New rules governing appeals of wind energy projects may be good for lawyers but they might not be so positive for the environment.
As noted in
Law Times this week (see “
Lawyers called to help in green energy battle,” page 10), the prospect of new wind farms represents a growing business opportunity for lawyers retained by nearby residents opposing them.
In some cases, the work may be as simple as advising farmers on contracts signed with wind power companies to put turbines on their land. But in other cases, neighbours will be taking up the fight against developments they say have harmful health effects and are a detriment to their property values.
Certainly, area residents should have a chance to have their say. But as The Globe and Mail reported last week, the scope of the challenges to wind projects could go even further.
That’s because new rules aiming to simplify the regulatory process for new projects under the Green Energy Act allow anyone anywhere in the province to appeal government approval for them before the Environmental Review Tribunal regardless of what local residents have to say.
It’s a prospect that has Aaron Atcheson, a partner with Miller Thomson LLP, worried. “The way the [act] is written right now, someone can sit in their house in Toronto and can fire off appeals for something anywhere in the province,” Atcheson, who represents the wind power industry, told the Globe. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Overall, the government’s move to stimulate green energy in Ontario is good. That includes the new rules that centralize the approvals process by taking away municipal decision-making powers.
But in Atcheson’s view, opening the doors wide open to appeals could put the brakes on those plans, particularly as companies face the costs of fighting them.
Opposition to wind power has grown recently due to concerns over issues such as noise and the effects on wildlife.
The worries are legitimate, and critics are certainly right to point out that we need more information and studies on the potentially negative health effects caused by wind turbines before allowing companies to develop them in significant numbers.
But the answer to those concerns isn’t to tie up the process in legal proceedings and appeals, particularly when the opposition comes from people not directly affected by new projects. If noise is the issue, for example, the appeals shouldn’t be coming from outside the community.
Already, the government has capitulated on rules for offshore wind projects in Ontario. That decision, combined with the latest revelations about the appeals process, shows an unfortunate move away from the government’s good intentions on green energy.
- Glenn Kauth
