Cottager presumed drowned at Honora Bay

by Jim Moodie

HONORA BAY-Friends and relatives of a Honora Bay visitor who fell from a personal watercraft on Sunday and is presumed drowned were still gazing dejectedly over the choppy water near the community dock on Monday as a police vessel combed the bay for the body.

On the afternoon of July 12, Lively resident Ferdi Lizares, 42, was operating a jet-propelled craft in rough conditions when he lost control and was ejected into the water. Rachel Opolko, a summer resident of Silver Birches, said it was the visitor's 11-year-old son, watching from the back of a boat that was returning to the dock, who first noticed that his father had fallen from the watercraft.

Alex Daroczi, a close friend and fellow Inco employee from Sudbury, quickly headed back out in his boat, which carried his wife and five youth, including Mr. Lizares's two children. The group had been out tubing just moments before, but now was responding to an emergency.

"He's my wife's cousin and my best friend," said Mr. Daroczi, looking solemn and dazed a day after the failed rescue attempt. "I could see him, and it looked like he was swimming, but he wasn't talking."

As the boat neared the swimmer Mr. Daroczi realized that he would have to act quickly. "I jumped into the water to get him but the waves were like this," he said, gesturing to the height of his waist. "His eyes were open, and his arms were moving, and then all of a sudden he was gone. I tried to grab him but he was going down so fast."

Mr. Daroczi dove under the water and tried to reach his friend, but failed and had to come back up for air. At that point, he realized his own family, along with Mr. Lizares's children, needed help, too. "The kids were screaming and no-one could drive the boat, so I had to go to them and come back and drop off everybody," he said.

Corey Opolko, watching from the Silver Birches property, galloped down to the dock and joined Mr. Daroczi in his boat for another attempt to find Mr. Lizares.

Others in the community pitched in too, including Bill Hore, Maurice Labelle, Bob Deniston and Paul Chapman. "The neighbours were great," said Ms. Opolko. "Everyone was out in their boats for about an hour before the police arrived."

Carol Labelle, who was present on Monday to see how the search was progressing, said she regretted that this initial response hadn't been more successful in retrieving Mr. Lizares from the water. "I wish it could have been better," she said. "We were there so quickly."

The jet-ski operator wasn't wearing a lifejacket at the time of the mishap, his friends said, but they don't believe the water was cold enough to induce hypothermia, and Mr. Lizares was a strong swimmer who worked out every day at the YMCA. His friends conjecture that he must have injured himself when he hit a wave-which can be like "hitting a wall," noted Mr. Opolko-because otherwise they believe he would have easily kept treading water until he was helped or simply swum to shore.

OPP officers arrived on the scene along with their marine unit vessel, and helicopters dispatched through the OPP and the Coast Guard arrived later to conduct an aerial search. Members of the North Shore Search and Rescue Team were additionally on hand, and did "an excellent job" of both combing the shore and comforting distressed family members, said Ms. Opolko.

The Silver Birches resident was less thrilled about the response of the police and Coast Guard. "It took way too long for them to get here," she said. "Anywhere else in the world they would've been there right away."

Divers with the OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit were to have been dispatched on Tuesday morning to continue the search.

Race horses start fresh on Gordon Farm

Rehabilitation or retirement

by Lindsay Kelly

GORDON TOWNSHIP-When Noble Romeo sustained a severe injury in his leg last year, his future as a racehorse seemed uncertain. But with time, a little encouragement, and more than a year of recovery, the chestnut-hued pony is back on his hooves, strong and confident, and ready to race again.

His rehabilitation is thanks, in no small part, to his new owner, Cher Beaudin, and her West End-based C and C Ranch, located in Gordon Township. In operation for a year, the ranch specializes in the recovery and rehabilitation of injured harness-racing horses, providing them with a combination of medical treatment and a serene atmosphere to ensure a full recovery.

For Ms. Beaudin, Romeo is both her first success story and the horse that inspired her work.

When she encountered Romeo two years ago, he had a cracked pastern-the two bones in the lower part of the leg connected to the joint that attaches to the hoof-in his right leg, and the injury was so severe that he couldn't walk. After suffering an injury, many horses' careers in racing are over, but Ms. Beaudin was confident that she could turn Romeo's situation around.

"I had taken him in, but he was in such rough shape, because he wasn't eating or anything," she said. "But he's still a baby, so there might be a chance he could still recover."

She began researching various types of lameness in horses, and put Romeo on a recovery and rehabilitation program. Today he can not only walk, but he's back on the circuit, racing every Wednesday evening at Sudbury Downs.

While spending time at the track in Sudbury, Ms. Beaudin soon realized that Romeo's story was not unique, and that she could turn her lifelong passion for horses into a full-time business that would meet the needs of horses and their trainers.

"Working at the track I learned that so many horses are coming off the track like hotcakes; they're just rolling off because they're always getting injured," she said, noting that when horses are hurt, there isn't accommodation available for them to recover. "I discovered that there was a need and nobody in the Sudbury area was doing this. They would take them in as a boarder but not with the specific care and maintenance of their injury."

She works primarily with horses from Sudbury Downs, but the ranch is open to any clients who wish to utilize her services. Through word of mouth, Ms. Beaudin has received several boarders, and has even treated a horse that races in Barrie.

She currently has eight horses at the ranch and two for training, a number with which she's pleased, since the Sudbury racetrack just opened for the season in mid-April. "To have that many recoveries in right away is pretty good because that's only a month and a half of racing," she explained.

