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<\/p>\nDon Bourassa says a proposed wind farm near his home in southeast Saskatchewan has ruined relationships in his community \u2014 to the point where he feels he has been bullied.<\/p>\n
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A resident of the Rural Municipality of Weyburn, Bourassa said one of his neighbours approached him about buying his property to keep him quiet on Enbridge\u2019s Seven Stars Energy Project.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants me out of there, to shut up,\u201d Bourassa said in an interview. \u201cThat\u2019s bullying and I\u2019m not falling for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s neighbours hating each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enbridge is planning to build the 200-megawatt facility near Weyburn, Sask., southeast of Regina, by late 2027. It would be one of the province\u2019s largest wind facilities, featuring 46 turbines capable of powering about 100,000 homes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also eight kilometres from Bourassa\u2019s acreage.<\/p>\n
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He said lines have been drawn between those who are getting money from the project and those who aren\u2019t. If it goes ahead, the wind farm would occupy some private property.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t buy these acreages to have these monsters come beside us,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t live here for 35 years to have a project like that dumped on us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents have recently packed town halls in the municipality, urging elected officials not to approve it. They argue it will harm their livelihoods and the surrounding environment.<\/p>\n
Kim Brady, another resident, said the project has pitted neighbours and relatives against one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t talk, they won\u2019t talk. It\u2019s not ever going to go away,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope (the province) sees how unhappy residents are and, hopefully, they are going to listen and stop this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Half of the turbines are to be located in the Rural Municipality of Weyburn, while the other half are to be in the Rural Municipality of Griffin. Weyburn has approved the project\u2019s development permit, but Griffin has not.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGlobal News at 5 Saskatoon: March 6\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Griffin has said it needs to receive documents on the project\u2019s environmental effects before it makes a decision.<\/p>\n
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Both municipalities declined interview requests on the project.<\/p>\n
Enbridge said in a statement it\u2019s continuing to address Griffin\u2019s questions. It has also filed its environmental impact statement, the company said.<\/p>\n
Bourassa said there\u2019s concern the turbines will be noisy, affect wildlife, become an eyesore and bring down property values. He also argues they\u2019re not as environmentally friendly as advertised, as they\u2019d require loads of raw material in order to be built.<\/p>\n
He said he also worries the oil used to lubricate the turbines\u2019 moving parts could leak into groundwater. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take that chance,\u201d Bourassa said.<\/p>\n
Brady said he\u2019s concerned about the light the turbines will emit at night when planes fly over. \u201cThese things are heavily subsidized \u2026 which is taxpayers\u2019 money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The province is providing a $100-million loan guarantee to the project through the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation. Six First Nations communities and M\u00e9tis Nation-Saskatchewan are to receive the loan to acquire 30 per cent equity in the project.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan\u2019s government says it supports the farm.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It) will increase Indigenous participation in the economy, create jobs and add generation capacity to our power grid,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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The City of Weyburn, which is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Weyburn, also supports it.<\/p>\n
Mayor Jeff Richards said the project could be transformative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overwhelming majority of residents that I\u2019ve spoken with are in favour of the project,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re excited to see the investment in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enbridge said the project will bring in $4 million each year to the Weyburn area for 30 years. This includes tax revenues for rural municipalities, road upgrades and lease payments to landowners.<\/p>\n
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The company said lubricants for generators would be contained in oil-tight platforms. It also said no turbines would be built within permanent or semi-permanent wetlands or waterways.<\/p>\n
About 40 landowners are to receive payments from the project, but the compensation terms are confidential, the company said.<\/p>\n
In responding to residents\u2019 concerns, Enbridge said it plans to move turbines further away from homes. It\u2019s also to install lights that only turn on at night when aircraft are nearby. Noise levels also wouldn\u2019t exceed 40 decibels, or that of a \u201cquiet library,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for property value, please note that based on the current body of literature, our view is wind projects do not have a measurable negative effect on rural property prices,\u201d Enbridge said.<\/p>\n
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Saskatchewan has recently seen two other large wind farms built over the past four years.<\/p>\n
A 200-megawatt Bekevar Wind Facility near Kipling, southeast of Regina, began operating two years ago. Southwest of Regina is a 200-megawatt farm built in 2022.<\/p>\n
James Husband, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Hazelwood, where the Bekevar project operates, said public opinion on the facility has been divisive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy opinion is all of the arguments against them are mostly just excuses for the fact that people don\u2019t like them politically,\u201d he said. \u201cAs far as the energy being renewable and clean energy, I think that\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said council chose to support the project because it would bring in large tax revenues.<\/p>\n
The facility is to provide $300,000 this year and about $600,000 in two years once the municipality starts collecting 100 per cent of the share, he said.<\/p>\n
The money will go toward better roads and improving recreation facilities, Husband added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these turbines comes federal money. Any way we can get the federal government to spend money in Saskatchewan is a positive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Canada Infrastructure Bank, a federal Crown corporation, spent $173 million on the facility and Ottawa has invested $50 million.<\/p>\n
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As for light and noise issues, Husband said it\u2019s minimal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I go out to check cows in the middle of the night, I\u2019ll see all the red lights blinking. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a big deal,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you stand right underneath them, there\u2019s a bit of noise, but not any more than the wind on a windy day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cBirds aren\u2019t dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patricia Jackson, mayor of Kipling, said the facility hasn\u2019t changed the way her community lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruthfully, I think what\u2019s happened is we\u2019ve got two sides that have become polarized,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody is prepared to sit down and listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don Bourassa says a proposed wind farm near his home in southeast Saskatchewan has ruined relationships in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,295,714,11423,27682,14237],"class_list":["post-567235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-politics","tag-prairies","tag-saskatchewan-news","tag-utilities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}