Mayor Randy Hope says the municipality will continue to listen to these concerns, but the power lies with the province.
“The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change have the responsibility. If the residents believe there is harm [to their water] then they need to show evidence of that and prove it to the MOECC. It’s between the developer and the government, and the persons involved”, says Hope.
“We at the municipality take the concerns very seriously. We do understand that there are concerns, and we’re trying to address them. Municipal staff are reaching out to residents personally. There are those with some serious concerns, and we want to address those. But at the same time, wind turbines are renewable energy, and they’ve been very good to the Chatham-Kent municipality”, Hope says.
Hope says there are more than 450 wind turbines in Chatham-Kent. Hope says the municipality receives $2000-$5000 per turbine per year through industrial taxes.