Meeting on proposed wind farm to be held Thursday 

BRAS D’OR – Details of an environmental assessment will be up for discussion when Natural Forces Inc. holds its third public meeting in Cape Breton concerning its proposed Hillside Boularderie wind farm.

The meeting set for Thursday at the Bras d’Or Community Hall follows the company’s submission of an environmental assessment to the Department of Environment on behalf of Wind4All Communities Inc. for the proposed wind farm.

“It is not really part of the environmental assessment,” said Amy Pellerine, development engineer for the company.

“It is mostly just to get a chance for the community to ask us questions if they do have questions regarding the environmental assessment. It’s basically just to present the results and present the work that we’ve done to the community surrounding the project.”

The letter sent to the Cape Breton Post to advise the newspaper of the meeting said the information session will provide the public with a better understanding of the studies that have been conducted to ensure the project will have negligible effects on the surrounding environment and communities.

The project has been met with some opposition, particularly from the Hillside Boularderie and Area Concerned Citizens Group, who have expressed concerns over the proximity of the turbines to homes as well as the visual impact the project will have on the community, frequencies given off by the turbines and the adverse effects on their way of life.

The community group hosted its own meeting in November featuring guest speaker Carmen Krogh, a retired pharmacist known for her research, peer reviewed articles and public information sessions on the health effects of industrial wind turbines.

Pellerine said the third local meeting for Natural Forces Inc. will discuss their company’s studies and information they have on what the project could mean for the community.

Those studies include bird and bat surveys and a Mi’kmaq ecological knowledge study.

“It is basically a big compilation in the environmental assessment. It can be pretty daunting to look at it so sometimes we just like to have a public meeting so if people want to come in and chat and see exactly what we did they are more than welcome.”

The information session on Thursday will take place at the Bras d’Or Community Hall, 24 Villa Dr. in Little Bras d’Or from 5-7:30 p.m.

The proposed Hillside Boularderie wind farm is a two turbine wind energy project to be located in the community of Hillside Boularderie bordering the community of Groves Point.

This project is being developed as part of the Nova Scotia Community Feed-In Tariff program.

The wind farm was registered with the province for environmental assessment, May 1.

The Department of the Environment will decide if the project can be granted conditional environmental assessment approval on or before June 20.

Natural Forces Wind Inc. formally Wind Prospect Inc. has been active in the Maritimes since 2008. They’ve developed multiple wind farms, including the Kent Hills wind farm in New Brunswick and the Fairmont wind farm in Antigonish which was recently energized in the fall of 2012.