Turbines not so bad, study finds

LONDON — Once they are up, they're not so bad, a study on wind turbines in rural Ontario communities says.

Researchers found 69% of residents surveyed in an area home to one of Ontario's first large turbine projects support them, but support dropped to 25% in a community that didn't have turbines, said Jamie Baxter, a geography professor at Western University.

"The main finding is that support was reasonable . . . but fear of the unknown creates momentum in a community," he said, referring to his paper published in the academic journal Energy Policy.

Those levels of support are similar to levels found in Europe, where turbines have been established for decades.

But the study also found support can "turn on a dime," and even in communities where there's support, there remain lingering concerns over health, municipal control of developments and who benefits financially.

"The process doesn't allow meaningful participation," Baxter said. "Municipalities don't have a say. That gets people's back up. These concerns are not going to go away any time soon."

Lorrie Gillis, chairperson of the Ontario Regional Wind Turbine Working Group, lives near the community of Shelburne where the study found support for turbines. She said she isn't surprised concerns linger.

"I'm next to that community and I don't believe there is support for turbines," said Gillis, who lives in the Owen Sound area

"I know people in that township who abandoned their homes. There are problems and they're real."

The impact of turbines on health remain the top concern of those opposing wind development, Gillis said.

The study surveyed those living near turbines in the Shelburne area, in Dufferin County near Orangeville, home to one of the first large industrial projects in Ontario. Residents in West Perth near Mitchell that doesn't have any turbines also were surveyed.

At the time of the study, there were rumours in the Mitchell area that a turbine development was coming and that may have also driven opposition, Baxter said.

Wind turbine development has also had a direct economic impact, with a factory in Tillsonburg earlier this month turning out its first turbine blades for a development in Chatham-Kent.