C and C Ranch offers everything from boarding during the off-season to full recovery programs, including leg wraps and liniments, treatment with the cold compress machine, or a light exercise program. The course of treatment required all depends on the injury of the horse.

"Every horse is different," Ms. Beaudin explained. "We've had different ones come in for different reasons. We go by what trainers and owners want, although we also follow the vet's orders and what they want."

In addition to offering a recovery program, a side project on which she's working involves breeding horses to be trained for the track, and she currently has two colts and two fillies, with which the students will work this summer.

"We're raising them up to train to eventually race on the track," she explained, noting that colts begin training to race at a year old. "Not every standardbred baby will make it to be a racehorse, so we'll see which ones get there."

In the future, she'd like to offer pasture boarding-when a horse boards outside instead of living in a stall in a barn-which would allow trainers who don't have a farm to give their horses access to pasture. Large trees covering the area provide shelter from hot sun and heavy rain, but they're otherwise allowed to roam the breadth of their pasture.

In a similar vein, Ms. Beaudin also welcomes horses who are retired from racing and whose owners are seeking a retirement haven for their horses to live out their golden years in comfort.

"We had a call for a retirement," she said. "This horse had made them almost $800,000 and they just couldn't put him down. His injury is so severe that he probably won't go back to racing. They didn't want to put him down and they asked if we would take him in as a retirement, so he's our first retirement boarder."

The owners see it as a way to repay the horse for his hard work over the years, Ms. Beaudin explained.

To get the business going, Ms. Beaudin applied for and received funding from Aboriginal Business Canada, which is helping to cover some of the costs, including the training track and a therapy machine that puts a cold compress on the horses' legs, which she said is "like having an ice pack, but more intense."

The ranch has also taken in three summer students, including one that did his co-op placement through the facility and one that has been hired through the student wage funding program introduced by the District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB). Ms. Beaudin is excited about the students learning on the farm, and said, "We'll be looking for more co-ops in the future."

Since the fledgling business is still getting out of the gate, Ms. Beaudin spends most of her time with renovations, like putting up fencing and building new paddocks, but working with horses is second nature to the equine enthusiast, who has spent a lifetime around the animals.

"When I was growing up that's all I ever did was work with horses, so I just turned a hobby into a full-time career," she explained. "I went through the whole process with Standardbred Canada."

The national organization sets the standards for harness racing in Canada, in addition to being the official registry and record keeper in the industry. Members must follow strict rules and guidelines and meet a series of benchmarks before they are conferred membership.

"As a member of Standardbred Canada, it is your right and your responsibility to uphold the welfare, regardless of value, of horses you own or use or have in your care, and to ensure they are not subjected to abuse, neglect or mistreatment," reads the organization's horse welfare statement.

Becoming certified is a long process. Ms. Beaudin spent two years becoming trained in grooming, two years in training (although she is still building up her experience), and is currently in the process of being certified as a driver. Prior to that she worked with quarter horses, training them to ride with saddles.

The opening of the ranch has been a homecoming for Ms. Beaudin, who hails originally from M'Chigeeng. She spent a decade in Alberta-which included a two-year western horsemanship program, breaking and training colts-before deciding to return home with her husband and four children.

Ms. Beaudin's passion for horses and intuition about their tenacity have already paid off. As one of the lucky racers who received a second chance, Noble Romeo proved his owner's instincts right. On June 24, his tenacious spirit and strong physical will earned him his first first-place win since returning to the track, an accomplishment about which his owner couldn't be more proud.

"For a horse that was injured, it was a comeback," Ms. Beaudin beamed. "It was a 50-50 chance. You don't know if they'll ever recover from an injury."

This summer, the ranch will focus on building more stalls, creating more paddocks, and installing fencing, along with the important work of rehabilitating the horses that come to Manitoulin for help.

Keeping a farm going requires a lot of labour, but for Ms. Beaudin, it's a labour of love.

"It's something I love doing," she said. "I've enjoyed working with horses my entire life."

NE_Council seeks advice on windmills

following plea by irked citizens' group

by Lindsay Kelly

LITTLE CURRENT-Northeast Town council is seeking to hire a wind power specialist after it received objections from a group of citizens concerned about the McLean's Mountain wind farm proposed by Northland Power.

The group, represented by spokesperson Ray Beaudry, had requested that council "rescind all prior bylaws in regards to the Northland Power project and create new ones that would allow the setback requirements to meet the proposed Green Energy Act which will be the provincial standard in the later part of this year."

The existing stipulations include establishing the setbacks according to Ministry of the Environment (MOE) regulations, as well as the policies of Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). The setbacks would have to measure 250 metres between a turbine and a dwelling, or meet the guidelines according to the certificate of approval issued by the MOE. In addition, setbacks from residents' property lines must be measured at 10 metres.

A third setback refers to the non-participants' property line, which will be the length of the rotor radius plus 10 metres to ensure that there is a 10-metre allowance for space past the radius of the blade.

The fourth setback refers to the road right-of-way line, which will measure the length of the rotor radius plus 10 metres. A final setback will see the separation distance from non-dwelling structures set at the length of the rotor radius plus 10 metres.

Northland was also approved to use Morphet's Side Road for the placement of and access to its distribution line.

