Awarding of wind farm deals delayed until July

February 27, 2012 - 8:41pm

Joann Alberstat, Business Reporter

Green energy developers will find out in mid-July whether they have been awarded contracts to get their wind farms off the ground.

The province’s renewable electricity administrator set out the revised timeline in a regulatory filing Friday with the provincial Utility and Review Board.

John Dalton, president of Power Advisory LLC, said Monday the timeline was changed because final revisions to the proposed tendering process took longer than expected.

“We started the process back in July in terms of working with stakeholders and have for the last six to seven months been working with them to get their comments and feedback,” Dalton said from Boston.

This is the second time the Massachusetts consultant, appointed by the Energy Department last year, has changed the timeline for awarding contracts. The independent administrator had planned to award contracts in April and then June.

The administrator is asking the review board to approve a draft power purchase agreement, which will be used to oversee the development of energy projects.

The draft agreement is based on previous contracts awarded by Nova Scotia Power but has been updated to reflect industry best practice and similar recent procurements across Canada, the filing said.

Dalton said board officials have suggested a two-month timeline for making a decision. A ruling is expected by April 25, paving the way for developers to submit their bids in May.

One recent change in the process involves the scoring system for evaluating projects.

The previous plan would have penalized projects in southwestern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, where there is less room on the grid. But the latest proposal would allow developers in those two areas to score points by offering to pay for the necessary network upgrades.

Dalton said he doesn’t know whether the proposal will be approved because such costs are normally paid by Nova Scotia Power customers.

“We felt it was important to be as inclusive as possible. We think we get that same net result by providing some additional flexibility. But the ultimate decision is the board’s.”

The province’s consumer advocate has questioned the plan to build more wind farms, saying they are not needed to meet renewable energy targets.

The Energy Department has said it will award contracts for an additional 300 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity, which equals about 100 megawatts of wind power, anyway.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/67801-awarding-wind-farm-deals-delayed-until-july

Pugwash - the village not so peaceful

Dave MacGrath

Original (unedited) submission to Chronicle Herald

Published in Opinions 24th February 2012

For fifty years Pugwash, Nova Scotia has been known around the world for its dedication in making the world a more peaceful place. There is now a very large problem within the community that certainly needs the help of our government officials. Perhaps the most important of these would be the Department of Environment and the Department of Tourism.

The Gulf Shore area of Pugwash is one of the fastest growing areas in Cumberland County. The majority of the residents who moved here from away did so because they wanted to live in a peaceful place. Pugwash and the Gulf Shore Road area has residents from all around the world who find it a great place to live, with clean air, very little crime, wonderful ocean activities and friendly people who work together for the common good of this community. A few years ago the residents thought it would be a good idea to build a curling rink. They held some meetings, everyone joined in and the rink was built using volunteers without one hitch or argument and it is now the winter focal point for the community. It just shows what can be done with a joint effort. We are a successful area but the depth of our success is not deep and the future of this area and village is "at risk".

Unfortunately, "The Atlantic Wind Power Corporation" has leased land from several residents in the area and plan to erect windmills on that leased land which is in the middle of this pristine area. The people who came here from away and spent there life savings on their retirement homes on the Gulf Shore will be right in the middle of this if it goes ahead. According to the most recent census the Gulf Shore area is one of the few rural places in Nova Scotia which is growing in numbers, it is helping to keep Pugwash a viable village.

A study in Ontario which was shown on CBC stated property values in a windmill area will depreciate from 20% to 40 % . These wind mills have a life expectancy of nineteen years and it is the land owner’s responsibility to put the land back to its original condition which will cost an estimated forty thousand dollars per windmill. In the mining industry a reclamation bond must be posted by the land owner if the status of the land is changed. Is it really worth all the aggravation and dissension to lease to The Atlantic Wind Power Corporation?

Pugwash is a beautiful place and I love living here. The landscape, beaches and serene skyline is what invites people to come live here, I would hate to see our tourism, and the people who have moved into the area, suffer. We are on a slippery slope. Nobody is against wind power, what they are against is ruining a beautiful residential area with windmills that are 350 feet high. By the way, what is wrong with the Cobequid Pass area? Lots of wind there and nobody would suffer if they covered the mountain with them.

