Aug 192009
On June 12, 2009, Swift River Energy Limited (SREL) met with the Muskoka Lakes Association (MLA) to respond to questions concerning SREL’s plans to build a hydro-electric generating station at the Bala Falls. The MLA has posted these notes from the meeting.
We would like to respond to several of the points, as follows:
- We do not want the hydro-electric generating station built in the south channel. But, given SREL’s current plans that the generating station be built on public property and that there are serious public safety and economic concerns, there needs to be a fair, detailed, and transparent comparison of the possible alternatives, such as building the generating station in the south channel.
- SREL continues to claim that their Option 2 would be underground – yet all information from SREL indicates that the generating station will be 18′ above the Moon River.
- Anticipating that the Province of Ontario may insist that a generating station be built at Bala, months ago, we provided SREL with sketches describing a possible Option 4 which would be built at the north end of the Precambrian Shield parking lot. This truly would be a buried option, but SREL has not provided any response to this.
- We have declined to be involved with any landscaping decisions for SREL’s Option 2 as we first need to know what has been done to address our concerns about the proposed location for the power station. For example, the water intake to the power station would be a significant new danger, and alternatives such as locating the power station in the south channel could address this. We will not provide the appearance of community support for SREL’s Option 2 as SREL has not provided a detailed and fair evaluation of alternatives.
Hello Joe,
Concerning your question of September 2: We agree that Ontario is a big place, and we’d hope they could find somewhere else to build a hydro-electric generating station that isn’t in the middle of a popular tourist and recreation area. The Ministry of Natural Resources identified this (and other) sites according to several factors (proximity to electrical transmission lines, height of water drop, and so on). We hope to convince the government that there are other important factors that result in this not be a desirable site.
The government is encountering difficulty in identifying sites for wind turbine generators also, as many people don’t like the noise they generate, or the way they change the landscape.
I have one question that I have not seen asked or answered as of yet. Why does this project HAVE to be built on the Bala Falls? I am sure that there are other more suitable and less obtrusive sites to choose from. Also, as I understand it, this project would produce only 3-4 mega watts of power which is a drop in the bucket in terms of the amount of power that Ontario can produce. This hardly seems worth the effort especially when 2 wind turbines could produce the same amount of power for substantially less set-up cost and could be placed almost anywhere. Let’s call this option 5.