The proposed wind energy project set to be built around Weyburn has been met with a lot of opposition. Weyburn Big Muddy MLA and minister responsible for SaskPower, Dustin Duncan says he’s not overly surprised.
“I think that you often see that when these types of projects come to communities. And I certainly know that as the proponent Enbridge is aware of that as well, that's why they have had outreach with members of the community, with the landowners, with some of the neighboring landowners, acreage owners as well, and continue to do so.”
Duncan reminds that this project is in the beginning stages, not the end. There are more processes to go through and discussions to be had.
“There'll be a great deal of engagement that'll take place by the proponent, and certainly through the RM that the project is being proposed for over the next number of months.”
The RM of Griffin is penning a letter to convey their opposition of the project, Duncan says he recognizes the councilors have an obligation to their ratepayers.
“As an elected RM, all the RMs have to do their due diligence and work with their ratepayers and work with the proponent. As they look at the project, obviously they'll have to look at the pros and cons in terms of advancing the project or not advancing the project.” He continues “When you're talking about what in this case likely would be a half a billion dollar project coming to the Weyburn area, certainly there's the opportunity for jobs to be created, construction jobs during the process, tax revenue for the RMs, but they're also dealing with rate payers who may have concerns about the project going forward.”
Duncan describes addressing these concerns as a part of the RMs due diligence to their ratepayers, but also reminds that this project is in early stages and these conversations are part of the process.
He says some concerns may be very legitimate but may be drowned out by less factual ones.
“Everybody involved, including the councils, including the landowners just need to take the time to engage with the company, engage with their councils, and, you know, find out as much as we can.”
Duncan suggests also visiting other communities where wind farms are established to get information based on experiences.
“Take the opportunity to visit some of the areas of the province that have turbines and have had them for some time now and talk to those landowners to [get] a better sense of what it actually is like when you have one of these projects come to your community.”