My question to these windmill proponents; my politicians, federally, provincially and municipally, is simple:

"Would you after reading the CBC article, gladly accept a windmill for which you have no financial reimbursement, within 600 meters of your home? " A simple "Yes" or "No"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/30/ontario-wind-power-property-values.html

Dave McGrath

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/66966-pugwash-not-so-peaceful-village

Minister: Pugwash wind farm assessment OK

Brian Mendel

February 24, 2012 - 4:31am

Community group says data inaccurate, incomplete

Despite calls to do so, the province’s environment minister says he won’t reject an environmental assessment for a wind farm planned for the Pugwash area.

"That’s not going to happen," Sterling Belliveau said Wednesday while in his constituency.

"There is a process in place and we see that unfolding as (with) any other project that’s similar."

Earlier this month, members of the Gulf Shore Preservation Association urged Belliveau to reject an environmental assessment prepared for Pugwash Wind Farm Inc. because they claimed the company was using data collected for public consultations five years ago. The group says that data is now inaccurate and incomplete.

In a news release issued earlier this week, the association said the community opposes the project, which would see 11 to 12 turbines, generating up to 33 megawatts of electricity, built on a site about two kilometres east of Pugwash.

International singing star Anne Murray, who has a summer home in the area, has also called on the province to stop the proposed wind farm.

Belliveau said the time is now for people to have their say on the project.

"There is a window of opportunity for the public to submit their presentations," Belliveau said. "We’re going through that now, that 30-day window.

"We think the process is right and it’s there for all . . . Nova Scotians to have input. We have great confidence in that particular process."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/66574-minister-pugwash-wind-farm-assessment-ok

Reject Pugwash Wind Farm EA Over Shoddy Consultation

PRESS RELEASE

Reject Pugwash Wind Farm EA Over Shoddy Consultation: Gulf Shore Preservation Association

Pugwash - Minister Sterling Belliveau has received a letter from the Gulf Shore Preservation Association outlining concerns with the quality of community consultation provided as part of the Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment.

“The Minister is being asked to believe public consultations that occurred five years ago regarding an aborted wind project proposed by the same developer constitutes consultation on the current proposal. He is also being asked to accept that native communities do not deserve to be consulted before Environmental Assessments are complete,” said Lisa Betts, Chair of the Gulf Shore Preservation Association.

In the consultation chapter of the Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment the proponent admits to extensive, demonstrated and prolonged community opposition to this latest incarnation of the project aborted five years ago. In addition, by submitting the Environmental Assessment before the Mi’kmaq Ecological Study (MEKS) is complete, the proponent is asking the minister to devalue the rights of First Nations people to be consulted.

“These are serious issues that the Minister of the Environment must address if Environmental Assessments in Nova Scotia are going to be worth the paper they are written on.” Said Lisa Betts “We do not see how in good conscience or in following Nova Scotia environmental requirements, the Minister can deem this project worthy of approval.”

Lisa Betts

Chair
Gulf Shore Preservation Association

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Assessment of Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment: Consultation Section (Chapter Five)

Minister Belliveau,

On behalf of concerned residents of Pugwash, I wish to make you aware of a number of issues residents have with the accuracy of the Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment. While your ministry has determined the document to be complete and ready for a decision, members of the community remain puzzled as to how that is possible after having reviewed the text.

It is our hope that you will recognize that this Environmental Assessment is lacking and not worthy of approval.

One of the largest issues citizens identified when reviewing the Environmental Assessment document is that it isn’t a single Environmental Assessment about a single proposal. The proponent has hobbled together research from an aborted attempt at a project in Pugwash in 2006 and re-packaged it into the current proposal, such as it is.

When reviewing what the proponent has determined to be the ‘consultation’ document for this project, there is a clear acknowledgement that the community has been and remains overwhelmingly opposed to the project.

Further, the Gulf Shore Preservation Association (GSPA) has audio evidence that demonstrates the proponent’s claims about what occurred at the August, 2010 consultation described in section 5.3 (page 66) are simply inaccurate. Residents did not lose interest when the presentation equipment failed. To the contrary. more than an hour of questions were asked by the audience, after which a remarkable degree of opposition to the project remained.

With the proponent acknowledging long standing and intensifying opposition to either proposal for a wind project, how is it that the government can still believe that this project is in the best interest of the community? Do citizens matter at all in this process to your Ministry?

Why is your Ministry allowing a proponent to re-use five year old materials that were prepared for a distinctly different, aborted project to skirt around doing their homework on the present project?

I would respectfully request that in your capacity as Minister of the Environment you reject the Environmental Assessment that has been submitted for the Pugwash Wind Farm on the grounds that the document is both inaccurate and incomplete.