Another motion earlier also passed that allows these agreed-upon arrangements to be grandfathered, including municipal bylaws that regulate woodcutting and changing the setbacks. The bylaws were designed to remain static for five years so that the town is providing "assurance that bylaws will not be generated that could change the standards by which we go into the construction phase that would negatively impact our project," Mr. Martin said at the time.

Council would not consider the suggestion to rescind its bylaws, but agreed that, in light of the concerns presented by the citizens' group, it would behoove council to hire an independent third party to find out more information about the wind power project and present it back to council.

"As a council we've been involved with the project for two and half years, and the previous council for four years, and I'm not prepared to consider rescinding the bylaws that have been passed and the agreements that we presently have existing," Councillor Al MacNevin said. "But I think we could help ourselves as a council if we could get an engineering consultant or somebody that worked on our behalf to answer some of the questions that we have."

While council recognizes that the issues being brought forth are serious, no-one on council has enough knowledge about wind generation to determine whether there is more to consider, he added.

"It wouldn't be unusual, in the sense that with most projects we hire someone to represent our interests, whether it's a construction project or otherwise," Councillor MacNevin said. "If we hire someone for a short period of time, just to look at some of these questions that have been raised and then we as a council can use that advice, because we'll have someone with the skills who is neutral as far as the other party."

The Northland Power project, in the works for seven years, went largely uncontested until earlier this month when it was revealed at a public information session that the project had ballooned from a few turbines to 43, an increase that turned the heads of landowners in the area (although Northland had actually planned to have 60 turbines at one point).

While his group is not explicitly opposed to the idea of green energy projects, more public input is required before the project should go ahead, Mr. Beaudry said at a recent committee meeting.

The increased scope of the project will create "a much larger impact to this area for its residents and environment," Mr. Beaudry argued. "Originally to be set behind the bluff or escarpment, it now will be largely visible as several towers will be placed at the highest point as well as high points of land in the Green Bush area of Honora Bay. The community benefit will be short-term as most generation will be for off-Island use."

The group also has concerns about the "blinking red lights every second or so," which they believe will mar the view of the dark night sky.

Other concerns involve the low-frequency noise (LFN) generated by the turbines, which is believed by some to create health problems for those subjected to the noise on a regular basis.

The landowners are concerned that, based on noise limits set by the Ministry of the Environment-the noise limit is 40 decibels on an adjacent property-the landowners may have difficulty developing their land in the future.

"The noise is allowed to cross adjoining land that did not sign agreements where no dwelling exists," Mr. Beaudry told council. "The neighbouring land where the 40 decibels to over 100 decibels of noise is, that landowner will be denied to be issued a building permit. This takes away the rights of the existing landowner, who could be forced to build a dwelling, house, cottage, or hunt camp outside of those limits."

The result could be a devaluing of the land, he added. To combat this problem, the group is asking that the turbine setbacks limits-the distance allowed between turbines-be increased under new guidelines that are coming into play this year.

While there was strong support for the citizens' group, there are a dozen landowners who are not only in favour of the project, but have agreed to participate.

One of those landowners is Brad Wilkin, a farmer who has signed on to take part in the Northland project. He contested the negative viewpoint that has been perpetuated about the project, saying, "I feel it is necessary to represent the many positive aspects of this project and maybe clear up any of the misconceptions presented."

Mr. Wilkin disputed the idea that noise would be a problem, noting that the participating landowners made their involvement contingent on consideration for their neighbours.

"Upon first entering into the windmill business we made it very clear that we didn't want any disturbance to anyone in the neighbourhood," he said. "We live here."

To experience the effect of the turbines, the group of landowners took a tour of another wind farm, he explained. The effect was negligible, he said, noting that "a normal conversation is over 50 decibels."

"It should be pointed out that Northland has spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on noise studies to ensure that there will be no problems with all the birds, bats, fish, plants, etc.," he said.

Northland's business development manager Rick Martin was also on hand to allay people's fears about the project. "It's very clear and evident that there are some very serious concerns and that's something that at Northland we do care about," he assured.

He suggested that the environmental screening report (ESR) was not meant to scare residents about the scope of the project, but rather to keep them informed.

"The whole purpose of the environmental screening report is part of the development," Mr. Martin said. "Its purpose is to bring the project to the awareness to the public, to gather their feelings and concerns, bring them to our attention, and we talk about it, we try to make things right. We try to make everybody content."

"It's a big development," he added. "We're talking over $200 million invested into your community. That's not something we just do because we think it's a good idea some afternoon. That's something that years are put into."

Addressing the concern for setbacks, Mr. Martin noted that, rather than being bound by the setback requirements of the CanWEA, Northland voluntarily agreed to the current setbacks, based on requests from council.

"We accepted it through council's discussions, and in fact, one example where we even exceeded it is where we're adjacent to another signed piece of land," he argued, noting that the CanWEA setbacks are based on scientific data. "The CanWEA setback is that there's zero clearance between two pieces of land if they're both signed up so we can go on the fence line."

Aesthetics are also a problem for the citizens' group. The wind towers will be connected to transmission lines in order to transmit the energy from the Island, and this requires poles measuring a minimum of 60 feet in height to accommodate a 115-kilovolt line, which Mr. Beaudry compared to the line snaking along Highway 6 to Espanola.

In addition, proposed upgrades to the transmission lines-to be constructed to meet future demand-will create a "bottleneck" at Little Current, Mr. Beaudry suggested. "These high-voltage lines cause major tree removal and are usually controlled with herbicide use for controlling tree growth," he said. "The Ontario Power Authority has identified Manitoulin as an area to be exploited for wind generation."

