Bow Lake wind project. Who needs it? Do we know the risk?

Moore worries that the surveys are too flawed to yield accurate and reliable data.

The study needs to have impartial, third-party peer review before it should be accepted by the Ontario government, Moore said.

It's entirely possible the study has underestimated the environmental and social significance of the site, he said.

While his comments are limited to the bird study, he says, there there are more than 20 other studies on the DP Energy site as well.

If the bird study methods are significantly flawed, how reliable can the other studies be?

Together, these studies form DP Energy's submission to the Ontario government for renewable energy approvals.

The government may comment on it and send it back for more work, approve it or reject it.

If DP Energy is granted a renewable energy approval on the first phase of its Bow Lake project, it will then qualify for Ontario government feed-in tariff funding and be able to go ahead with that phase of the project.

As for the approximately 25-square-kilometre Bow Lake project, O'Donovan said, DP Energy has been in the area investigating the site, conducting surveys and doing impact assessments since late 2006 or early 2007.

The full results of those surveys and assessments, including possible impacts on bird, bat, moose, fish, plant and other native flora and fauna can be viewed at the DP Energy website for Bow Lake.

The total number of wind towers that will be put up on the land around Bow Lake will likely be around 36 but it is hard to pin down right now, said O'Donovan.

DP Energy has not yet decided whether it will use 1, 2, 2.5 or 3 MW capacity generators or how many of each it will use.

In the first phase of the project DP Energy plans to erect up to 12 turbines, said O'Donovan.

The next DP Energy open house, dealing with the second phase of the project, will be held on Thursday, April 28 at Algoma's Water Tower Inn in Sault Ste. Marie from 5 to 8 p.m.