Sincerely,
Lisa Betts
Chair
Gulf Shore Preservation Association

WIND FARM FANATICS ARE BANKRUPTING US WITH THEIR HOT AIR

By James Delingpole

17th February, 2012

Daily Express

Wind farm fanatics are bankrupting us with their hot air

THIS week the chairman of the National Trust finally admitted what the rest of us have known for some time: wind farms are the ugliest, most stupid, environmentally damaging, expensive, wasteful and utterly pointless monstrosities ever to deface the British landscape. Not that Sir Simon Jenkins put it quite so bluntly. But from the chairman of a conservation organisation with four million members, 28,500 acres and 700 miles of coastline this was still pretty powerful and damning stuff. Wind power, said Jenkins, is not only the “least efficient” form of renewable energy but it also “wrecks the countryside”.

Nor do wind power’s disastrous side effects end there. It also: wipes out birds (400,000 a year in the US alone), drives anyone who lives nearby mad with its strobing effects and low subsonic hum, trashes property values, costs between three and nine times the amount of conventional energy, creates the fuel poverty which has caused hypothermia deaths to soar this year, slows economic growth, blights views destroys jobs and produces such unreliable, intermittent energy it requires near-100 per cent backup from conventional power. Apart from that, though, wind power is great.

Ten years ago, at the height of the man-made global warming craze, Jenkins’ remarks might have got him into an awful lot of trouble. Today they just sound like a statement of the bleeding obvious. Apart from hardcore eco-activists, the only people left who believe in wind farms these days are ignorant politicians, crony capitalist energy companies and rent-seeking fat cats. The 15 biggest estate owners receive no less than £850million a year in subsidies – paid for by a hidden tariff added to our electricity bills.

BUT how on earth was such a massive scam perpetrated against the public on so little scientific evidence? This is the question future generations are going to ask and it’s the same one I ask in my new book Watermelons. The short answer is: follow the money.

From small, cultish beginnings as the obscure obsession of a few hairshirt eco-loons, “climate change” has grown into a massive industry worth billions, if not trillions, of dollars worldwide. When you consider that just one US solar energy firm Solyndra managed to snaffle (before it collapsed) a whopping $500million of tax- payers’ money you begin to realise the scale of the great global warming Ponzi scheme. And also why so many vested interests are so reluctant to see their gravy train derailed.

The wind farm industry is a case in point. Despite over- whelming evidence of the damage it has wrought it continues to expand against the will of the people because of the fortunes being made by the unprincipled few.

In Britain by 2030, the Renewable Energy Foundation calculates, as much as £130billion will have been paid out through taxpayer subsidy to the wind farm industry. With such eye- watering sums of easy money to be made (last year six Scottish wind farms were paid £900,000 just to turn their turbines off in high wind so that the power surge didn’t disrupt the grid) it’s no wonder the industry can afford to pay an army of lobbyists.

Some of these lobbyists pay eco-activists to masquerade as ordinary citizens who just happen to have been inspired to write letters to the papers and MPs in praise of the latest wind farm development. The real people who have to live alongside these eyesores stand no chance against such well- orchestrated, lavishly funded and utterly cynical campaigns.

This is entirely typical of the lies and hypocrisy of the climate change industry. Anyone who questions the “consensus” of global warming is accused of being in the pay of sinister corporate interests but the truth is the balance of spending lies all the other way. According to calculations by Australian blogger Jo Nova, the amount spent funding the global warming industry is around 3,500 times greater than the amount that has been spent funding climate scepticism.

All of which might yet be forgivable if climate change were a serious problem but increasingly the evidence suggests that the catastrophic warming predicted by alarmist computer models simply isn't happening. Not only did global warming stop in 1998 but the lack of recent sunspot activity suggests we're entering another of those mini-ice ages redolent of the days when ice fairs were held on the Thames.

WHILE this may be good news for skaters it will be of little comfort to those who - thanks to green tariffs – can scarcely afford to heat their homes. Nor indeed to those who want an economic future or jobs for their kids. The depressing truth is that, thanks to their misguided obsession with global warming, a handful of Left-leaning environmental activists (watermelons: green on the outside, red on the inside) have successfully created the biggest outbreak of mass hysteria in history that has in turn done incalculable damage to the global economy, to our landscape and wildlife. In the name of saving Earth, in other words, these idealistic misanthropes have helped destroy it.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/302702/Wind-farm-fanatics-are-bankrupting-us-with-their-hot-air

Anne Murray protests proposed Pugwash wind farm

The Canadian Press

Posted: Feb 21, 2012 11:05 PM AT

Nova Scotia's songbird is choosing fight over flight in her lengthy battle against a wind farm near her summer home.

