Of the 4,400 people of Iroquois Falls, 1,079 signed a petition opposed to a proposed wind farm in a rural area to produce electricity. It’s proposed by a large American company.
The petition result was reported to town council on Monday night.
Representatives of the group that circulated it and researched the issue for more than 100 hours base their objections on environmental fallout, noise, health impacts and esthetics.
Committee member Lisa Mousseau commented on Coun. Ben Lefebvre’s observation that a lot of people will question possibly giving up “millions of dollars for a story line that may or may not hold water”.
“We can do better. We can do better for our community,” she said. “There must be something that we can do better for this community to bring employment, to make it a safe environment for our kids and the future ahead of us.”
The other member of the delegation, Cathy Deforge, noted that the province recently scrapped its plans for wind power.
“They (the government and Ontario Power Generation) are refurbishing some of the nuclear reactors that they have and they’re doing hydroelectric and they say that they’re going to meet the demands of Ontario’s electric demands,” said Deforge. “They say that wind is not cost effective and they’re not even going down that route.”
Council promised to study the issue further and announce a decision in August or September.
