Article
Wind Power Good for the Gaspe? Don't Be So Sure.
The Stream (blog)|teeder|December 7, 2005
This thing smells of resources from the Gaspé being used with the majority of profits heading out of the region at the speed of, in this case, electricity. It happened with the fish. It happened with the copper. It happened with the pulp and paper. Now it will happen with the wind.
This thing smells of resources from the Gaspé being used with the majority of profits heading out of the region at the speed of, in this case, electricity. It happened with the fish. It happened with the copper. It happened with the pulp and paper. Now it will happen with the wind.
Major industrial projects are not the norm for the Gaspé. In fact, the three major employers of the last half century, the copper mine in Murdochville and the paper mills in Chandler and New Richmond are all now under lock and key. So when a project like the recent plant that will fabricate equipment in Gaspé comes around, there is some reason for optimism.
Sure there will be some jobs. But the only part of the windmills that will be fabricated in Gaspé are the blades. The turbines and all of the more technical components will be fabricated outside Québec. The blade making part of the process is relatively low-tech and will not create long term employment beyond the point where the demand for Gaspé windmills will be met. The engineering, …
Major industrial projects are not the norm for the Gaspé. In fact, the three major employers of the last half century, the copper mine in Murdochville and the paper mills in Chandler and New Richmond are all now under lock and key. So when a project like the recent plant that will fabricate equipment in Gaspé comes around, there is some reason for optimism.
Sure there will be some jobs. But the only part of the windmills that will be fabricated in Gaspé are the blades. The turbines and all of the more technical components will be fabricated outside Québec. The blade making part of the process is relatively low-tech and will not create long term employment beyond the point where the demand for Gaspé windmills will be met. The engineering, research and development and technological processes will, in large part, be done offshore.
As for the benefits to the region once the windmills are up and spinning, let's use the Cap-Chat situation to imagine what lies ahead in terms of economic and environmental impact. The Municipality of Cap-Chat receives about $12,000.00 a year in terms taxes and their share of profits from windmill operations. That's $1000.00 a month to see their landscape destroyed by the whirling white monsters that dot the mountainside. Seems that the least they could have done was paint those things green so that they would at least attempt to blend into the background.
And where is the majority of the money that will be paid by Hydro-Québec going to end up? Well, not in Québec but in Ontario and Alberta. Yes we have a company here in Québec but they didn't qualify for the project. Never mind that they run the most profitable wind park in the world in France and they use turbines that are twice as efficient than the ones that will be used on the Gaspé peninsula.
This thing smells of resources from the Gaspé being used with the majority of profits heading out of the region at the speed of, in this case, electricity. It happened with the fish. It happened with the copper. It happened with the pulp and paper. Now it will happen with the wind.