Friday, February 11, 2011

Ontario Says NO to Offshore Wind.....For Now.

The Ministry of the Environment has just announced that the Province of Ontario will put a stop to offshore wind development in the Great Lakes until further scientific knowledge can be collected with respect to fresh water offshore installations. So I guess that means that proponents of offshore wind projects are back to a familiar situation.  In 2006 the government essentially proposed the same thing, barring anyone from developing offshore wind projects so that the government could investigate the potential effects of offshore wind before the offshore gold rush started. 
Offshore Wind Installation in Europe

The problem with this is that the moratorium was lifted in 2008 without any sign of progress from the Ontario government. No new rules, regulations or scientific knowledge. Developers who decided to proceed with the offshore application process were faced with a difficult task in dealing with a government that had not set rules for required environmental studies or reports. Applications were met with delay after delay as the government tried to figure out what it was to do. To this date we still have no rules with respect to appropriate setbacks and restricted areas for offshore wind development. Whether you are for or against the development of offshore wind turbines in our great lakes you have to agree that our government has done a poor job at handling this situation.  They've sat on the fence and played the waiting game for the past 5 years.  Today's posting is nothing short of disappointing from both the pro wind and anti-wind points of view.

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