Since the Nation municipality passed a bylaw prohibiting all large-scale renewable energy structures projects for the next year on Feb. 13, 2024, residents have reached out to the mayor and councillors to express their opinions on the ban.
Jérémie Brisson, a 26-year-old mechanical engineer for STL Engineering since 2020, reached out to Mayor Francis Brière on March 5 to express his concerns and how he finds it difficult to understand why the bylaw would be a good use of the Council’s time and public funds. He also mentions the importance of environmental responsibility and fighting climate change.
“We all live on earth,” said Brisson. “The earth is finite. There’s just a certain number of resources and if we live like North Americans and then have over 7 billion humans, it doesn’t work.”
The mayor has not answered Brisson’s email.
“We have the technologies we need to change our consumption and reduce our consumption, such as consuming fewer material goods and causing less pollution in general, which saves resources for everyone, saves money and improves everyone’s quality of life. It’s something I try to apply in my everyday life.
“Green energy projects like that are where we need to go in the future, and I find it sad that there aren’t more people pushing for them. And I find it sadder that there are people who oppose and make it difficult to achieve these things.”
When asked about the reasoning behind the decision, Councillor Tim Stewart replied that it is “as simple as the residents of The Nation have made it very clear to me, the mayor and the rest of council that they do not wish to host any large-scale renewable energy projects.”
Stewart refers back to 2015 when two private companies wanted to develop wind turbines projects in St-Isidore and St-Bernardin.
“We went through it in 2015 and tore the community apart. And I don’t know if the community has healed yet. So, we just want to be as sure as we can that that we’re not going to have to go through that again.”
Stewart said the through the ongoing process, he has gone door-to-door last fall when campaigning and was told by the residents of Ward 1 that they are for the interim bylaw and to make it permanent.
“We’re in the process of writing up a permanent bylaw and that will come out, I don’t know, sometime in the next year or so,” said Stewart.
