Wellington County officials can expect a call from the Ministry of Environment over its decision to refuse to take part in the wind turbine municipal consultation process.
County council made that decision after receiving legal advice from its solicitor in a closed meeting on Feb. 24.
But the decision does not sit well with ministry officials. Graham Rivers, press secretary for Minister of Environment and Perth-Wellington MPP John Wilkinson, contacted the Advertiser after he read that report.
“We take the concerns of the municipality seriously,” he said.
Rivers added the provincial government gave approval powers from municipalities to the province because there was a confusion of rules and it wanted everyone to operate under the same regulations for wind power (that came many months after the province had instructed municipalities to write their own rules, as Wellington County did).
“The problem is the science on the approvals has been looked at by the province,” he said, in explaining why it felt more qualified than local government to take on that role.
Rivers added that when the MOE receives a complaint about a wind turbine operation, “We follow up, so essentially, they are good neighbours to the people they share the community with.”
He said if the county chooses not to participate, the ministry will be contacting it to find out why.
He said it is “most important” if municipalities are unhappy with the process “to find out why. If they don’t participate, we will be contacting them.”