Anne Murray has written a letter to Premier Darrell Dexter, saying the proposed development is "deeply disturbing" and has no place in Pugwash, N.S., or near its scenic golf course.

Murray, who purchased a home in the area 30 years ago, said the wind farm would lead to plummeting property values and fewer tourists, adding that it would have a "catastrophic" impact on the economy.

"Wind turbines are imposing structures and definitely not the kind of thing one wants to see from a golf course," she wrote."Turbines are a curiosity, but only once."

North Cumberland Wind Farm, an affiliate of Atlantic Wind Power Corp., is proposing to install 12 wind turbines generating 33 megawatts of power on land about two kilometres from the village.

The Halifax-based company had initially wanted to build a 27-turbine wind farm in 2006.

If the project goes ahead, Murray said the turbines wouldn't be visible from her home.

Company president Charles Demond said the corporation doesn't believe the project would have a negative impact on the area's economy or tourism.

"The vast majority of cottage owners are going to be a kilometre or more away," he said in an interview. "It's a project that's supported by a number of folks in the community and area."

Lori Errington, a spokeswoman for the provincial Environment Department, declined to comment on the contents of Murray's letter.

"I can confirm that the Premier's Office did receive a letter from Ms. Murray regarding the Pugwash wind farm," she said. "I don't want to get into the specifics of her letter because this process is currently under review."

She said the correspondence will be included in public comments that are being collected as part of the province's review process.

The deadline for public submissions is March 7.

A decision from the province on the proposal could come next month.

Last week, a citizen's group opposed to the wind farm issued a news release urging the province to suspend its public consultation.

The Gulf Shore Preservation Association said environmental assessment documents filed earlier this month by the developer were incomplete.

Murray has campaigned for years against wind farm development in the area alongside the association, but said in an interview that it's the first time she's written the premier as part of her efforts.

"I just think the process is unfair and should be looked at by the powers that be," she said from Jupiter, Fla.

The Grammy and Juno award winner said she applauds Nova Scotia's renewable energy efforts, but ultimately believes wind turbines should be built in communities that truly embrace them.

"People are going to a place like Pugwash and that whole area to escape from industry, to have the serenity of the surroundings and the beauty," she said. "I think this would be a blight."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/02/21/ns-anne-murray-windfarm.html

Anne Murray, Tim Hortons’ magnate Ron Joyce tee off over wind farm

Sarah Boesveld Feb 21, 2012 – 11:55 PM ET

Last Updated: Feb 22, 2012 12:06 AM ET

National Post

Almost every year from July to October, Canadian music legend Anne Murray returns to picturesque Pugwash, N.S., where she spent her summers as a child. She practises her swing at the local first-class golf course and marvels at the way the little place she’d visit to attend church on Sundays has blossomed into a tourist destination — a jewel along the Northumberland Strait.

Nearby is Fox Harb’r, the luxury golf course and resort owned by Tim Hortons’ magnate Ron Joyce, another kid from Nova Scotia’s northwestern shore made good.

Now, the area’s two most celebrated icons are publicly disagreeing over wind turbine construction in the area after the Snowbird singer publicly spoke out against a 12-turbine wind farm proposed for two kilometres outside Pugwash.

“Pugwash is my favourite place in the whole world…. It’s more important to me than any other place,” the celebrated singer said by phone from Jupiter, Fla. “I just think it’s the wrong place [to erect a wind farm]. The government would be shooting themselves in the foot to take a community that’s growing and thriving and put a stop to it.”

Ms. Murray worries the whirring and thumping of wind turbines, which can stand up to 40 storeys high, will repel people from the area, turn tourists away, claw back property values and damage animal habitats.

On Monday, she sent a letter to Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter warning that a wind farm would have a “catastrophic impact” on the economy and environment in the area.

Though the singer and golf enthusiast says she has not spoken with neighbour Mr. Joyce about the project and doubts it would affect his business, she said a wind farm at Pugwash would “just be the beginning, because it will go all the way down the coast. That’s what the fear is.”

Mr. Joyce, who was born in nearby Tatamagouche, N.S., and invested in the first Tim Hortons doughnut shop in 1964 and built it into an international chain, said he’s unfazed by wind farm concerns in a province that already has 26 wind farm projects, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association.

