Joanne McCann loves the peace and quiet her home on Goshen Line near Bayfield, Ont., provides, which is why she is losing sleep about a proposed project that would turn the land across from her property into an industrial energy complex. “I want to sit on my front porch and listen to the birds, not hear compressors in the background,” she said. McCann and many of her neighbours are fighting plans to build a Compressed Air Energy Storage System on 120 acres of farmland between Bayfield and Varna. Bedrock Energy Corp. and Capstone Infrastructure are proposing to convert two underground caverns that used to hold natural gas into energy storage caverns, to hold energy from the grid during off-peak hours when demand is low, and then release it back to the grid when demand is high. “These are about 400 million years old and were used for gas production. They had gas in them. We extracted that gas since the 50s, I believe, and there’s not been one recorded leak. So, the actual material itself in the medium, as opposed to, say, a salt cavern, is much more durable, it’s stronger,” said Bedrock Energy Corp. CEO Stephen Sanguiliano. There is a Compressed Air Energy Storage System using a salt cavern currently operational in Goderich, but it is much, much smaller than this proposed project near Bayfield. “It’s the first time they’ve ever used or tried to use expelled gas caverns to compress, and it will be the largest one in the world if it actually goes through and gets built,” said Ken Van Wonderen, who would live right next door to the proposed project. Noise, water pollution, and loss of prime farmland are some of the residents’ main concerns about the proposed project. “Ninety-five per cent of Ontario is not good, fertile farmland. So, why are we building these industrial plants on the five per cent of agricultural land that is productive?” questioned Brenda Cositt, who would live close to the proposed project. “It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Bedrock says the proximity to the depleted natural gas caverns and electrical transmission lines make the 120-acre Goshen Line location ideal. “We do see it as a small footprint, but we can recognize it is still making use of some farmland,” said Tanya Mackie, project management lead for Bedrock Energy Corp. Concerned residents say the project will also require kilometres of pipe through farmers fields to move the compressed energy between the caverns, transmission lines, and 120-acre above-ground facility. “If something this size can move in here so quick and easy, what’s to say another one’s not going to happen 10 minutes down the road?” asked Richelle Maize, who also would live right next door the proposed project. She warns of more projects like this, with many depleted natural gas caverns throughout Southwestern Ontario. The proposed project will be a hot topic at Monday’s Municipality of Bluewater council meeting. A decision on whether the project moves forward or not could come as early as Aug. 13, during a special meeting of Bluewater council. “So, really, what we’re seeking with the Municipal Support Resolution is to give us the nod to try to bring this project further,” said Sanguiliano. “But you aren’t committing necessarily to something that isn’t going to be further investigated. Very much so, in fact.” Bedrock says if the project does move forward and get all approvals, construction could begin by 2029-2030 and be operational by 2032. McCann hopes it never gets built. “The generations to come are going to be impacted by this monstrosity, and it’s not fair,” she said. “It’s not the place to put this. Honestly, I’m not against technology, but this is definitely not the place for this to be, in the middle of a cornfield.” “I have complete faith that they (Bluewater council) are going to make the right decision because the constituents of Bluewater have written their letters, they’ve let their thoughts be known,” Consitt added. “I believe that our elected officials are going to look at those letters and come up with the right decision in the next few days, and we’ll put this in the past.”