If the Northland project fails, the citizens' group wants assurances that the company will be solely responsible for the cost of dismantling the project.

Mr. Wilkin acknowledged that the turbines will no longer be hidden from sight, but he contended that their presence will be a boon to the economy because they will contribute to tourism.

"Yes, you will see the turbines," he said. "But you all remember how the CBC tower was received at the start. Once the light issue was resolved and people got used to it, you hardly even notice it now. That is, until it's dark or foggy and you're travelling up the [road] and need to find your bearings; then you're glad it's there."

Mr. Wilkin also disputed the notion that property valuations would go down. He suggested that, if marketed properly, "a premium would be recognized on these locations as the locations are a deal for small turbine power, which would eliminate totally the need for hydro-they would be completely off the grid."

Mr. Martin said that the lines would carry the same voltage as the lines to Espanola, but suggested they would be "mostly carried on a single-circuit, three-conductor, single pole line." The company looked for the straightest line in order to make project viable, he added.

He disputed the idea that the investment on Manitoulin is not worthwhile, noting that the company will continue to pay taxes, as well as a dividend to farmers, long after construction has ceased. Even during the short time that the construction is going on-he noted that construction can take place in one summer-Manitoulin will reap the benefits, he said.

"The returns during construction will be huge," he argued. "The concrete, the gravel, the labour, the restaurants, the motels: it's going to be huge."

Mr. Wilkin agreed, citing Northland's commitment to use local construction companies, including those from nearby First Nations, in addition to local aggregate companies in the building of the roads.

"For the first time in a long time, there will be a benefit for more than just the front street of NEMI and all the private funds," he said.

Perhaps more importantly for Mr. Wilkin, the major benefit of participating in the wind farm project is the assistance it will give him and other farmers to supplement their farming practice. The risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) has made farming an unpredictable business, and farmers are grateful for an alternate source of income.

"We will still be able to pasture our cattle and crop our fields," he said. "This will ensure that the fields will be kept up, that the fields will be cared for and the animals will be present-all things the tourists drive through the area to see."

While the wind farm would change McLean's Mountain, the area has already changed drastically over the last 100 years, with towers, buildings, hydro lines and the lookout all cropping up in this time, Mr. Wilkin said, noting that all the land involved is private.

"This project will help ensure that rail fences, cattle, fields and everything else there that everybody appreciates will remain," he said. "When it comes to the point when there's no longer profit, everything will be sold and dispersed and I can guarantee you that the area will change a lot more than it will with a few turbines in the area."

Mr. Martin also addressed other fears such as low-frequency noise, suggesting that it's an argument used by critics to challenge wind power, but again, the company has used scientific data to make its determination.

"It's about being open-minded enough to see what the real facts are," Mr. Martin said.

He also addressed concerns raised by the citizens' group about the Ontario Power Authority's (OPA) plan for multiple projects on Manitoulin. The OPA has marked out where potential viable wind power projects are located on Manitoulin, but they won't all come to fruition, Mr. Martin said.

"The OPA has to go and look forward at the overall plan: where are they going to get power generation if the coal burners are going to come down?" he said.

Next to nuclear generation, he said that coal plants are the biggest generators of power in Ontario. However, if the OPA is seeking to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, other methods of power generation must be sought out.

"If these coal plants are going to be shut down for safety and to cut down on greenhouse gases, something has to replace it-a different kind of technology has to be used," Mr. Martin said. "Ecologically, one of the best sources is wind energy."

Ontario has typically been a grid design where big power is generated out from big producers-which is what the grid is designed for-so lines have to be built to access outreaching areas and bring power into more centralized, higher populated areas, he added.

Manitoulin Island is a good wind resource, but projects need to be viable before they can go ahead, he reiterated.

To allay concerns and provide for more time to comment on the company's ESR, Northland extended the comment period from Friday, July 10 to Monday, July 13. Mr. Martin noted that comments have to be included in the ESR, which is being released soon.

He noted that the company would always be open to hearing the concerns of residents, and that a website would be operational within two weeks, which would allow people to comment, view the studies and reports conducted during development, and learn more about the project.

"Change is hard; I understand that," he said. "Change does happen; it's not dangerous, it's not scary, as long as we all keep an open communication, and we work with the government-designed government screening proposal."

First Nations, Fisher Harbour lock horns over water lot lease

by Jim Moodie

LITTLE LACLOCHE-A bid by Alexander Centre Industries Limited (ACIL) to renew its water-lot lease at Fisher Harbour and triple the range of products it could potentially handle at the deep-water port is drawing heated criticism from First Nation leaders and some anxious rumblings among area cottagers.

In late June, the company released an environmental study report, as is required by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)-which has jurisdiction over the small corner of Frazer Bay that ACIL utilizes for docking and mooring infrastructure-before any decision is made on the application. Copies of this hefty document are now available for review, with public meetings to be held next week at both Birch Island and Little Current, and comments welcomed until August 31.

Critics have already weighed in on the ACIL plan, however, with a particularly pointed salvo emanating from the headquarters of the Anishinabek Nation last week. "This is a case of environmental racism," charged Grand Council Chief Pat Madahbee in a press release. "Alexander Centre Industries, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of the Environment have only measured the impact in certain segments of the environment, without considering the loss of First Nation peoples' ways of life."

