Opposition ramps up as LRP announcement nears

Jeff Green | Mar 02, 2016

Local opposition to proposed industrial wind projects has been muted ever since the deadline for project submissions passed on September 1 of last year.

However, the Independent Electricity Systems Operator (IESO) is set to announce which companies will be awarded contracts under their Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) process later this month.

In anticipation of the announcements, Ron Higgins, the mayor of North Frontenac, has sought and received support from his council to appeal if either of two projects being proposed locally by NextEra receives a contract. Northpoint 1 is a NextEra project located entirely in North Frontenac, and Northpoint 2 is located mainly in Addington Highlands but partly in North Frontenac.

Last spring, North Frontenac declared itself an “unwilling host” for industrial wind projects, and rejected a benefits package on offer from NextEra. In the fall, Higgins provided information to the IESO that, he believes, demonstrated that NextEra did not adhere to the requirements outlined in the process and that North Point 1 and Northpoint 2 should have been disqualified from the bidding.

At council on Friday of last week (February 26), Higgins did not indicate how, or to whom he would appeal a successful contract, and when reached by phone this week he said he was trying to determine how to proceed.

“I might inquire to the Energy Board, which oversees the IESO, or the Ministry of Energy,” he said.

Meanwhile, BEARAT (Bon Echo Area Residents Against Turbines) have released the contents of all the emails between Addington Highlands Township staff and NextEra and RES Canada, the two companies that have proposed wind projects in the township. The emails were released to them as the result of a Freedom of Information request.

The emails do not contain anything like a smoking gun, in the sense that there is nothing to indicate that any personal interests were being pursued by staff or Council. However, in an accompanying summary BEARAT claims the emails demonstrate a bias towards the developers, and that the township only supported the project because each of the companies offered $500,000 per year for 20 years to the township if their projects get built. This money will come in the form of a “community vibrancy fund”.

“It is clear and reasonable from what went on in Addington Highlands that the ‘municipal support’ materials being used to justify the projects in the community are tainted and should be discredited,” says BEARAT

The contracts that will be awarded in March are only the first step in a process that will take at least another two years to complete.

Along the way there will be environmental assessments and other planning hoops for the companies to jump through, leading to numerous opportunities for opposition groups to appeal.

Everything that has happened thus far in Addington Highlands and North Frontenac, as well as elsewhere in Eastern Ontario, would indicate that the opposition will employ whatever legal remedies are available to them along the way. That is underscored by what has transpired in the last week or so, even before the IESO might indicate that they are indeed looking to this region for the next phase of wind power generation in Ontario.