Long wait for Leal meeting
Opponents of proposed Bewdley-area solar farm have been waiting since February to meet with agriculture minister
Opponents of a proposed Bewdley-area solar farm are speaking out about the amount of time they say it is taking to get a meeting with Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal.
John Kordas says Rural Representation has been requesting a meeting since last February regarding GreenLife Solar 19, a 500-kilowatt ground-mounted installation planned for a fouracre site on 6330 Ganaraska Rd., adjacent to his farm.
The group is appealing to Leal and Northumberland- Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi for a response to its 30-page report, titled Solar by Stealth, in which land use specialists say errors and discrepancies in the project application are cause to have it axed.
Leal told The Examiner via email Tuesday that Kordas requested a meeting at his constituency office, but did not indicate to his staff at the time that his request was related to an issue tied to his role as minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs.
“As the meeting requested is related to my ministerial portfolio, and not a constituency matter, it would be better for the meeting to take place at my ministry office. This will ensure that we have appropriate staff and Mr. Kordas’ local MPP, Lou Rinaldi, on hand to answer his questions and to ensure that appropriate follow-ups take place,” he wrote.
“To be perfectly clear, they have not responded in the last seven months,” Kordas responded, calling the statement a “bureaucratic kiss-off letter.”
The group, which has also made a submission to the Ontario Ombudsmen’s office, was told Aug. 23 by Leal’s staff that an appointment had been scheduled for Sept. 1.
But that meeting was cancelled nine days later and nothing has been scheduled since, Kordas said, calling the wait time for a response “just not acceptable.”
“His silence for the past seven months has been loud and clear,” he said. “He’s not responding to our concerns ... the silence is deafening.”
The solar project is one of 42 by the company taking part in the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program within Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act, which allows developers to fast-track works by bypassing the municipal planning application process.
According to the FIT rulebook for green energy projects, the solar farm is not permitted on prime agricultural farmland, said Kordas, calling it “illegal.”
Opponents gathered Aug. 22 at the site west of Bewdley, where construction is set to begin sometime this month, to air their concerns about using prime farmland to produce solar power. The installer for the project is Mississauga-based Renesola.
Kordas said foundations will be poured on the project before the group gets a response, but Leal indicated the ball is in the group’s court.
“I understand that this matter is very important to Mr. Kordas, and staff in my ministry office are looking forward to hearing from him in order to schedule a meeting as soon as possible,” he stated.