In a conversation with the Expositor, Chief Madahbee elaborated that there are a variety of issues at stake for Aboriginal people, most notably the members of the nearby Whitefish River First Nation. "First and foremost there exists a claim to that territory," he said. "And this hasn't been addressed by the federal government."

Beyond that, there are "of course environmental concerns," he said. Chief Madahbee feels it's premature to grant ACIL a licence to transfer more materials through its facility when, in his view, the operation hasn't been conscientious enough about the cargo it has handled to date.

The company's main traffic these days is in bulk salt-used for roads-and silica sand, coveted as flux material for smelting operations-but, as was revealed when ACIL's 30-year lease expired in December 2004, neither of these items was on the initial seven-item commodity list that was part of the 1975 agreement.

As the lease was up for review at that time, the MNR opted to allow the company to continue to transport the technically taboo substances in the interim. "They started salt and sand in the late 1990s," noted Brian Riche, area supervisor for the ministry. "The decision was made that we would accept this for now, but look at it in the new application."

The two substances are now on the roster of materials the company hopes to include as expanded business options, along with a dozen more that are truly new, and which range from agricultural products and precast concrete to polymers and motor vehicles.

For Chief Madahbee, this expanded list of lading is anything but reassuring. "If you look at what's been practised there in the past, when the materials that were trucked out weren't even on the original permit list, it creates mistrust for what might happen in the future," he said.

The port's proximity to such sacred First Nation sites as Dreamer's Rock and the Bell Rocks makes any increase in commercial activity here worrisome, said Chief Madahbee, particularly since studies commissioned by WRFN, with financial support from the McGregor Bay Association (MBA) as well as the MNR, indicate that water quality has already been compromised by runoff from salt piles.

Safety is another concern, he said, as more heavily freighted trucks travelling Highway 6 through Birch Island would increase the chances of a mishap. "We've already had one death from a truck hitting a vehicle where a band member died," he pointed out.

The company counters that it is far from alone in utilizing Highway 6 as a corridor for haulage and that transportation concerns are amply addressed in its environmental report, which was pushed up from a relatively straightforward Class B review to the more exhaustive Category C variety, at the behest of the MNR, precisely because such concerns were raised earlier.

"We did a very detailed traffic study," noted Mark McGoey, project consultant for ACIL. "The amount of traffic generated from our harbour is actually a very small percentage of the overall traffic in terms of numbers, and we're not the only heavy trucking company using that highway."

Other operations schlepping heavy stuff up and down Highway 6 include Lafarge, the Lawson Quarry near Willisville, and Manitoulin Transport, Mr. McGoey noted.

The ACIL rep believes his outfit has undertaken a very thorough analysis of potential impacts to both the immediate environment and surrounding communities, adhering fully to all MNR directives, and doing so, he added, entirely at its own cost.

"We've done a noise study, a traffic study, addressed dock stabilization, looked at biological issues like the effects on water and fish," he said. "It's a very detailed report, now in excess of 500 pages. We've done everything the MNR asked us to do, using a third-party and very qualified firm, at a terrific expense."

McGregor Bay cottager Gillian Woodrooffe appreciates such diligence, and feels the company has made a genuine effort to address the concerns of recreational residents of the area, noting that a tour she requested of the facility last year was conducted in a transparent and co-operative manner.

"The ACIL and Fisher Harbour folks were open and patient with our questions," the MBA president communicated in an email. "We felt there was good dialogue between us and came away from the tour thinking that ACIL was trying very hard to satisfy the concerns of the various stakeholders."

That said, Ms. Woodrooffe still has some strong reservations about the way material is handled at the facility, especially when it comes to the offloading and storage of salt. Residents of the area have witnessed this crystalline substance being blown about in high winds, and there are lingering concerns about salt leaching into the groundwater as well as the freshwater bay itself.

"It seems the MNR considers the delivery of salt, which in high concentrations is recognized to be a toxic substance, as a bit of a 'wink, wink, nod, nod' acceptance," she writes. "We know the salt is needed for de-icing the roads in Northern Ontario, and that the Ministry of Transportation has an interest in having bulk-salt deliveries...it all makes me wonder who is calling the shots. Is the tail wagging the dog?"

Her group shares the concerns of their First Nation neighbours about "increased trucking activity on the already questionably safe Highway 6," she noted, but is equally, if not more, alarmed by the idea of more shipping activity in the area, a prospect that she feels has been "significantly downplayed."

The MBA additionally worries that the list of new commodities has been sketchily laid out and could include materials of serious environmental concern. "Some items are listed ambiguously," she argues, noting that "agricultural products"-a category vaguely cited on the wish list for new cargo-"could mean anything from hay bailers to fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides."

Ms. Woodrooffe wants more clarity on the types of products being proposed for transport through Fisher Harbour, as well as assurances of more regular and rigorous monitoring. And she suggests that the onus here is more on the MNR, and other provincial ministries, than the harbour operators themselves.

"ACIL has done a fine job with its (environmental assessment) study, and my issue is not with them," she writes. "I think they are a company that is going about its job the best way they can. It's the MNR which needs to stand back and be more critical of the proposed changes."

According to Mr. Riche of the MNR, the Fisher Harbour owners have held up their part of the bargain by providing the data required for the application, "and have tried to mitigate concerns through the environmental study report," but this doesn't mean the MNR will rubber-stamp all of the company's requests.

