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The Times Advocate, 2004-04-07, Page 3Wednesday, April 7, 2004 Exeter Times–Advocate 3 Schellenberger supports Lucan museum project By Mary Simmons TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF LUCAN — Lucan Biddulph council had the opportunity to address concerns to Perth - Middlesex MP Gary Schellenberger at a meet- ing Monday night. Schellenberger, who is the Conservative member for the riding, said he wanted to talk to council and let them know in spite of the riding changes which will take place after the next federal election, he is working for the citi- zens of Lucan Biddulph and listening to their con- cerns. During the election, Schellenberger will be campaigning in the new riding of Perth -Wellington. Voters in Lucan Biddulph will be casting their ballot for a represen- tative in Middlesex-Kent- Lambton. Coun. Wayne Hall said the Lucan Area Heritage Association (LAHA) is about to launch its largest fundraising campaign and will be approaching the federal government for funding. Hall said approximately $250,000 has been raised going into the door-to- door campaign. Schellenberger said he fully supports the project and will recommend the government contributes to it. He also said the Library of Canada recently released a package on funding available to municipalities and he will send a copy to Hall so the LAHA will be aware of what grants are available. Schellenberger said he is a firm believer that many projects just need a little seed money from the gov- ernment to get the fundraising process going. He said he wants the people of the Lucan area to know that whether he is a member for Perth - Middlesex or a member for Perth -Wellington, he will continue to support the project. "Once I start on some- thing, I won't back off," he said. "I want to see this through." Deputy Mayor Perry Caskanette said there has been an issue with a downtown property owned by Petro -Canada for a number of years. The property sat vacant for a period before being rented to its current ten- ant, who runs a used car business on a part-time basis out of the location. The tenant is rarely seen on site and Mayor Tom McLaughlin called the property, "an eyesore right in the middle of town." Caskanette said before the current tenant rented the property, Petro - Canada was approached with proposals to rent or buy, but the suggested price was in excess of $10 a square foot. "It just didn't jive with the Lucan economy," Caskanette said, asking Schellenberger if there was a reason the cost was so high. Schellenberger said the federal government has a 16 per cent interest in Petro -Canada, which it is planning to sell off for an estimated $3 billion. While he didn't know why the price would be set so high, he promised to write a letter to Petro - Canada and the ministry responsible in support of a more suitable price being set as well as upkeep of the property. Schellenberger also addressed the BSE crisis which has been devastat- ing to area farmers. He said the problem with a drop in livestock prices is that you can't just dump the stock and be rid of it Wind energy projects growing By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF HENSALL — Energy is probably the most dynamic industry in North America right now. That was one of the messages delivered by Jim Cook March 31 at the Hensall United Church. Cook, vice-president of Technology Convergence Inc. (TCI) and a local representative for the Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC) spoke before about 75 people at a dinner organized by the men of the church. He spoke of the various methods of energy and electricity, including a 3,000 acre, 75 megawatt wind turbine project CREC is planning in Ashfield-Colborne- Wawanosh. CREC was to take its plan to ACW council Tuesday night. Cook said the energy industry is chang- ing rapidly. While 100 years ago, society was moving into the era of the internal combustion engine and mass production, the new wave includes hydrogen and fuel cells. Cook said developments in energy over the next 25 years will make the developments at the turn of the 20th cen- tury seem dull. And because of increasing awareness about the environment, renewable ener- gy, such as wind energy, is increasingly being explored. Plus, "nuclear is back on the front burner," Cook said. He said nuclear plants can now be built quicker and cheaper than in the past. Turning the discussion to wind energy, Cook said there have been many changes in the last 15 years to make wind energy more efficient to develop along the Lake Huron shoreline. Not only are more than 40 wind tur- bines planned for CREC's project in ACW, the company has another 6,000 acres in the Kingston area for a wind energy pro- ject. Wind towers vary in height between 90-115 metres high. Blades can be up to 40 metres long and a rule of thumb is to have one wind turbine per acre of land. Each turbine can produce 1.8 to 2 megawatts. Towers are erected at least 200 metres from any residence and all power lines are buried. The key, of course, is using land with reliable wind, and Cook said wind in Alberta is better for wind energy than in Ontario. The challenge with wind, he said, is you don't know when it will blow. Wind energy, while renewable and clean, is still expensive due to the cost of the towers. At most, Cook said, wind energy will only be able to provide 10-15 per cent of the electricity needed. "You'll never build an energy system