project approvals were purposely crafted so as to be very limited and in fact, impossible to beat. This was stated in January, 2014 by the lawyer for CanWEA who said at the Ostrander Point appeal (in court, not a Tribunal) that: “this [ a successful appeal] was never supposed to happen.” He then went on to say that if it were allowed to stand, then the Tribunal members needed better instruction on how to do their job, which in the wind industry lobby’s view, was to support the approval of the power projects. As for human health, see the news story out of KIncardine on the noise measurement study there.
![South Shore of Prince Edward County: [Photo Court Noxon, courtesy Point To Point Foundation]](https://i0.wp.com/www.windconcernsontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/South-shore-by-Court-Noxon.jpg)
South Shore of Prince Edward County: [Photo Court Noxon, courtesy Point To Point Foundation]![South Shore of Prince Edward County: [Photo Court Noxon, courtesy Point To Point Foundation]](http://www.windconcernsontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/South-shore-by-Court-Noxon.jpg)
Ottawa Wind Concerns 
“This is a victory for a very hard-fought battle as members of this community fought to save the environment from Ontario’s own Ministry of the Environment.”
The irony of having to pay for such a legal proceeding to protect our environment from Ontario’s own Ministry of the Environment is absolutely outrageous. While I congratulate all and I sincerely hope people will help to pay for the legal challenge, I have to wonder…..
When people appeal to those who are paid to protect our environment as we report to them that these turbines have ruined our environment and we’re told by them again and again and again that the turbines are ‘in compliance’, then we can only conclude logically that these turbines sited so close to our homes were meant to ruin our environment. Otherwise the paid protectors of our environment would have the turbines turned off in order to restore our environment from the noise and infrasound, thus protecting us from further harm.
One has to wonder why the judges throughout the many tribunals that have taken place in this province, as well as the judge that presided over the Falconer human rights case, did not make judgements in favour of protecting the innocent men, women and children who were pleading for protection?
The panel members are not “judges”; they are lawyers who are employees of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The grounds for appeal of wind power project approvals were purposely crafted so as to be very limited and in fact, impossible to beat. This was stated in January, 2014 by the lawyer for CanWEA who said at the Ostrander Point appeal (in court, not a Tribunal) that: “this [ a successful appeal] was never supposed to happen.” He then went on to say that if it were allowed to stand, then the Tribunal members needed better instruction on how to do their job, which in the wind industry lobby’s view, was to support the approval of the power projects. As for human health, see the news story out of KIncardine on the noise measurement study there.