Location, location, location

Recently, there was an information bulletin mailed out to the Pugwash area which may have introduced some new readers to this blog, so I will give summarize some of what we know so far and some of our objections to this particular plan.

Atlantic Wind Power Corporation (AWPC) believes it has found a good site for a 27 turbine wind "farm" at the Gulf Shore. Turbines could be positioned as close as 500m from a home.

Our position is: while there is a place for renewable resource energy generation, this particular location is not the appropriate one.

First of all, let's dispel this myth that this is a quiet, bucolic, pastoral farm. The word farm applies to a tract of land that is cultivated and/or tilled to grow a product which could be grain, beef, milk or chickens (for example).

Calling a multi-machine industrial power plant that uses up precious resources and land in its construction a farm is a loosely veiled attempt by the wind energy industry to try to make us believe that this is an innocuous installation that will quietly work in the background, not bothering anyone. It will bother the vast majority. Especially when our fragile local economy is affected.

It is an industrial installation that would permanently displace existing important industries - tourism and recreation. This is a target destination for cottagers and retirement home builders. They come here for the beauty, peace and quiet. They come to enjoy the warm waters and world class golf courses. They come because they like their neighbours. Their dollars are what sustain our local economy.

In an area such as this, where property owners have developed homes, cottages, rentals and recreational businesses deliberately in and because of this beautiful area, the prospect of their landscape and lifestyle becoming polluted by these noisy, huge behemoths is appalling.

People are already canceling or postponing development or building projects. Property sales in the area have halted.

As property development slows to a grinding halt, the most immediate effect on our economy is reduced or eliminated employment for carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc. Sales at the hardware stores go down. Then, without the usual seasonal income, trades people cannot afford to stay in the area, they move away. In the meanwhile as tourists and cottagers get tired of the swooshing, flickering turbines, they move on to quieter destinations. The Co-op, pharmacy, liquor store sales plummet. The hardware stores take even harder hits. Restaurants and gift shops shut down. And on it goes. As property prices reduce, taxes eventually would go down too. This area, up until the news of this wind power development came out, was the fastest growing part of the County, producing many millions of dollars in taxes. Can the County afford to lose this income?

This development could have far reaching effects to our economy for decades.

This is a worst case scenario. Can we afford to risk anything like this happening to our area?

~~~~~~

Many of us have been shaking our heads wondering what on earth makes this area a good site for a wind energy project!

It is not as if the province was plugged full of wind turbines already. This is a populated area. What on earth makes this a good site?

Well, of course, it's like everything else, it comes down to money.

What makes it a good site are factors that make it cheap to develop. It's a cheap site to use because there's a power transmission line nearby and it's fairly windy. Apparently the local people and their economy don't count.

If you look at a decent wind map, the best land-based sites for wind are islands, points of land, peninsulas and mountain ridges.

The very best wind is out to sea, which is where the Europeans are increasingly developing. This is partly because the technology has caught up with offshore developments but also because residents are becoming increasing unhappy about land based installations.

So if mountain ridges are a better site, why not go out to the Cobequids? Not only are they windier, there's transmission lines running through them already and there are very few people to be bothered. We haven't quite worked out the answer to that one. Maybe the properties out there have all been spoken for to other wind energy companies. Maybe AWPC doesn't want to pony up for branch lines to the existing transmission lines.

It's a cut throat business out there in the wind energy business. New companies are cropping up all the time. There is a lot of money to be made in a business that is highly politicized.

If AWPC's project went ahead, it would bring a transmission line down the Gulf Shore.

Other wind energy companies are already circling round properties further down the Shore like so many hyenas preying on weakened property owners who may want or be persuaded to get in on the action. And why wouldn't they? If there are already turbines blighting the landscape, why not lease their land too? These machines could be marching down the Shore to Fox Harbour, taking the transmission line with them. I have seen wind maps for the area and Smith Point (Fox Harbour), Mullins Point (North Wallace) and Malagash Point are all excellent candidates for wind energy.

All they lack is a transmission line.