Gulliver's Cove- Chronicle Herald

Wind may be Gullivers Cove’s most solid hope

By MARILLA STEPHENSON
Wed. Sep 23 - 4:46 AM






DIGBY NECK — AS THE MEANDERING roadway winds between the modest homes toward the shore, one realizes it could be any tiny coastal community in Nova Scotia.

This is Gullivers Cove on Digby Neck. And there was a time here when fish was king.

At the end of that strip of asphalt sits the aged remnants of a broken-down wharf, sagging, decrepit buildings and the hulls of two abandoned fishing boats that sit high on the rocky beach.

Faded black paint on the pointlessly bolted door of one particularly perilous-looking fish shack says: "For key, call 245- . . . ." Surely, no one would take the risk to enter.

There is still a small fish processing operation up the road, but in Gullivers Cove, fish is king no more. The talk, these days, is all about windmills.

High ridges stretch along the evergreen landscape that envelopes the cove from both sides. Some of the locals call them mountains, but that’s a stretch. These ridges are set to become home to Nova Scotia’s next wind farm, a 20-turbine, $82-million project proposed by SkyPower and Scotian WindFields in Dartmouth.

The province last month approved an environmental assessment for the project, with conditions. Road construction is expected over the winter, with turbine installation planned for next summer.

The turbines are to be erected on the lands of private landowners, who have signed lease agreements with SkyPower. People who signed agreements received $500 for signing and will be paid roughly $5,000 per year for every turbine located on their property. The rural Municipality of the District of Digby will collect about $165,000 a year in tax revenues, based on power production.

It’s a project that has stirred debate on Digby Neck and even divisions within one family.

Debi VanTassel, who with her husband Davy runs an emu farm in Gullivers Cove, says the distance of the turbines from local homes are her biggest concern. A sign on her property calls for a setback of 2,400 metres. The approval from the province allows windmills to be located within 750 metres of homes.

That is significantly more than what has been allowed in other municipalities, including a wind farm in Pubnico that has a turbine within 400 metres of a residence. But many in the Digby area are looking forward to the benefits the project will bring. VanTassel acknowledges that relatives in Gullivers Cove are among those who have signed lease agreements with SkyPower.

"There is Davy’s aunt and her next door neighbour who we do not talk about the windmills to, because we know it causes problems in the family. It causes some people to have some ideas, and some to have others."

That’s putting it mildly. Digby Neck, that narrow stretch of land that runs along the Bay of Fundy shore on the southwestern end of the province, has had more than its share of development controversies over the past few years.

First, it was the uproar over a quarry company that wanted to locate there. They eventually quit and ran.

Next, it was a bottling plant planned for Gullivers Cove that fell flat.

Now, it’s the wind farm.

And some folks have had enough with determined efforts to kill every investment proposal that comes to the area.

"It’s a benefit to have it for cleaner power," says David Graham, who, along with his wife Linda, owns a cottage rental outfit aimed at the tourism market.

They live a few miles down the road from Gullivers Cove and run their property completely from solar and wind power. They have a small windmill and they are not connected to the Nova Scotia Power grid. They reject any suggestion that a turbine farm will hurt tourism in the area.

"People are not looking at the bright side of it," says David. "We’ve got a handful of people here, mostly retirees, and they’ve got absolutely nothing else to do but to try to stop just about everything that’s going to happen around here."

Linda was initially somewhat opposed to the turbine project because, she says, it would not have brought many jobs for local residents, as the quarry and water plant would have. She believes the area has developed an anti-development reputation that will further reduce the dwindling population and make it even tougher for local communities to survive.

"Fishing is going," she states bluntly. "Other than that, there is nothing around here other than our seasonal residents.

"If you don’t have the jobs, you don’t have the young people. Our schools, they need the young people, they need the kids. Our fire department is all volunteers, but they need more young people.

"The windmills won’t fix that, but if it’s going to help by giving money to our municipality and a few of our residents, then it does have benefits. It’s cleaner energy and that’s a big plus."

( mstephenson@herald.ca)

Note: This is the first of a two-part series. In tomorrow’s Chronicle Herald: How close is too close? Should the provincial government decide?