Kahnawake Sustainable Energies Office in Saintcypriendenapierville

Background Between 2003 and 2005 Tewatohnhi’saktha, in partnership with the Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office, studied the wind resources in our community to assess the possibility of hosting a wind energy project within our territory. The goal was to find an environmentally-sound way to generate income for our community. The study concluded that we have reasonable wind resources near the Saint-Lawrence. However the average wind speeds were not sufficient to secure project financing. In addition, the development of a wind farm should respect certain distances to homes, large airport with radar systems, forests, wetlands, communication corridors and other constraints. As we know, our community is very close to the Trudeau Airport, homes are distributed throughout our territory, and most other areas are covered by forests or wetlands. Our landlocked parcels and undivided estates further complicate the situation. All of these constraints make the development of the current project impossible in our community. In 2009 Hydro Quebec launched a call for tenders to purchase wind energy from “Communities and Aboriginal people”. KSE’s project was the only Aboriginal project that was retained and received a contract to develop a wind farm and sell the energy to Hydro Quebec for 20 years. When the project was submitted it conformed to the municipal regulations in the host community. Legal procedures were initiated to clarify the conformity of the project and at no time was there any intention to sue the municipality to get monetary compensation of any kind. The legal procedures confirmed KSE’s rights to construct a wind farm in the proposed conditions. Agriculture The proposed project involves the installation of 8 turbines on private land in the municipality of Saint-Cyprien-de–Napierville. The landowners who will receive the wind farm on their land support the project and are good partners for the development of this sustainable project which will have a very minimal impact on their farmland. Most of the access roads are already present on the site and no new transmission lines are required (the project can be connected directly to Hydro Quebec’s existing distribution system). In fact, during operation of the wind farm less than 1 hectare of agricultural land will be affected by the project. The farmers will be compensated for their agricultural losses as well as for the use of their land. The income they receive will be significant and could be used by the farmers to increase the quality and the productivity of their land. Like in St. Remi and many other wind energy projects around the world, wind farms integrate very well into agricultural environments and the farmers can farm right up to the turbines. Project Evaluation The project was evaluated by consultants in accordance with the requirements of Quebec’s Environment Ministry and all inventories and studies concluded that there are no significant impacts for birds, bats and wildlife. Once in operation, KSE will perform follow-up studies about birds and bats and address any problems to ensure their protection. The placement of the turbines respects the noise levels and required distances to homes and other structures. All forms of energy have impacts on people and the environment during development, operation or after decommissioning. For example coal generation produces greenhouse gas emissions and smog, nuclear energy leaves dangerous waste for the future generations to deal with, and even hydroelectric power (like we have in Quebec) had important negative impacts on the environment and the First Nation people living in the north. Environmentally, wind energy is a very good choice to plan for future energy needs. Wind energy is renewable, complements hydroelectric power, and produces only positive effects for more than 19 of the 20+ years of operation. Wind farms are decommissioned after their useful life and restored to their original conditions following the standards of the day. Opinions about the Wind Farm The group Le Vent Tourne distributed a petition to the citizens around their region. However, it did not reflect of the truth about the project which could have led many people to sign the petition based on incorrect information. In fact, from the many meetings and communication activities carried out by KSE with the population surrounding the proposed wind farm site, it is clear that there are different opinions about the project. Some residents are in favor of the project and green energy in general, some are opposed, and others are neutral without any concerns. Project Benefits Beneficiary Approximate revenue over 20 years Landowners $ 4 Million Host municipality $ 2.5 Million Kahnawà:ke $ 60 Million Voluntary one-time contribution To benefit the region around the wind farm $390,000 Many of you may recall that some of our ironworkers proudly worked on the 44-turbine wind farm of our neighbours in St. Remi where their citizens welcomed the project and even developed tourism around it. Jobs will be available with the KSE project and financial benefits will be shared with the region around the wind farm. The funds being offered to the host municipality and the region are voluntary and are more generous than most other wind farms (generally $5,000/MW/year). The table below presents the financial benefits anticipated from the project over the next 20 plus years: The next step for the project is the public evaluation through the BAPE (Quebec’s Office of Public Hearings on the Environment). People are welcome to come ask questions starting on May 19th or write and submit your views about the wind energy project to the BAPE. These opinions will contribute to the evaluation, report, and recommendations that the BAPE will submit to the Quebec government who will decide whether to approve the project as-is, with conditions, or not at all. If you are interested in submitting a brief about the project we would be happy to provide more details. In conclusion, as someone who has studied and worked in the environment protection field for more than 20 years, I firmly believe that this is a very well-designed and thoroughly evaluated project that will have far reaching benefits for our community, the host community, the environment and the future generations. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or would like more information about the project.

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