TIGNISH - Challenged during its annual meeting to take a stand, Tignish community council has come out in favour of wind energy development.
The motion, which passed on a 4-2 vote, contained a couple of provisos. The provincial government must first insure that concerns about distance of turbines from residences and the location of transmission corridors are adequately addressed.
Coun. Wayne Gavin opposed the motion.
"As far as I'm concerned, the village should have nothing to do with that. It isn't in the village," he said.
"I wouldn't want to have someone voting on whether to put a windmill beside my house."
Some members of the group Save Our Unspoiled Landscapes, aware that wind energy would be discussed, were in attendance.
Cora Gaudette-Shea of SOUL said she was upset with council's stand and surprised it went to a vote. She was expecting discussion between SOUL and council but heard none. SOUL members were not invited to speak and only made comments after the April meeting was over.
She said council didn't seem to understand the issue. "How can you vote on something when you know nothing about it?" she asked.
Gaudette-Shea said SOUL already had a meeting planned for this week and will now be adding Tignish council's motion to the agenda.
Coun. Allan Gavin voted in favour of the motion, but said in an interview that concerns of area residents have to be satisfied first.
"What I'm saying is, yes, we want the economic spin-offs; we'd love to have the jobs, but everybody has to be happy and that's where we have the problem.
"It's a touchy situation," he acknowledged.
Since the annual meeting, council held a meeting with supporters of wind energy. It had met previously with SOUL.
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The motion reads:
"Whereas the goal of the P.E.I. Government is to produce 500 megawatts of wind energy, which will provide a secure source of electricity that will help stabilize prices for Islanders and contribute to a cleaner environment, and, whereas the Northwestern tip of P.E.I. has a good wind regime, especially along the coat, and, provided that the concerns of landowners are addressed with regard to turbine setbacks and power transmission
corridors, be it resolved that the Community of Tignish supports the development of wind technology (wind turbines) on P.E.I. by the P.E.I. Government in co-operation with private developers."
