Saturday, October 4, 2014

Court declines to stop wind farm

Divisional Court Justice Lynn Leitch has declined an attempt by Shawn and Tricia Drennan to prevent construction of a wind turbine near their home near Goderich, but they still have a couple of options open.

One is a Health Canada study into health effects of wind turbines.

If it finds that the health of people living near them is at risk, it’s likely that the Drennans will win.

They also have another Divisional Court case seeking to block issuance of a permit for the turbine.

Justice Leitch also ruled against a companion complaint against a 15-turbines St. Columban project near Seaforth.

The turbine planned near the Drennans is part of the K2Wind project to build 140 turbines at a cost of about $850 million.

The investors say they need approvals to go ahead now, but they could stop if the Health Canada study finds changes are necessary.

It’s that ability to reverse course that Leitch mentioned in her decision.

In her words, dismissing the lawsuit will “not cause irreparable harm to the Drennan family.”