Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Court’s considering the case of turtles

Turtles are front and centre in a case before the Ontario Court of Appeal which is considering the fate of a proposed wind farm near Belleville.

Prince Edward County Field Naturalists Club won its case to protect the turtles when it appeared before Ontario’s environmental tribunal.

Gilead Power, which wants to erect nine turbines at Ostrander Point south of Belleville on the shore of Lake Ontario, got that ruling overturned in divisional court in February.

The courtroom was packed this week when lawyer Eric Gillespie, who speaks for the naturalists, pleaded with the three justices to restore the environmental tribunal’s decision.

"The tribunal was squarely within its mandate," he said. "We are simply asking this court to respect and uphold that original decision."

Gillespie noted the tribunal heard evidence over 24 days but essentially based its decision on four duelling experts on the long-lived Blanding's turtles.

The main issue, according to the tribunal, was that five kilometres of access road needed would lead to more turtle road kill, poaching and predation, and degradation of critical habitat.

The turtles, which are already in decline, can take up to 25 years to mature and survive for 75 years, court heard.

"It's a highly vulnerable population," Gillespie said.


Even a single individual matters, he said, when you're dealing with a small local population.

Any bets on how many turtles show up near proposed wind farms?