Bluewater residents are invited to the Stanley Community Complex in Varna on Tuesday, July 25, to voice their questions, comments, and concerns on Bedrock Energy Corporation's proposed Compressed Air Storage Facility.
The open house takes place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the complex located at 38572 Mill Road, Varna.
"The open house has two main purposes," said Tanya Mackie, director of project management for Bedrock. "One is for the community to meet with us, both members from Bedrock and our environmental consultant, Stantec, will be present. They can ask us questions and there will also be a feedback form to take away so if something comes up later, they can send it back to us."
The other reason for the open house is a notice of commencement, as the company begins the environmental assessment.
"That is the public Ministry of Environment's notice the commencement initiating our environmental assessments," said Mackie. "One of those items to go on with an environmental assessment is a public open house. That's a big reason why Stantec is there as well."
Resident's feedback from the open house will be public record. After the open house, Mackie said the assessment consists of studies for habitat, waterways, archaeological reviews and noise assessments.
"That all gets put into an environmental study report that eventually goes to the Ministry of Environment for that environmental assessment," Mackie noted.
The assessment looks to see if the project is safe, which is the only way to proceed.
"It's Bedrock's goal and desire to be a partner in this community," added Mackie. "We encourage community members to be there, we want to meet them. They can ask questions, get some more information on the project if they're not quite sure about some items. We want to hear feedback to help us with future planning and future public consultations."
Bill Whetstone, Bayfield councillor, urges residents to attend.
"Everybody needs to have a clear understanding of what this will bring to our municipality, what changes will be occurring," said Whetstone. "That's why we as a council need to hear from the residents. They need to make sure they're educated as to what the project is all about."
Whetstone said council is looking for feedback from the public, so they can use that to help them make an educated decision on if the project should go ahead on Goshen Line or not.
Based off of the unknowns still felt by Bluewater residents, he believes there will be a lot of questions.
"Depending on the direction and where it goes, there may be a lot of questions on the overall project still," he said. "I know this is more focused on the environmental side of things, but I'm hoping that what will happen is they'll maybe back up a little bit just so people have an overview again of what the whole project is about."
He hopes when residents leave, they have a sound understanding of what's going on within in their municipality and if it goes ahead, what it could mean overall and for the environment.
When residents leave, Whetstone hopes those who have comments and concerns directs them towards Bluewater council and Bedrock.
"Anytime the residents have any concerns, I do hope they write their municipal board representative, or all of council, with their concerns and make sure they're sending letters to Bedrock," he said. "Bedrock is open to receiving those letters and as far as I know, they will answer every comment they are sent."
Council has requested that they receive copies of any correspondence sent to Bedrock from Bluewater residents as well.
"The biggest thing is we need our residents to be open, whether it's positive or negative to the project," said Whetstone. "Then we can figure out where we go from there because it's a major project and there are some benefits and there will obviously be some negative aspects at the same time."
As of right now, this is the only public meeting scheduled. But, Mackie confirmed there will be more for further environmental assessments by Hydro One, as well as public consultation periods for the applications for licenses and drilling permits.
Whetstone suggests anyone who would like to know what's happening with Bedrock's proposed Compressed Air Storage Facility to sign up with your email for updates, which you can find at the very bottom of its website.