“I am aware of Anne’s ongoing negative comments on wind farms,” he said in an email to the National Post. “I personally am not a supporter of her argument. [T]he world is moving forward for a better source than fossil fuels…. I see no major negatives in countries that have them.”

Her letter comes just weeks after the province registered an assessment of the Pugwash Wind Farm, to be developed by North Cumberland Wind Farm LP. Ms. Murray and the Gulf Shore Preservation Association, a local citizens’ group, are worried the province accepted an incomplete environmental assessment that failed to carry out archeological, bat and migratory bird studies and first nations consultations. They say five of the turbines will be built in wetlands — a “clear contravention” of the province’s environmental laws, Ms. Murray said.

The Gulf Shore Preservation Association has called for Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau to suspend the 30-day public comment period, which opened the day the assessment was registered, Feb. 6, based on 17 “deficiencies” they identified. After 30 days of public input, Mr. Belliveau will decide whether to approve the environmental assessment, deny it or ask for further study, ministry spokesperson Lori Errington said.

“Nothing’s written in stone at this point,” she said. “Certainly we’ll be considering all the aspects the wind farm would involve.”

She confirmed Mr. Dexter received Ms. Murray’s letter and his office will respond. The singer’s letter will also be included in the public consultation dossier, Ms. Errington said.

Richard Gray, treasurer of the Gulf Shore Preservation Association, said he hopes Ms. Murray’s public objections will turn the tide in their favour. She’s been speaking out against the project since 2007 when the proposal was first made — Ms. Murray said that she was at first supportive of the wind farms because she favours alternative sources of power, but soon learned it is important they be placed far from communities.

The last time Ms. Murray spoke out, her comments were “distorted” to read like “‘It’s too bad wealthy Anne Murray won’t be able to play golf anymore,’” Mr. Gray said. “That’s not her position. I know Anne well … this goes back to her childhood. She’s very sensitive to fragile economies being destroyed.”

Ms. Murray grew up in the nearby coal mining town of Springhill, N.S. which suffered three mining disasters before that resource could no longer fuel the local economy.

Even now, the singer isn’t sure her activism will make any difference. But she swears she’ll do anything to protect her community (she rejects accusations of NIMBYism because her home is too far away from the proposed wind farm site to suffer any personal impact).

“If this doesn’t work, I certainly will have done everything I can to help the process along,” she said. “It could be falling on deaf ears everywhere, I don’t know. But I had to do something.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/21/anne-murray-wind-farm/

Wind farm hits sour note with Canada's Songbird

February 21, 2012 - 5:50pm

By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter

Anne Murray wishes a proposed wind farm in the Pugwash area would fly away because the wings it would spread are anything but tiny.

Canada’s Songbird has written Premier Darrell Dexter asking him to halt the proposed $85-million project, which would be about three kilometres from her summer home.

“Pugwash is simply the wrong place for this,” Murray said in an interview Tuesday from her home in Jupiter, Fla.

Pugwash Wind Farm Inc. wants to install 11 or 12 turbines, which would generate up to 33 megawatts of electricity, on a site about two kilometres east of Pugwash. Construction could begin in 2013.

The singing legend, who spends three or four months a year in the area, said she fears the wind project would hurt tourism and the area’s popularity as a retirement area.

“If you put up a wind farm, you’ll take away the very thing that these people are escaping from,” Murray said.

“These things ..... are an eyesore, in my opinion. In an area like this, I think they would be a blight on the coastline and a terrible detriment to the economy.”

A top-notch celebrity golfer, Murray also expresses concern in the letter about the development’s possible impact on the Northumberland Links course.

A local group called the Gulf Shore Preservation Association, of which Murray is a member, has opposed the project.

The 66-year-old Nova Scotian said she shares the association’s concern about an environmental assessment on the project that the developer filed with the Environment Department earlier this month.

The group asked Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau to halt a public consultation because of concerns the developer hadn’t provided enough information on the proposed project.

The department said the assessment did comply with its guidelines and the review would continue.

The Premier’s Office referred inquiries Tuesday about Murray’s letter to the Environment Department.

A department spokeswoman said the letter will be included in the public feedback that Belliveau considers before deciding whether to grant the necessary permits for the project.

Developer Charles Demond couldn’t be reached Tuesday for comment on the singer’s remarks.

He has said the project, which has been in the works for more than seven years, has been revised based on community feedback.

“Many people agree with us that we now have a great project that everyone should be happy to see move ahead,” Demond said in a written statement last week.

The changes have included reducing the size of the project, which originally called for 27 turbines, and increasing setbacks.

