Province's decision to run access road through wetland frustrates some in eastern P.E.I.

A former watershed co-ordinator says it's "disgusting" that the provincial government went ahead with building an access road through a wetland in eastern P.E.I.

The P.E.I. Energy Corporation is building a new wind farm in Eastern Kings, northeast of Souris. Officials confirmed that about a hectare of wetland was discovered during the construction of an access road to the development site.

Fred Cheverie, who worked for 20 years as a wetland co-ordinator in the Souris area, said the province shouldn't have been surprised about the discovery.

"They shouldn't have been shocked. They were told by the locals at public meetings [that] this area's extremely wet," he said."They're destroying wetlands, they're destroying old-growth forests, and they're doing that for money."

Work on the wind farm project was halted in July after the wetland was discovered.

People in the area said they had warned provincial officials there was a wetland along the access route that had been missed during surveys done in 2019.

Eastern Kings resident Dan Humphrey told CBC News in Julythat a pond with bulrushes was found during a hike at the site in 2021.

Following the work stoppage this summer, the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action determined that rerouting the access road would have damaged other wetlands and meant the loss of more forest.

Instead, officials decided to provide about $151,000 in compensation through the wetland compensation fund, something that's allowed under P.E.I.'s wetland policy if the government determines that a loss can't be prevented.

"It was decided to minimize any further environmental disturbance and keep the access road where it currently exists with a total footprint of 1.5 acres. The remaining acre will be free to return to its natural state," the department said in a statement to CBC News.

But Cheverie doubts whether that 1.5 acres in Eastern Kings will ever recover.

"Once you go in and you do destruction, you really can't get that back," he said. "It's kind of like your hearing. Whenever you lose it, it's gone, there's not much you can do to bring that back."

'Whatever it is, they'll sign off on it'

Humphrey told CBCNews in July that he feels the situation is riddled with conflict, given that P.E.I.'s environment minister also holds the energy portfolio, and is thus responsible for the wind farm development.

Until last week, when he was shuffled out of the portfolio by Premier Dennis King, that minister was Steven Myers. Gilles Arsenault is now the province's minister of environment, energy and climate action.

Regardless of who the minister is, Cheverie agrees with Humphrey that the government is applying its permitting rules more loosely for itself than it does for regular Islanders.

"It seems to be that the Department of Environment has just signed over everything to the P.E.I. Energy Corporation," Cheverie said. "In other words, whenever [it] becomes an environmental issue, whatever it is, [they'll] sign off on it because this wind farm has to go through.

"Which, to me, is totally disgusting."