There was always something suspicious about Ontario Environment Minister Jeff Yurek’s decision in December to stop a $200-million wind farm in the countryside south of Ottawa. Yurek’s reason for the last-minute cancellation: potential harm to bats, including some on Ontario’s Species at Risk list.
Wednesday, three Ontario Superior Court judges — in polite legal language — agreed an ill wind was blowing. They reversed Yurek’s order, saying he was being unreasonable with his intervention and had no authority to suddenly raise the issue of bat mortality when it wasn’t central to the appeal from a local opposition group.
This week’s ruling was a bitter blow for the Concerned Citizens of North Stormont, a grassroots organization that has fought the 100-megawatt project for five years, raising and spending in excess of $100,000 to oppose the project.
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