Grosse Île wind farm: citizens have a lot of questions for the BAPE

The Grosse Île wind farm project still raises many questions, as was made obvious during the first meeting of the Bureau d’audience publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) public hearing.

Roughly 30 people showed up Tuesday night in the gym of the Grosse Île school.

It took almost three hours for the commission to address the 25 questions that a dozen of citizens had for the developer, Nutrinor Gilbert Énergies, as well as for the other parties involved, such as the Ministry of Environment, the Maritime Community, and Hydro-Québec. 

Despite efforts to translate the event simultaneously into both languages, Grosse Île resident Welma Clarke believes that the language barrier may have discouraged many from staying until the end: 

Ms. Clarke is one of the instigators of a petition circulated in December, asking the Municipality of Grosse Île to hold a referendum on the construction of the 4 to 7 wind turbines located in the Mines Seleine area.

She claims that the 198 people who signed it are opposed to the project.

Headsets were made available to citizens who wanted to listen to the session in English. (Photo: CFIM)

Mayor Gordon Burke says the council is sticking to the public review process:

The public hearing on the Grosse Île wind farm project will continue tonight at 7 p.m. in the Cap-aux-Meules community hall.

Translated from the french article with the help of DeepL.

To listen again to the segment of Cap info (in french):