Open Letter re: Wind Park

Over two years ago, Municipal Councilor,Linda Gregory and Warden Jim Thurber indicated a desire to meet with the people in the Rossway Hall.She and Warden Jim Thurber were primarily concerned with building and restoring community in what was not unlike a war torn country- having been put through the indignity of battle at the hands of mercenary forces bent on hauling away pieces of the mountain for fifty years from the Little River area, and draining the Gullivers Cove aquifer in exchange for one ($1.00) dollar to property owners for their water rights.

What could be done to bring about healing where neighbour had been pitted against neighbour, family against family,family members against family members? There was a meaningful discussion, but what seemed the preferable option in which everyone could participate was the very ordinary Pot Luck Supper.

Since then, there have been regular on-going Pot Luck Suppers in halls,on decks, and lake-side all along the Neck.A steady group of co-ordinators from the villages signed up for a year and successfully passed the torch to a new group last fall.(They are enlisting a new group for the coming fall season.) The last Supper for this season will take place at the beautiful Lake Medway in July. Everyone is welcome!

It's only in the hearts of people that one could verify any healing, but from the celebratory tone which each Supper fosters, there is clearly evident a positive and appreciative spirit and joy in peoples' coming together as one, from every community and village along the Neck- and beyond.

It was again in that very autumn that secret talks took place at the Municipal Council Building with the same Warden, same Councilor, and the CAO where the seed was planted that would grow to divide and rip apart anew.This time the people were not invited.I guess they didn't need us this time.

We know well the menace the latest scheme may effect. It's doing its share of dividing people in families,homes,villages,and even churches- and that is enough! But this time there is the very real danger of illness being inflicted by run-a-way Wind Blowing Machines as close as 600 meters to peoples homes.The medical people- the only ones in this whole scenario who I can trust - warn that this is much too close even on level ground. In a walled-in village like the beautiful Gullivers Cove,with Big Rigs lowing and blowing at each other from both sides, it may well be a prescription for disaster!



I understand the concerns expressed to me by Ms.Kristi Herron, the Chair of the local Board of Trade.Her fear that people like me who speak out on issues like this may deter industry and business from coming to town is indeed well-founded.But it doesn't have to be that way! People get what they give!


There indeed is an antidote (short of mayhem on my person) and it is this: 1) The Board of Trade is not an elected body. They must find a vehicle of communication to confer with people upon whom they wish to inflict money-making ventures to their detriment to their detriment or not. 2) That should be through our elected representatives at whatever level of government called for. 3) Despite the authoritarian approach these would take with us, our battle is for justice.

That includes preventing these subtle home invasions upon a people as they are so inclined to do. Justice and truth are virtues well beyond the mandate given to peers elected to office. When any government or any business drops in unexpectedly to superimpose their will without the human courtesy of consultation, especially in rural agrarian and seafaring areas,and no introduction and genuine explanation, involvement and input,what do you expect? The option to lay down and play dead is no longer acceptable.

I have known this area a lot longer than many of you have been alive. When I came back to live here, I stepped forward to involve myself in the local community. I am not a leech, nor are the many CFA's I know out here.
When I took up quill in hand to speak out on the quarry, an old friend outside awakened anew what I had heard away back in the 1960's: "It's only Digby Neck!" I hear it still, and read it between many-a-line.

We are never consulted when these totally extraordinary baseballs are batted across the Town of Digby line! That's the heart and crux of the problem!

Now let me cite a proposal for you- one which I wrote to Ms.Herron recently and to which I received no reply.

Between Shore Road and Lighthouse Road, there is a strip of treed land which I saw for the first time in 1962 as I entered Digby on the Ferry. How beautiful I thought! In recent years I have learned that I was undoubtedly looking at what was a fine patch of the highest quality of basalt. I have learned that that strip of land would be a remarkable place for Wind Machines as well! Now I cannot say with certitude, but there is likely a wonderful and bountiful supply of ancient waters just below- enough to creat a water-bottling industry, and jobs,jobs,jobs.

A Quarry for half a century; wind machines for a minimum of twenty years; and potential for a water supply until the well runs dry!

How do you think that would go over in that more affluent corner of the Municipality? And yet that is the very stuff which has been hanging over the tiny Gullivers Cove in the past and so continues to this very day.

I humbly rest my case.

Daniel Mills

NSP at ADEDA

Sustainability VP shares NSP plans for renewables
With PR personnel distracted by hearings in Halifax, Nova Scotia Power Executive Vice President Robin McAdam spoke candidly about the company's plans to adapt to the new energy reality.

A capacity crowd filled ABCC's James Horsfall Memorial Hall for ADEDA's AGM on Thursday evening. Some attended specifically to hear McAdam speak, ready with pointed questions about NSP's plans for renewable energy development in the province.

McAdam's willingness to let down his guard seemed to mitigate tension in the room. "We want to leave a cleaner environment for our children. We have a lot of work to do."

A fuel mix that will include more renewables is clearly key to the province's plan for energy sustainability. Nova Scotia Power (NSP) has a mandate for 10% of its energy supply to come from renewables by 2013, which McAdam is confident will be achieved. A proposed biomass project in Port Hawkesbury may help NSP meet its target.

As of 2014, however, NSP anticipates a supply gap that will provide a multitude of opportunities for energy entrepreneurs. McAdam believes that fast growing grasses and use of abundant forest waste will play a significant role in development of the biomass energy stream.

With regard to ADEDA's pellet project, McAdam sees an incredible economic opportunity for Annapolis Digby. This Agency, of course, concurs with that assessment. Says ADEDA's Managing Director Mike Gushue, "Robin's participation in our AGM certainly reinforces our focus on renewable energy, and particularly biomass, as a viable economic development strategy for our region."

In closing, McAdam observed, "Your region is well positioned to take advantage of biomass as an energy resource, and has great potential for tidal and wind as well."