just on wind," he said. While there is optimism for the poten- tial of wind energy, Cook said not every- one likes seeing the large towers: some people complain they are ugly, they're noisy and they kill birds. New designs have made the blades qui- eter, Cook explained, adding that on real- ly windy days, the noise of the wind usu- ally exceeds the noise of the blades turn- ing. On average, each tower kills about one bird per year. Cook also explained the towers would get better wind if installed in Lake Huron rather than on the shoreline, but he joked if cottagers don't like seeing wind towers on land, they definitely wouldn't like seeing them in the lake. "We're in the infancy of this industry," he said of wind energy, adding another wind farm site in Ontario will be announced within a couple of weeks. Cook also spoke of fuels like methanol and ethanol. He said methanol is a fuel coming to the forefront because of the growing hydrogen economy. He said car- bon fuels will eventually be left behind, but that's at least 50 years away. Cook said fuel cells will eventually replace lead batteries in items such as laptop computers and cell phones. Fuel cells, which Cook described as black boxes that generate electricity from a fuel, are better for the environment and more efficient. "It's a little chemical engine," he said. He also spoke of TCI's development that produces methanol in a way that absorbs carbon dioxide instead of releasing it into the air. like you can on the stock market. "You have to keep feed- ing this stock," he said. He said there has been no compensation for dead stock removal services and this could lead to environ- mental problems if people start digging holes and burying dead stock them- selves. He said there is also a problem with cull cows, since they are not being butchered. Schellenberger said his party has promoted a depopulation program which would eliminate some of the excess stock. He also said he believes packing companies have been less than forthright about their position, adding they were included in the first government aid package, which allowed them to collect $260 mil- lion in compensation. He said a forensic audit is needed to get to the bot- tom of why producers were losing $1,000 a head at market. "The whole system has to be looked at," he said. Schellenberger said he sits on the fisheries and oceans committee and is aware of the problem farmers are facing with the issue of restricting livestock access to rivers. Recently the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada handed out notices to farmers warning them to comply to fencing stan- dards or face huge Imes and consequences. Schellenberger said farmers need an extended period to deal with the warnings and the govern- ment departments involved should realize what the potential loss of pasture land could mean to some farmers. Coun. Paul Hodgins said Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority representatives who attended a council meet- ing last month told council farms were randomly inspected in the watershed and 80 per cent of those farms passed the inspec- tions. Lucan Irish Six Members of the 1953-54 Lucan Irish Six All -Ontario Intermediate 'C' champi- ons wrote Lucan Biddulph council requesting a dona- tion towards a reunion planned in honour of the 50th anniversary of the team's win. After discussing past practice on donating to groups such as this, Coun. Doug Anderson made a motion stating council was not willing to contribute financially, but members would be available to assist at a dinner and dance in the form of tasks such as bartending. The motion was carried. Granton motocross An appeal has been made to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) on the temporary zoning bylaw for the Granton motocross. The appeal was launched by eight neighbouring households. Council was informed of the appeal in a letter which also said a sched- uled race April 18 would be a violation of current zoning. Administrator Ron Reymer said the Garrett family will be informed they cannot hold any scheduled races until a decision is made by the OMB. He said the process could take months, so there probably won't be any races this season. Connex comes to the Web By Mary Simmons TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF VARNA — There's a new local busi- ness on the World Wide Web which gives everyone the ability to view and book appointments on the Internet. For example, you can now go online to www.bookappointment.ca and book ice time at the South Huron Rec Centre. Connex, an online booking service, is the new business venture of Ron and Adam Keys. The father and son duo came up with the business idea two years ago. Since then Adam has put the site together and it was launched in February. So far, the service includes bookings with the South Huron Rec Centre, the Stephen arena and Keys Investment Service, but the potential is also there for everything from hotel and restaurant reservations to booking a disc jockey. "As new businesses are added, it will give you the ability to make multiple appointments 24 hours a day," said Ron. The service is free to the public and is open to interested businesses for a monthly fee as low as $12. When logging on to the site, customers are directed to pick a location, service type and service provider. They must then fill in a request form. Appointments are not final until they are confirmed. 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