Mike Magnus says he hopes the latest discussion regarding the adjustments his company has made to the proposed wind turbine project in eastern Pictou County will allay local concerns and allow the major project to proceed.
“We’ve taken all the comments to heart and have engaged folks to look at the changes,” the chief executive officer of Shear Wind Inc. said Saturday, following the company’s latest information session that attracted more than 100 people to the Lismore Community Hall. “Our concern is to be a good neighbour.”
Shear Wind has applied to the province to build a 60-megawatt wind farm called Glen Dhu on Brown’s Mountain, near Bailey’s Brook, that would generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 17,500 homes.
The company submitted its environmental assessment documents Aug. 20 and hosted community gatherings in Merigomish and Lismore during the 30 days provided for responses to the proposed project.
Environment Minister Mark Parent informed the company last month that he needed more information before he could either approve the project outright, or with conditions, or reject it.
“Parent was not rejecting the project,” Magnus said. “He sought more information. I wasn’t surprised with the technical assessment, but more with the community concerns.”
According to the latest diagrams presented Saturday, the four most western turbine sites have been eliminated and other positions have been moved, although Magnus noted all the turbines are well beyond the minimum setbacks contained in the Municipality of Pictou County’s wind bylaw. “We’re within the county bylaw, but we’ve done this because we think it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
While most residents support the project, some who live closest to where the turbines would be erected do not want the project to go ahead.
They say they don’t want their lifestyle and the community’s pastoral setting disrupted by the sight and sound of the turbines, which they feel would industrialize the area.
Faye Kinney bristled upon hearing how the wind farm and accompanying interpretive centre and restaurant proposed near the Glen Dhu site would increase tourism like it has in North Cape, P.E.I.
Magnus acknowledged having discussed the interpretive centre with the Pictou Regional Development Commission as a means of attracting tourists and to educate people about the community and the project.
“The idea of these tourists coming just kills me,” said Kinney.
“I’m not in favour of this project,” Bailey’s Brook resident Eileen MacKinnon added. “I know my life is going to change.”
Fellow resident Kristen Overmyer asked how much greenhouse gas reductions and diversion from coal-fired electrical generation the project would achieve. Company officials said they would have to get back to him with that information.
Meanwhile, environmental scientist Tom Windeyer said the company is addressing matters that include noise, wildlife, land disturbance and surface water. “We are addressing all the issues put forward,” he said.
“The community needs to heal and wholly understand this project,” said Pictou East MLA Clarrie MacKinnon, who also attended the meeting. “As with any project, there has to be middle ground and I think they’ve struck middle ground.”
http://www.pictouadvocate.com/stories.asp?id=503
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