Clearview Township is embarking on the path of appeal.
At a special in-camera meeting Wednesday night, councillors agreed to appeal a recent decision of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) to approve eight industrial wind turbines in the vicinity of the Collingwood Regional Airport.
The MOECC decision was made the day before Clearview and Collingwood were heading to a hearing in Toronto, and they still want their day in court.
Both municipalities are appealing to the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario.
This comes at a cost to the taxpayer (due to legal fees, staff and consultants if needed) and if you think the cards were stacked against a municipality before when it comes to having a say about large renewable energy projects within their boundaries (because we do), it gets even more bleak.
The Environmental Protection Act indicates that an appeal can be raised for two reasons; if engaging in the renewable energy project in accordance with the renewable energy approval will cause a) serious harm to human health, or b) serious and irreversible harm to plant life, animal life or the natural environment.
There is no way on God’s green earth that Clearview and Collingwood are going to be able to support either claim when there is a lack of solid evidence for these claims. It’s not necessarily that there isn’t any truth to the claims, it’s just that there isn’t much in terms of scientific or medical proof.
This is going to be especially difficult given that Clearview Township is working within a budget. They only have X number of dollars to spend on this campaign before they will have to give up the fight.
In this latest round, Clearview is working through the $120,000 limit, having already passed the halfway point. Not to mention, as it has been stated, that staff hours and fees for consultants and lawyers in earlier years amounted to about $140,000 before the appeal.
If faced directly with the cost of a legal fight with such long odds, many people in Clearview Township would pass. There are others who are willing to put up the money and see this thing through.
If Clearview is going to take this on, it would make more sense to be part of a joint appeal with Collingwood, ratepayer groups and individuals who have skin in the game and deep pockets.
The rest of the residents can support the effort peripherally through our taxes but with more of a proportional interest approach.
The township could also seek financial support through donations to support its protest.
Either way, wherever the money comes from, Clearview is being set up to fail. All it has in its arsenal is an economic impact analysis and financial harm is not grounds for appeal.
It was naïve to think the ministry wouldn’t approve the wind turbine project and it is naïve to think the municipality will be able to prove serious harm to humans or nature.