The developer says wind turbines will now be at least 1.2 kilometres from shore and two kilometres from the golf course. Most cottages will be more than 1,000 metres from the nearest tower and all of the structures are more than 600 metres from homes, the minimum setback required by municipal bylaw.

A spokesman for the residents group said members appreciate Murray’s support.

“She’s a stakeholder and has a longtime interest in the area,” said Dick Gray, the association’s treasurer.

The singer has been spending summers in the area since she was a child because her late parents also had a cottage in the area, Gray said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/65520-wind-farms-hit-sour-note-canadas-songbird

Atlantic Wind Power president defends venture

The Amherst Daily News

Darrell Cole

17 February, 2012

Despite the Gulf Shore Preservation Association's opposition to his proposed wind farm, Charles Demond insists the proposal is a good one that addresses community concerns.

[PUGWASH, NS] — The head of a proposed wind farm near Pugwash said the project is a good one that has addressed community concerns.

Responding to the Gulf Shore Preservation Association’s letter to Environment Minister Stirling Belliveau regarding the project’s environmental assessment, Atlantic Wind Power Corporation president Charles Demond said he has complete confidence in the document submitted to the province earlier this month.

“Obtaining environmental approval is an important process and one that we approach thoroughly and diligently,” Demond said. “We’ve hired the right people to help us through this and they’ve done an excellent job.

“I am very pleased with the 279-page assessment document and I respectfully believe it is complete and provides enough information and details for the honourable minister to make in his decision.”

Demond said the size of the wind farm has been reduced from 27 turbines to 11 or 12 and setbacks are well beyond the minimums required. He said the closest any turbine will be from the shoreline will be 1.2 kilometres with most cottage owners being more than 1,000 metres from the nearest turbine. It will be two kilometres to the golf course.

“By every measure we have thoroughly considered all the comments of area residents, both positive and negative. We have been working more than seven years on this project,” Demond said. “Through that time we have had multiple open house, focus group sessions, meetings with individual groups and public meetings at county council, all of which have assisted us to fundamentally change the project. Many people agree that we now have a good project with which to move forward.”

The association asked the minister to suspend the environmental assessment until its proponent completes several studies.

“It is surprising that this document has been deemed complete and acceptable by your ministry, but we expect upon further review of these items you will see fit to suspend the comment period on the Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment until the proponent has completed the work necessary,” group spokesman Richard Gray said in a letter to Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau.

Gray said Pugwash Wind Farm Inc. wants to install five turbines in areas it describes as ‘wet forest or wetlands,’ which the association said is a clear contravention of the province’s Provincial Wetlands Conservation Policy.

“We took a close look at the environmental assessment submitted by the proponents and we were stunned and shocked at its deficiencies,” Gray said. “We made the request because the document was so deficient in significant areas that we felt we couldn’t comment usefully on it and couldn’t see how others could either.”

He said he’s disappointed with news the minister’s office will not intervene.

http://www.ns.dailybusinessbuzz.ca/Provincial%20News/2012-02-17/article-2898438/NS-Atlantic-Wind-Power-president-defends-venture/1

Two sides to wind power

Published 14 February, 2012

Wendy Elliott

Kings County News

Debate heating up in multiple provinces

You’ve got to wonder.

The CBC quotes Nova Scotia's consumer advocates saying wind power is coming on too strong and that could lead to higher power rates. Yet battles continue to crop up over this form of green energy.

Bill Mahody and John Merrick say the energy department already has all of the projects it needs to meet its target of 25 per cent of our electricity coming from green sources by 2015.

Existing wind farms and new players are responding to a request for proposals to supply an extra 300 gigawatt hours to the provincial grid.

Writing in a submission to the renewable energy administrator, the two advocates said extra gigawatt hours, will "unnecessarily increase annual ratepayer bills by millions of dollars, by acquiring far too much renewable energy."

Furthermore they estimate ratepayers could be on the hook for an unnecessary $50 million in three years, if the province doesn't reduce the amount of wind power it is seeking.

Just last month though protesters were marching through the village of Pugwash calling for a veto on a proposed wind farm. The Gulf Shore Preservation Association just brought in an expert from Ontario to help fight an $85-million turbine project.

Some area residents are convinced the turbines will lower property values in an area attractive to retirees and that they will cause noise. The Pugwash Wind Farm intends to file for environmental approval soon and a decision from the Department of Environment is expected sometime in March. If it is positive, the company will go to the renewable electricity administrator for final approval. Construction could begin by 2013.

