Gunn's Hill Wind Farm Environmental Tribunal

Wednesday, 8 July 2015 06:15

The Township of Norwich and the East Oxford Community Alliance are making their cases against the Gunn's Hill Wind Farm.

NORWICH - The Township of Norwich will not be supporting the Gunn's Hill Wind Farm.

An Environmental Review Tribunal is underway - yesterday the third of six meetings was held in Oxford Centre to decide the fate of 10 proposed turbines. East Oxford Community Alliance has been making their case against the implementation of the wind turbines.

Professional Engineer, Bill Palmer, has been researching the industrial sized energy machines and does see issues with the installations, but he explains that so far no health risk to humans has been proven. "The official answer is no; what we have proven is that they cause an annoyance. Wind turbines are more annoying than other sources of noise such as road traffic noise. Wind turbines get louder at night, other noises go away. And so the turbines make more noise, and they become more bothersome as a result of that."

Although it has not been proven that wind turbines are the reason for several health concerns, the East Oxford Community Alliance is making it their mission to not allow them on the Gunn's Hill Wind Farm. Norwich Township Councillor, Wayne Buchanan, spoke to Heart FM about why council agreed it wasn't the safest measure possible. "One of the major concerns in this Township and indeed Oxford County is stray voltage, which affects dairy herds adversely. It is an issue even today before wind turbines and it just increases the chances for that to happen." Concerns were also raised about some cases in which the turbines have malfunctioned and started fires, which could be damaging to crops.

The turbines weigh 10 tons and have blade lengths of 46 metres. They have been mandated to be at least 550 metres away from any residential area before they could be built on the farm just south of Woodstock.

With Oxford County making their 100% renewable energy commitment by the year 2050 Councillor Buchanan explains if the plans for this farm fall through it should not effect the overall goal. "I don't think it will really have an effect on it. As time goes by over the next 30 years we may see alternatives to wind power, alternative locations for these projects as well that may be a little more acceptable to the public."

Day four of the tribunal will take place today at Oxford Centre with it all wrapping up next Thursday.