The ministry will weigh the information carefully and assess which proposed commodities should be accepted. "For us, now, we're going to look at which ones will be approved," he said. "It could be one, or it could be 21."

Mr. McGoey said ACIL expects that there could be some tweaking of this list, and may have to live with a reduced variety of options. He also stressed that there would be no immediate ramping up of activity, whichever commodities might be approved.

"To be quite truthful, we don't see anything right now or for the foreseeable future that will be shipped through there that's different from what we're doing at the moment," he said. "But something might come up, and when it does, there is a short window of opportunity, so we want to have that flexibility. We want it to be on the list, so we won't have a holdup."

The harbour is underutilized at present, he said, with "maybe 18 ships a year on average" paying visits to the port. Compared to the Lafarge quarry on the Island's West End, this pace of freighter traffic is practically glacial.

The facility on Little LaCloche Island is also at a competitive disadvantage to other Huron ports that aren't required to ink leases with the province and/or adhere to a set list of materials that are allowed to flow through their premises, the company points out. The nearby Lafarge operation, quartered on the Whitefish River First Nation, has a lease agreement, but no commodity list; facilities in Parry Sound, Midland, and the Sault have outright ownership of their water lots, plus no restrictions on what is shipped in or out.

Even if business picks up at Fisher Harbour, most people would never notice the comings and goings of these boats, Mr. McGoey contended, as "most come in at night, unload, and are gone in the morning."

Meanwhile, there would be a boost to local employment, as the company is committed to hiring people from Manitoulin and the Whitefish River First Nation when opportunities arise. Mr. McGoey noted that 20 full-time jobs were anticipated when ACIL was vying to become a way station for Voisey's Bay ore, and at that time "we made a commitment to both the First Nation and Little Current to split those jobs."

The family that owns Fisher Harbour, an offshoot of Sudbury-based Fisher Wavy, has a strong connection to the area, noted Mr. McGoey, maintaining most of Little LaCloche Island and its larger neighbour, Great Cloche, as a recreational getaway and wildlife preserve. Far from being some impersonal corporation seeking to profit from afar, the owners have a personal interest in maintaining the environmental integrity of these islands, as well as connections with adjacent communities.

Those who wish to learn more about the proposal or voice a concern can find a copy of the environmental study report at the Little Current library or the Birch Island community centre, and are additionally welcome to attend the meetings scheduled for next week.

The first, at 2 pm on July 21, is at Birch Island and geared to members of the Bay of Islands and McGregor Bay cottagers' organizations; on July 23, Island residents are encouraged to come out for a meeting at 7 pm at the Little Current-Howland Recreation Centre.

"If there's a concern, there's the option of bumping this up to a full-scale environmental assessment, which would have to be requested through the Ministry of the Environment," noted Mr. Riche. "But unless there's something major, the next step would be to make a decision."

Editorial

Common standards needed to curb wind-farm impact

Manitoulin Island now has three wind-energy projects either operating or in various stages of becoming operational.

The large project on the outskirts of Little Current has recently focused attention, simply because of its scale. For the sake of comparison, its proponents suggest they will build "about 43" wind-powered turbines while the Schneider Power installation on Highway 542 just outside of Spring Bay has had two windmills operating for over two years-with another three units scheduled to be built soon-and the M'Chigeeng project, said to eventually comprise six windmills, has recently moved a step closer to realization.

In Wikwemikong, proponents of a wind turbine farm there continue to pursue that objective as well.

It's clear that Manitoulin Island has been identified as a location with sufficient winds to sustain the high costs of building these wind turbines and return a profit to their operators and it's a safe bet that, so long as the provincial government is prepared to pay a high premium for energy generated by wind, there will be many more entrepreneurs considering getting into the wind power industry here.

Any industry brings changes and it is no surprise that a number of landowners who live or own property close to the proposed Little Current wind farm have come together to voice their concerns to the local council, as they did at a committee meeting last week.

Their concerns must be taken seriously by the Northeast Town council, and similar concerns will soon emerge from other ratepayers around Manitoulin as other projects take form or grow in scale.

It is clear that the group expressing concerns about the scale of the Little Current project is not against the idea of wind power.

They are, however, rightly concerned with the impact a project of the scale that is being proposed for the McLean's Mountain site will have on both their ability to continue to enjoy the land where they live or which they maintain for recreational purposes and also on the property values of their land holdings.

A trip across Georgian Bay and down Highway 10 will give anyone interested an idea of what a fairly intensive wind turbine project looks like.

In Dufferin County, just north and west of the Town of Shelburne, such a project is well under way on what residents of this area refer to as "the highest point in Ontario."

The farming community there has clearly bought into hosting windmills as an additional source of income, just as the Island farm community has already done or is considering doing.

What is particularly noticeable in this region are the new hydro poles that line sideroads and that have sprouted to carry the wires that deliver the power generated by the wind turbines to points where they tie in to the provincial power grid.

These large transmission towers, even more than the windmills they service, have rendered sideroad after sideroad spectacularly unattractive and it is difficult to imagine anyone choosing to locate a home on one of these rural byways.

That is one of the concerns that the group of concerned Northeast Town rural residents will certainly be considering, and with good reason.

In Dufferin County, an initial proposal had been considered by the companies operating the wind turbines near Shelburne that the service lines would be buried by the roadsides. It is clear that this option was rejected, if it was ever seriously considered at all.

