The Wallaceburg Area Wind Concerns (WAWC) group have launched a crowdfunding campaign, and they have also sent two letters to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), expressing their concerns with the proposed Otter Creek Wind Farm project.
The newly formed Wallaceburg-area group has set a $50,000 goal for their GoFundMe campaign, which is located here.
The group said, during a recent meeting at the UAW Hall in Wallaceburg, that thousands of dollars would be needed in order to adequately challenge the REA for the project and bring the issue to a tribunal.
WAWC officials say the group is worried about increasing reports of contamination of well water associated with wind turbine construction in Chatham-Kent.
WAWC wrote two letters to Chris Ballard, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to demand that the well water situation be resolved in Chatham-Kent before approval is granted for the new Otter Creek project, WAWC officials said.
“One of our advisors is a geoscientist,” stated Violet Towell, a WAWC spokesperson, in a press release.
“He says that when you have facts and experience that contradict the predictions in your model, it’s likely the model is wrong, not the facts.”
WAWC officials say the group worries that they could experience the same impacts on well water as North Kent, where 14 area well owners have filed water well interference complaints against the developers.
WAWC officials say the group is also concerned about noise estimates for the proposed wind turbines for Otter Creek.
Because the turbine was not in production at the time the application was filed with government, the assessment of potential noise is “an estimate based on estimates,” Towell said.
“We don’t think that’s good enough to protect the health and safety of families who will be forced to live beside these huge, power generating machines.”
Watch for more on this story.
