WEYBURN - Residents of the RM of Weyburn brought their questions and frustrations with the proposed Enbridge wind turbine project to a public meeting on Thursday evening at Cecilia’s Hall.
The newly-elected council was present for the meeting, which was called following a petition submitted requesting that one be held on the issues around the project. A lawyer from SARM was also present, and three representatives from Enbridge were on hand to provide information.
RM resident Kim Brady told the Enbridge representatives early on they didn’t really want them there, but many of the questions that arose were tackled by the company.
The SARM lawyer, Mike Morris, explained the legal process that the RM council will have to follow if they are going to amend their zoning bylaw and Official Community Plan, and any amendments made has to have approval by the Minister of Government Relations.
He noted while this meeting was petitioned for, it does not replace an RM council meeting where votes are taken on the zoning bylaw, if amendments are proposed.
Asked if the RM will conduct an impartial and full environmental review of the proposal, residents were told the RM will do the best job they can, and that they have really good staff capable of carrying out any required work. If they need further assistance, such as legal help, they will be able to access that as well.
Pressed on this, the residents were told if the RM staff doesn’t have the expertise to look into this, they will look to an outside party to help them out.
On issues like noise levels and setbacks, the Enbridge representatives said they will endeavour to follow the RM’s bylaws.
Sam Munckhof-Swain, director, Indigenous economic partnerships for Enbridge, acknowledged that they were putting the council in a tough spot, and also gave an apology for how the news about the proposal came out, shocking and angering many residents.
He said Enbridge will be holding an open house on Dec. 11 at McKenna Hall, and they will be providing an update on the project, including adjustments that they have apparently made to the timeline and to the proposed setbacks, based on the feedback they have been getting from RM area residents, “so we have enough time to get it right.”
As the meeting went on, many questions were referred to the upcoming open house, where more details will be spelled out about the project and how they are responding to residents’ concerns.
Newly-elected Reeve Bud Grohn told the company representatives, “I don’t feel this should cost taxpayers one single dollar to bring this into the community. That’s the only reason I ran for council – I didn’t do this for fun.”
In response to what they would do if the noise levels exceed what’s in the RM bylaws, Munckhof-Swain said, “What we’ll do is make sure we comply with your bylaw. It’ll be on us to fix it.”
Residents questioned the continued use of a health study done in 2014 on wind turbines, as Brady pointed out the study itself states it is not to be applied to any areas outside of the study area, and that the study authors felt it was inconclusive.
One resident asked if the council was willing to send this project to a referendum of the ratepayers, and they mostly nodded their assent.
Council members were asked if any of them had done any research into the whole issue of turbines and their effects on neighbouring properties and residents.
Josh Mainil noted he had, and had visited both the Assiniboia and Kipling sites of turbines as well as being in touch with those and other municipalities about the wind farms.
“I’ve been doing as much as I can to learn about them,” he said.
Mainil was asked by a resident if he stood by a statement said during the recent election campaign, that he doesn’t agree with delaying the turbine project at the risk of legal ramifications to the RM.
“I don’t think I said that. I don’t know why there would be legal ramifications to myself or the RM,” he said.
Resident Don Bourassa said he’s lived in the RM for 32 years, and he will have between 18 and 21 wind turbines within a five-mile radius of his home and he won’t receive one cent in compensation for that because none of these turbines will be on his land.
“You think that’s okay? All of a sudden I’ve got these things beside me, and that’s okay?”
Munckhof-Swain said if residents want to know how they’ve adjusted the distances from residences and property lines, they need to come to the open house and see what the new updated plans are.
“We believe we can build this project responsibly, and it is going to provide a lot of value to the RM of Weyburn and RM of Griffin,” he said.
One resident pointed out there is land near Estevan that has no one living on it and is relatively near to transmission lines.
The Enbridge officials were asked point-blank if they will pull out of this area if the RM council votes against it, and Munckhof-Swain said there is no easy answer to that, as they have to see what the costs are and what the bylaws of the RM say, if they will be able to go ahead with the project or not.
A resident commented that the provincial government may force them to accept this project whether the RM wants it or not, and Munckhof-Swain answered, “That’s not what we’re saying. It’s a process and we have to go through it.”
“Would you consider just going away?” asked Brady.
“Our commitment is to work with this project. We think this is a good project for the RM. There’s a lot of people in the room who share the same view as you, but there are a lot of people not in this room who don’t share that view,” said Munckhof-Swain. “It’s up to the council how this is going to proceed. We’re not going away.”
