Thursday, June 10, 2010

Trading barbs over wind farm

The deputy energy minister rejected criticism levelled Wednesday about the cost of unveiling the province’s renewable energy plan.

About $42,000 was spent on the producing and announcing of the plan at an April news conference at a Dalhousie Mountain, Pictou County, wind farm.

Cecil Clarke, the Tories’ energy critic, said that kind of money would fund a community energy co-op. He also said the energy plan lacked specifics.

"The premier went to the mountain," Clarke said at the public accounts committee meeting at the legislature. "When he came down, did he have any tablets with dollar figures inscribed on them?"

The premier chose that location because MS Energy is one of the first companies in the province to develop a wind farm connected to the power grid, said Murray Coolican, the deputy energy minister.

"It happens that the best wind is on the mountain and that’s why the wind farm is located there."

Coolican also disagreed that the plan lacked specifics. It includes targets for the amount of electricity to be generated by 2015 through renewable sources, he said.


http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1186548.html

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