Community group demands wind farm construction be halted due to risk to endangered species
WOODSTOCK, ON, July 18, 2016 /CNW/ - The East Oxford Alliance has filed an urgent request to halt a wind power project with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Environmental Review Tribunal. The group has also asked that its appeal of the Gunn's Hill wind power project be reopened.
Although the endangered Little Brown Bat was acknowledged at the original appeal, the appeal was dismissed. "The Tribunal did not have the opportunity to examine the danger to these animals in light of the need for precaution," says Joan Morris, East Oxford chair. "In the recent successful Ostrander Point appeal, the Tribunal determined that because only five to ten percent of the original population of Little Brown Bat remains in Ontario, even a small number of deaths constitutes serious impact.
"It was confirmed at the Gunn's Hill appeal that bats will be killed in this wind power project."
The Environmental Review Tribunal also noted in its decision on Ostrander Point that approvals of renewable energy projects must seek balance between the government policy of encouraging clean power generation and protecting the environment.
SOURCE Wind Concerns Ontario
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