Wind opponents suffer another defeat in Ontario

Ontario Review Tribunal Case No. 10-121/10-122, Erickson v. Director, Ministry of the Environment is an appeal of Suncor’s Kent Breeze Wind Farm Project (the “Project”). The case has largely been a test of whether wind turbines in Ontario will cause serious harm to human health and not related to the particular Project. The parties called experts from all over the world to speak to the issue of whether the Project, which was approved according to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment Noise Guidelines for Wind Farms and Ontario Regulation 359/09 made under the Environmental Protection Act (Ontario), will seriously harm humans living nearby.

In a blow to wind farm opponents, the Environmental Review Tribunal found that the Appellants failed to show that Suncor’s Kent Breeze Project, as approved, will cause serious harm to human health. According to the evidence at the hearing, where an impressive array of leading experts from around the world testified on cutting edge areas of scientific inquiry, the Tribunal could not find that the Kent Breeze Project operated according to the current Ontario standards “will cause serious
harm to human health”. That is the test in the statute, but the evidence presented in the Hearing was insufficient to meet it.

The full 223 page decision is available here: http://www.ert.gov.on.ca/english/decisions/index.htm