Sunday, February 16th, 2025

Editor:

At this summer’s Environmental Review Tribunal hearing, to ascertain whether there was (1) “Danger to human health” and (2) “Irreversible harm to an endangered species”, regarding the application of WPD Fairview Wind Incorporated, to erect eight 500-foot industrial turbines near County Road 91 and the 4th Line, the Tribunal ruled (1) there would be danger to human health and (2) irreversible harm to Little Brown Myotis bats.

You might hope that would be the end of it… Wrong! You might ask, why have a lengthy, expensive hearing ending with a ruling if it means nothing?

Although WPD had the opportunity to offer a remedial solution, for either condition at the hearing, they didn’t. Instead, they requested a month to present a remedial argument. At the end of the month, they conceded the ‘harm to human health’ issue, but wanted more time to contest the ‘bat’ issue. They were given two weeks. Only to ask for a remedial hearing, which would take until Feb. 27, 2017 at a lot of legal cost to the appellants.

Theoretically, the ERT ruling on “harm to human health” should have been final. But, in the interest of “procedural fairness and natural justice”, the ERT allowed three extensions. It’s being overly fair to WPD, but totally unfair to the appellants. And why would that hearing’s ruling be any more final than the last?

WPD’s strategy seems to be to outlast the financial capability of the appellants. The ERT is facilitating WPD to get away with it! So much for “procedural fairness and natural justice” for the appellants.

The fact is, WPD accepted the “Danger to human health” ruling. That should be enough to settle the matter and see the end of WPD’s Fairview Wind Farm.

A foreign company, in the interests of greed, wins by having more money than local residents trying to defend their heritage of a countryside their forebears laboured to create and preserve, unencumbered by giant, industrial turbines.

When an ERT ruling has no meaning, money seems to be coercing justice.

John Wiggins,

Collingwood.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *