Turtles save the day for wind farm opponents

Monday, October 7, 2013

Wind farms are not harmful to humans, Ontario's Environmental Review Tribunal has ruled. But they may be harmful to Blanding's turtles, and that has stopped a Prince Edward County wind farm development, at least for now.

The tribunal revoked an approval issued by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) under the Green Energy Act giving the nod to a nine-turbine project on 324 hectares of crown land at Ostrander Point, bordering on Lake Ontario. The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists sought an appeal on grounds that the wind turbine project would cause serious and irreversible ecological harm to the area and the species within it. Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County also sought an appeal on grounds that the wind turbine project would cause serious harm to human health. That appeal lost.

The Blanding's turtle is listed as threatened under Ontario's Endangered Species Act. Females live to be as old as 75, but don't produce eggs until they are 20. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Natural Resources, which guards the species at risk, had also given permission for the project to go ahead.

Developer Gilead Power Corporation and the MOE have both appealed the decision, so expect to hear more about Blanding's turtles and wind turbines in the future. BF