South Bruce Council is reacting with concern to a company considering building a windfarm near Formosa.
Chief Building Official Don Jackson says they’ve received notice of an Environmental Assessment study for the proposed windfarm, to be operated by a company called Next Energy.
Jackson says they’re hoping to be able to have some influence over the project when it comes to the building permit fees the municipality will charge for the turbines, but because of the new Green Energy and Green Economy Act, that’s about all of the influence they could have.
The new law puts total control of windfarm planning — including allowing development, into provincial hands.
Mayor Bill Goetz is not pleased about the province’s new approach, saying “they’re shoving everything down our throat,” in reference to the Green Energy Act and other new pieces of legislation in recent years.
He says the municipality is perturbed about the new law, saying it follows Source Water Protection and the pesticide ban as the latest policies that curtail municipal jurisdiction.
Goetz says the provincial government talks about a partnership with municipalities, but this isn’t his idea of a partnership.
He says municipalities are being kept our of the loop and just being told what to do — or else.
The municipality hopes to have discussions with the windfarm developer.
Goetz hopes that if the project does go ahead, that they can avoid the pitfalls that have arose in other communities where wind turbines have gone up because it’s pretty hard to move them once they’re built.