Fate of Gunn's Hill Wind Farm to be Decided

Friday, 17 July 2015 06:22

Both the pro and con sides of the Gunn's Hill Wind Farm have had their say, and now it's up to the tribunal to make a decision.

OXFORD CENTRE - We have a long wait ahead of us to see the outcome of the Gunn's Hill Wind Farm Environmental Review Tribunal.

The sixth and final session of the tribunal was held in Oxford Centre on Thursday. Supporters and opponents filled the room, all eager to show their support either for the East Oxford Community Alliance who is making their argument against the project, or Prowind, the company behind the proposed wind farm. Testimonies from expert witnesses were heard throughout the proceedings, and yesterday was no different.

A Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Robert J. McCunney, travelled from Boston to take part in the Tribunal and spoke about the main disturbance these turbines create. "The major concerns that people raise is annoyance. They're some suggestions that people have attributed sleep disorders to noise from wind turbines, although the noise levels that are present there should not be affecting sleep. Based on our review, I would not expect any adverse health effects of the people in the proximity of the wind turbines."

Environmental Coordinator for Prowind Canada Rochelle Rumney was also asked to take the stand. Rumney says the wind turbines should not adversely affect endangered species in the area."I prepared the Natural Heritage Assessment Report, and also the Species at Risk Report and contributed to the field work. From there we received confirmation from the Ministry of Natural Resources that there is no risk to species at risk at this project. We don't anticipate any impacts."

Heart FM Spoke with Vice-President of Prowind Canada Juan Anderson, and he discusses how safe the machines are: "The turbine is quite attractive due to its low noise. The reports that we have from the turbine manufacturers - they have never had a fully developed fire in their global fleet. It is not something that we would expect local fire services to have to deal with, the focus would be on keeping people away and containing any fire that did develop. We understand that we have a disagreement on this issue but we do respect them [the East Oxford Community Alliance] as individuals."

If the wind farm project at Gunn's Hill went through, Anderson says the parts for the turbines would come from Ontario with the blades manufactured in Welland, and the actual tower built in Windsor.

The deadline for a final decision from the Environmental Review Tribunal is October 23rd.