The new wind farm between Sackville, N.B. and Amherst, which is due to produce power by April, is proving controversial and another proposal for 43 turbines on the Tantramar Marsh is adding to the uproar.

Of course, we have some upset here due to a proposed large-scale wind turbine for a landlocked property in Greenfield atop the South Mountain.

Scotian WindFields Inc. chief operating officer Daniel Roscoe calls the project very much homegrown. I’m told nearby residents would not agree with that description. And Kings County’s large-scale wind turbine bylaw has never really been tested.

Fortunately, Roscoe said his firm is committed to holding more public consultation when it know for sure there’s going to be a permanent wind project in Greenfield. A presentation to Kings County council is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Ironically, at the end of January, escalating concerns about industrial wind turbines prompted the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to urge that province to suspend further developments until farm families and rural residents are assured their interests are adequately protected.

Starting back in 2007, when the development of industrial wind turbines began in Ontario, the federation worked with the government on regulations, cautioned members on the pitfalls of wind leases and expressed concerns about pricing. Now the association is saying many of their issues have not been addressed, causing tremendous tension among rural residents and community neighbours.

“We are hearing very clearly from our members that the wind turbine situation is coming to a head – seriously dividing rural communities and even jeopardizing farm succession planning,” said federation president Mark Wales.

Former Wind Concerns Ontario president John Laforet believes wind farms were a factor during last fall’s Ontario election. He said as many as 11 Liberal MLAs were not returned in communities that were divided over wind power. Among them was former Environment Minister John Wilkinson.

According to the Toronto Star, activist voices dogged Premier Dalton McGuinty when he campaigned in rural communities where wind turbine projects have been installed or are planned. Voters told him the low-frequency noise from the turbines causes health problems such as nosebleeds and headaches.

Seventy-eight municipal councils in Ontario passed moratoria calling on the government to stop foisting industrial wind development on communities until proper independent health studies have been done to inform safe setbacks and local democracy is restored.

Ontario has had five years to get politicized over wind power. Here in Nova Scotia, it seems like the debate is just getting underway. Opponents of the Greenfield project are trying to inform the public. This Saturday they are screening a documentary called Windfall. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. at Gaspereau School. They tell me it’s an eye-opener.

http://www.kingscountynews.ca/Opinion/Columns/2012-02-14/article-2895114/WENDY-ELLIOTT%3A-Two-sides-to-wind-power/1

N.S. won't suspend assessment of wind farm

February 15, 2012 - 8:41pm

By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter

An environmental assessment of a proposed wind farm near Pugwash will continue despite area residents’ concerns about the review process, an Environment Department spokeswoman said Wednesday.

A group called the Gulf Shore Preservation Association wrote Environment Minister Stirling Belliveau on Wednesday to say a public consultation now underway should be suspended. The association says the developer, Pugwash Wind Farm Inc., should have to provide more information on the $85-million project before the process continues.

Environment Department spokeswoman Lori Errington said the developer’s application meets the requirements for an environmental assessment.

“There’s no reason to stop the process from moving forward,” she said in an interview.

The company plans to install 11 or 12 turbines, which would generate up to 33 megawatts of electricity, on a site about two kilometres east of Pugwash. Construction could begin in 2013.

In its letter, the association cites 17 shortcomings with a report the developer filed with the department Feb. 6. Most involve various environmental studies that the company has yet to complete.

“We’ve reviewed the document and we find it lacking in so many areas that we can’t give useful comment on it,” Dick Gray, the group’s treasurer, said in an interview.

“It is so lacking that we don’t think anyone else can (comment) either.”

Gray said the 279-member group will explore various options, including legal action, if the minister won’t intervene.

Errington wouldn’t comment on the association’s specific concerns.

“We welcome these comments and all comments received as part of the public consultation process,” she said. “They will definitely be taken into consideration as part of the review.”

Developer Charles Demond said he stands by his company’s plan, saying several independent professionals helped develop it.

“I am very pleased with the 279-page environmental assessment document which we filed,” Demond said in a written statement.

“I respectfully believe it is complete and provides enough information and details for the honourable minister to make his decision.”

The developer has cut the project in half since a 2007 proposal and now says a ruling is expected next month.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/63248-ns-wont-suspend-assessment-wind-farm

Pugwash Residents Call for Environmental Assessment to be Suspended

PUGWASH, NS, Feb. 15, 2012

Canadian News Wire

The Gulf Shore Preservation Association sent a letter to the Minister of Environment calling on him to suspend the public comment period for the 'Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment' until the proponent has completed the studies necessary for an Environmental Assessment to be deemed complete.

