Daubney would extend rail line, wind farms 

A Dundalk company is scheduled to present a proposal for a triple-faceted renewal of the railway corridor from Orangeville north to Dundalk and beyond, at tonight’s Dufferin County Council meeting.

Saying he can put together a consortium, Wilton Dahlstrom of Helix Synergy Wind Inc. has written to David Caplan, the provincial minister of Infrastructure Renewal, and copied the ministries of Transportation and of Energy, with an outline of the proposal.

Copies of the letter and accompanying maps were part of the Amaranth council agenda package Wednesday.

The proposal, according to one of the maps attached to the letter, would involve a high-voltage transmission line between Orangeville and Markdale that could provide as much as 1,500 megawatts of “renewable wind/biomass/solar/waste energy from this wind-rich, largely agricultural area,” Mr. Dahlstrom says in his letter.

He says his group, now in its second year of working on the initiative, is “contemplating the formation of a consortium of interested individuals, businesses, local interest groups, and local tiers of government to develop ways to bring this initiative forward.”

Helix is one of eight wind energy companies apparently eyeing Amaranth Township as a prospective windturbine location.

In Amaranth, the council Wednesday did not identify a person who has been circulating a flyer stating that “if (eight listed companies) and the premier get their way,” there would be 1,041 towers in the township. Of those, the flyer indicates that Helix is planning 671.

The council, however, has no knowledge of any such numbers and, in any event, the mayor pointed out Wednesday that none at all could be constructed without the required rezoning.

Whether or not there ever are formal applications for as much rezoning as indicated in the circular, a relatively few anti-turbine residents are attempting to show errors and/or omissions in everything from zoning for the transformer substation to the noise monitoring processes, according to a succession of e-mails shown Amaranth council.

Among those, and perhaps for the first time, resident Paul Thompson is indicating he will seek compensation for enduring noise from the transformer. He says he can’t name a figure until the monitoring process has been completed.

In his letters to Canadian Hydro Developers project manager Geoff Carnegie, Mr. Thompson accuses Mr. Carnegie of seeming to be “unwilling, unable or just plain afraid to answer my questions.” In his Jan. 22 email, Mr. Thompson raises the issue of liability “if someone accidentally decides to bounce their vehicle off (a CHD pole) this winter.”

Meantime, Mr. Carnegie said in a Jan. 28 e-mail to Mr. Thompson that he did outline the acoustic wall and the noise monitoring program in a Jan. 19 e-mail. With respect to liability, he says CHD has adequate insurance to cover any liability that might arise.

Teresa Brownell, another regular opponent of turbines along with her husband, is among the writers. Ms. Brownell questions the impartiality of one of the sound engineering companies, saying in effect that it would be biting the hand that feeds it if it provided adverse reports.

David Moritz of RR 1 Grand Valley, in a letter to Florida Power and Light (one of the companies hoping to build a wind farm), accuses the land agent for that company of not upholding its stated mission of achieving “an amicable relationship of utmost integrity with both the municipality and its residents.”

By Wes Keller
Freelance Reporter

citizen.on.ca