Transport Canada is no longer ordering the removal of eight wind turbines near the Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport.
The Sydenham Current has received a letter addressed to municipal council, which details Transport Canada’s new stance on the issue.
“On December 10, 2014, Transport Canada advised the Municipality of Chatham-Kent that it is discontinuing the enforcement action commenced on July 2, 2014, relating to the eight wind turbines owned by Erieau Wind which are within the Chatham Airport Zoning Regulations (AZRs),” the letter reads.
“Transport Canada has advised the Municipality that this decision is supported by the fact that potential safety risks were mitigated by NAV CANADA with the issuance of a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), which was later replaced with an altered Instrument Approach Procedure Chart so that pilots are aware of the wind turbines and can avoid them.”
Officials from Transport Canada and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent are set to meet early in 2015 “to discuss how this situation can be avoided in the future by ensuring that no new wind turbines are constructed in the AZRs,” the letter reads.
Back in July, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent was advised that Transport Canada had issued an order requiring the eight wind turbines near Cedar Springs be removed by December 31, 2014.
This was despite Transport Canada telling Chatham-Kent officials originally in 2013 in a letter requesting “voluntary compliance.”
C-K officials said in July, they had been waiting for a reply from Transport Canada on this proposal and was surprised to learn that Transport Canada had taken “this new step of issuing letters demanding that the turbines be removed.”
More to come.