But here on Manitoulin Island, it will be timely and prudent for municipalities and First Nations to come together and consider how they want Manitoulin to look in a decade's time and to consider laying down some ground rules that each municipality could adapt as a bylaw and First Nations as a band council resolution. These should impose some common standards on the local wind power industry and offer some comfort and protection-not only to ordinary rural landowners, but to the landscape of Manitoulin as well, for both the present and the future and in recognition that this is, after all, a tourist destination.

Such a project could be undertaken jointly by the Manitoulin Municipal Association, the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin and the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve with input from the provincial ministries of energy, health, transportation, environment, municipal affairs, Native affairs and natural resources (together with their federal counterparts, as required).

This is a golden opportunity for Manitoulin to host a new industry, but to do so in a planned and informed way and to address this particular issue with a united voice and vision. As an example, local authorities could agree to require the burial of transmission lines, as an Island-wide policy, through territories over which they hold jurisdiction (to use the Dufferin County example as a negative reference point).

The time to start such a process is right away.

Letters to the Editor

Residents should make known apprehension over wind farm

Concerns can be forwarded to community representatives

To the Expositor:

Northland Power's wind farm project for McLean's Mountain is well under way. There will be 43 Vestas V90 turbines, 130 metres high to the tip, with a rotor diameter of 90 metres (the length of a football field) each. The manufacturers cite a 20-year lifespan for this model.

Land will be cleared to build access roads to each turbine, and acreage will be kept clear at the base of each unit. The width and path of the roads will be determined by construction requirements. Northland representative Rick Martin admits there will be a span of time in which birds and deer will relocate due to this disruption.

Electrical infrastructure (the transmission line route) has not yet been established. The necessity of a 115-kilovolt line to accommodate a project of this size makes an underground line impossible.

Standardization of many of the requirements with respect to wind power has not yet been fully established. Currently, the Ministry of the Environment is re-assessing setback requirements (the distance a wind turbine must legally be from a human dwelling). Setback requirement distances have been increasing worldwide due to concerns over noise and health issues as a result of proximity to, and quantity of, turbines.

Northland Power is working under an approval that could soon contain out-of-date setback limits. With their turbines in place, new limits established by the Environmental Bill of Rights will affect adjacent landowners' land-use rights. Building permits will be denied.

Leasing rates and the rights of those wishing to lease their land for turbines have also not been standardized.

The Ontario Power Authority has recently identified seven potential wind farm locations on Manitoulin, spanning from Meldrum Bay to Manitowaning.

Wind turbines on Manitoulin will not improve power service to Manitoulin. Nor will they reduce your hydro rates.

If you have concerns regarding these initiatives, please make them known. Write or call as many of the following contacts as possible: your local municipal council; your MP Carol Hughes: hughes.c@parl.gc.ca; the Northland Power project manager: mcleansmountain@northlandpower.com; the Ministry of the Environment: 1-877-354-0707 (phone), 1800-515-2759 (TTY), (416) 327-2079 (fax), picemail.moe@ontario.ca (email); the Ministry of Natural Resources: 1800-667-194 (phone), (705) 755-1206 (fax), or visit www.mnr.gov.on.ca and search for reference number 010-6708.

You can also visit the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry at www.ebr.gov.on.ca, referencing MOE registry number 010-6516, or MNR registry number 010-6708.

For the email addresses for the MPPs of the provincial government, visit

windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/mpp-contact-information/.

Susan Hart

Little Current

Wind farm will change town irrevocably

Property value will decline, aesthetics will be marred

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a letter addressed to the Northeast Town council and is reprinted here at the author's request.

To the Expositor:

I'm writing to make some objections to the McLean's Mountain wind farm.

In the past I had no problems with this project, planned for an area directly behind my property on Townline Road. However, in early June when I read the notice of the upcoming open house, I noticed in the fine print that 43 towers were now planned and that the scale of the project had increased dramatically.

That was the first I heard that this wind farm had grown so large. Unfortunately for me and for the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and Islands, this changes things substantially.

I ask you to keep an open mind and consider very carefully how these wind turbines will affect our township. Although I am known on this island as a person concerned about the environment, my main objections to this project are not environmental ones.

As an environmental consultant, I am generally in favour of wind power, and I have worked professionally for companies doing environmental assessments for proponents of wind power in southern Ontario. Wind power can be a very good thing, but that doesn't mean it is appropriate to put a wind farm in every windy location. A wind farm of this size is simply not appropriate for our area.

A wind farm of this size, at the top of McLean's Mountain, will do serious, permanent damage to the economy of the Town of NEMI.

I currently live directly below the only radio tower on McLean's Mountain that flashes with white lights. On a cloudy night, this flashing is visible at High Falls on Highway 6, nearly to Manitowaning. And that is only one tower.

The 43 wind turbines will have to be lit due to their height. At night they, too, will flash (probably red). With so many towers, this flashing will be visible for many, many kilometres. It will be visible from Little Current, from the Benjamins and Clapperton Island, from Honora Bay and Tamarack Cove, from White's Point, from Orr's Side Road, and on cloudy nights perhaps even from Lake Manitou and North Channel Drive. This means that at night cottagers in our township will no longer enjoy Manitoulin as the peaceful, unspoiled place the Island has always been for them.

Boaters on the North Channel who bring income to Little Current businesses may choose not to dock here overnight, and perhaps won't even want to come to this side of the channel.