Richard Gray wrote for the association, "It is surprising that this document has been deemed complete and acceptable by your Ministry, but we expect upon further review of these items you will see fit to suspend the comment period on the Pugwash Wind Farm Environmental Assessment until the proponent has completed the work necessary..."

The proponent wants to install five wind turbines in areas the proponent describes as 'wet forest or wetlands', which is a clear contravention of Nova Scotia's Provincial Wetland Conservation Policy.

The document has been reviewed by a number of members of the community and experts who have found the following deficiencies:

1) Proponent has not determined the number of turbines they plan to install (pg 3).

2) The manufacturer or model of turbines has not been determined (pg 12). It is impossible for the proponent to provide accurate noise assessments, shadow flicker assessments or to describe the physical construction requirements for the turbine bases without this information (pg 12).

3) Access road to 'WTG 2' is not finalized (pg 99).

4) Electrical cabling route is not finalized (pg 4).

5) Archeological studies are not complete (pg 99).

6) Geotechnical studies have not been completed (pg13).

7) Turbines 4 and 12 are proposed to be installed IN wetlands (pg 42).

8) Turbines 2, 3, Alt-4, and 7 are located in 'wet forest or wetland' (pg 40).

9) The 'winter bird monitoring' is not complete. Results expected after March 2012 (pg 27).

10) The bat study was completed outside the project zone and the methodology used made it impossible to record bats at heights over 40 metres (pg 52). The proposed wind turbines are up to 157 metres tall (pg 12).

11) Plans to transport wind turbine components to the project site are not complete (pg 14).

12) No first nations consultations have been completed and the Mi'kmaq Ecological Knowledge study is expected to be completed in spring 2012 (pg 30).

13) Based on local knowledge a number of breeding birds and mammals known to exist within the project area were omitted by the proponent (pg 45 and 50).

14) 'Consideration is being given' to building a permanent structure within the project zone. No detail on scale or location provided(pg 15).

15) No Decommissioning plan has been completed (pg 16).

16) Erosion and sediment control plans do not yet exist (pg 18).

17) No EPP (Environmental Protection Plan) has been developed (pg 20).

An electronic copy of the Environmental Assessment is available on the Department of Environment's website at http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/ea/pugwash.wind.farm.asp

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/921531/pugwash-residents-call-for-environmental-assessment-to-be-suspended

A copy of the GSPA letter to Minister Belliveau is available on request.

Creststreet Power plans to wind down

awillis

Globe and Mail Blog Post

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4:58PM EDT

Here's an easy decision: Do the owners of Creststreet Power & Income Fund want $6.63 in cash for each unit of their trust, or do they want to own an “orphan dwarf?”

The choice needs to be made following Creststreet's decision this week to ask for unitholder approval on a wind-down of the trust. Its assets - wind farms in Nova Scotia and Quebec - are being sold for $121-million to FPL Energy, a leading U.S. wind power company.

Creststreet wants to use part of this cash to redeem outstanding debentures, then hand the rest of the money back to unitholders - an estimated $6.63 a unit - and quietly fold its tent.

If unitholders turn the plan down, but the FPL Energy sale goes through, Scotia Capital analyst Tony Courtright coined the “orphan dwarf” phrase to describe the shell of a company that Creststreet would become. Obviously, Mr. Courtright recommends unitholders opt for the cash, not the dwarf.

The federal government's move to eliminate the trust sector's tax advantages in 2011 effectively spelled the end of Creststreet, as it could no longer make the acquistions needed to grow. Converting to a common stock company just didn't seem the right answer, given the premium price FPL Energy is offering. CIBC World Markets, the dealer that served as midwife to many trusts, is playing undertaker to Creststreet by advising on this demise.

With private equity no longer snapping up these companies, and more than 20 trusts engaged in strategic reviews similar to the one Creststeet began last November, watch for more wind-ups to play out over the next three years.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/streetwise/creststreet-power-plans-to-wind-down/article659618/

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This isn't new news but its a story that would have backed up what we were saying three years ago when Creststreet - the actual owners of the Pubnico wind farm - was selling the project off to Florida Light and Power. We were still on dial-up here in '08 and online research was quite the challenge!

The question is now - seeing as Creststreet is out of the wind business, their subsidiary EarthFirst went belly up almost immediately after it was formed - where is the investment money coming from for Pugwash?