Protest over dismantling of wind farm in Prince Edward County

By Liam Radford

BELLEVILLE – People are protesting the removal of a partially constructed wind farm in Milford Tuesday.

Some residents are upset the Ford government stopped the White Pines Canada project, a plan that would have built nine turbines in the area with an annual output of over 52 million kilowatt hours. That would be enough power for 3,000 homes, according to project estimates. Four were built. 

The protest was organized by Jen Ackerman, a Prince Edward County landowner with a turbine on her property, as a last chance to have the provincial government hear the concerns of those that oppose the cancellation.

The Ontario government nixed the project in July of 2018. The first phase of decommissioning started Oct. 18 and is expected to end Jan. 31, 2020.

The erected turbines will be lowered to the ground by crane during the first phase and during the second phase they will be removed and the area remediated.

A petition to keep the wind farm received more then 19,000 signatures.

More to come.