Perhaps they will stay closer to the Sagamok side. You don't have to take my word on how annoying the flashing is. Go to Sault Ste. Marie and look at Gros Cap (the bluffs on which a wind farm are situated) at night. You will see just how much the sky lights up when all those turbines flash. You can see it from Batchewana Bay, an hour's drive away.

You could see a huge loss of property values because NEMI will no longer be good cottage and tourism country. Rick Martin, the spokesman for Northland, pooh-poohs objections to the project based "solely on aesthetics," but the reality is that aesthetics are a very essential part of why people choose to live, cottage, vacation, retire, start businesses, etc. in our township.

They come here because we have a beautiful, rural lifestyle, which is somewhat hard to find nowadays. Wind farms do not belong in cottage country.

You'll notice that no-one is trying to put 43 turbines at Go Home Lake or 12 Mile Bay in Muskoka, where there are cottages and second homes worth $3 and $4 million. The economic value there of a peaceful cottage with a dark night is worth too much for the companies to tamper with. Our rural lifestyle deserves to be worth just as much.

I believe many people will sell their cottages because of these turbines, causing property values to plummet, which will cause a huge loss of assessment to NEMI. You do not have to take my word on this. Call the mayor of Shelburne, Ontario (the site of a large wind farm) and ask him what happened to property value in his area. And then remember that Shelburne is not a cottage and world-class vacation area like Manitoulin.

It is not fair to allow this one company to make money at the expense of all the tourism business in our township. Why should this company's project be allowed to damage the revenue generation so many other people?

With 43 turbines so visible-from the checkout at the Valu-Mart, from the arena parking lot, from the lineup at the bridge coming on the Island-this is what people will think of when they think of NEMI, and I suspect many tourists will no longer want to come here.

Mr. Martin says, "Don't worry about tourism, the wind farm will become an attraction." It's an insult to all the people who come here looking for a beautiful, natural place to swim, fish, hike, or read a book at the camp.

Obviously, the noise from these turbines is also an issue. It is not fair to landowners of adjacent properties to lose their rights to enjoy their lands, and perhaps lose the right to build on their land. They will have to be compensated financially.

Who will do this? Will the company? It is said that residents below Gros Cap had to be compensated because of the noise. I suggest you investigate what happens in these cases, because there could be lawsuits against the township for allowing this project to damage adjacent uses.

There are many other people, especially seasonal residents, who have not clued in to how big this wind farm has become. Last week I spoke with a resident from Orr's Side Road who didn't even know the project existed. There are many property owners in the Green Bush who are off-Island landowners who know nothing about this wind farm and deserve to be informed.

Before you, our local government, make any decisions on this wind farm, you need to make sure that people are informed that this project has changed and gotten very, very much bigger, and that they are okay with that. A mailout needs to be done. Not everyone reads the Expositor.

In addition, the company's studies have only assessed impacts in a very small area directly around the towers. This completely ignores all the people whose lifestyle will be affected by the nighttime flashing. Therefore, when the company assures you there will be no impact, they have not considered many of the residents of our town. You need to hear from these people.

I, for one, do not find this project acceptable. It is completely against what makes our township so great. I hope you will think very carefully and will not approve this wind farm. If you do, you may go down in history as the council that ruined our township.

Judith Jones

Winter Spider Eco-Consulting

Sheguiandah

Impact of wind farm on land value needs to be considered

Burden of energy development is borne at local level

To the Expositor:

The development of a wind farm on the height of land to the south and west of Little Current raises questions beyond those of visibility, noise and the possibility of danger to human health. This latter issue is presently the subject of scientific research through Queen's University. To date there are no hard data on this subject but people in the vicinity of wind farms have complained of ailments that might possibly be connected. The setback with respect to noise that was given at the recent hearing was 500 metres, whereas the MOE guidelines, as of June 9, 2009, is 550 metres. I presume that this fact will be taken into account before the final decisions are made with respect to the deployment of individual turbines.

I am wondering if anyone has addressed two issues that as far as I know have not been raised but which need to be considered. First, is whether a wind farm will decrease the value of the land and of dwellings thereon. The Canadian Wind Energy Association makes the statement that property values in the United States did not decrease in the vicinity of wind farms. In the case of the proposed wind farm, the character of the landscape is attractive because it is one of quiet and serenity. I do not see how anyone in the market for either property or housing, and looking for a tranquil environment, could but favour a landscape without wind turbines as against one with wind turbines. It follows, therefore, that if property is not as attractive to a potential buyer, then that property has decreased in value. Can one assume that property taxes will be reduced

as a result?

Second, is what the impact will be of roads made to access wind turbine sites both during the construction phase and for subsequent servicing. My professional experience in working on environmental issues with the mining industry is that companies have to file an environmental impact statement with respect to the restoration of mine-damaged lands to a natural state using native vegetation before any exploitation is carried out. Surely the present situation is no different. Has such a statement been filed with the Town of NEMI and, if so, do the residents of NEMI have access to the environmental impact statement? I presume that an access road of some sort will be necessary so that turbines can be serviced and I assume that a service road would be much narrower than the one that will be necessary during the installation phase.

I have no problem with the concept of a wind farm. We are immensely privileged to live in a country such as Canada but do so at considerable environmental cost because of the enormous amount of non-renewable energy that we consume. Anything that can be done to reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy has to be seen as a small step in the right direction. At the same time the burden of that step is being borne at the local level and it seems to me that those who dwell in the shadow of a wind farm should be given some compensation for that sacrifice.

Gerard Courtin

Sudbury