Municipality Blasts AUC Decision

Alberta had been, to that point, one of the most sought after provinces for so-called “green” projects due to its deregulated electricity market. Suddenly, rural Albertans found themselves ground zero for massive industrial solar and wind projects that have bitterly divided communities.

This has happened so fast … there’s wind turbines going down in Vulcan County that are taller than the Calgary Tower.

Paul McLauchlin, President of Rural Municipalities of Alberta,  The Western Producer, December 22, 2022

Suddenly, generational farmers and acreage owners have found their country viewscapes and silence violently interrupted by continuous construction, disrupted roads, massive structures, and silent evenings invaded by wooshing turbine blades.

In a resolution passed at the United Conservative Party’s November 9th, 2022 convention, it noted that the AUC’s approval process for renewable energy projects on private land “has little to no regard for the rural municipalities’ statutory plans, or requirement for consultation with the municipalities.”² Thus, Premier Danielle Smith and her Minister of Affordability and Utilities, Nathan Neudorf, emerged from the pause saying that municipalities now have the right to intervene in AUC hearings and be refunded their costs. The AUC would have to justify to the public why, for instance, they would completely ignore municipal interests and the will of the people, as they have done in the past.

Ignored — Again

Fast forward to the most recent decision on industrial wind made by the AUC in 2025 — the approval of the Willow Ridge Wind Project by historic Fort Macleod — despite the protests of the community and municipality. It is perhaps the first test case on industrial wind since the pause as to whether the AUC, an independent regulatory body, is actually listening to communities, or continuing to run roughshod over rural taxpayers.

In a letter to the AUC on behalf of the Council of the M.D. of Willow Creek, Reeve Maryanne V. Sandberg rebuked the AUC for granting approval based on “purely technical criteria in its evaluation of the suitability of renewable projects.” She noted that there is also no “technical, legal, or jurisdictional reasons that can be cited to support an appeal.” In other words, the AUC is the unelected “Supreme Court” of Alberta’s energy decisions — something that doesn’t sit well with the victims of massive industrial wind turbines.

At least 54 residents are directly affected within a two-kilometre radius of the project.³

According to one resident who contacted Wind Concerns, the nearest turbine will be within 500 meters of a an inhabited dwelling. But as a Norwegian study has noted, people living as far away as 15km from these massive turbines have experienced health issues.⁴

Sandberg goes on to say that “the extreme dissatisfaction of the community and its residents was not taken fully into account by the AUC” in the evaluation of the wind project, and that the regulator “did not apply the public interest test correctly.”

Across the MD of Willow Creek and indeed, across the Province of Alberta, there is an increasing opposition to renewable energy projects.

Reeve Maryanne V. Sandberg, letter to the AUC, June 2, 2025

Paul McLauchlin, President of Rural Municipalities of Alberta, warned prior that, “It’s getting serious. People are really upset. It’s tearing communities apart.”⁵

Sandberg goes on to assert that projects such as electrical generation and transmission cannot proceed forward only with the consent of government regulators. “There must be a consideration of social license whereby there is a measure of acceptance, approval and moral consent that a project and company receive/s from stakeholders that includes affected landowners, the community at large and municipalities.”

Of course, the AUC simply states that these projects must move forward “in the best interests of the public.” But that’s false. Alberta is sitting on a near-endless supply of inexpensive natural gas, which burns cleanly, and can more than handle the province’s growing power needs. Of course, that conflicts with the ideologically driven green agenda of Ottawa, and their global partnerships.⁶ It’s this push for unreliable “renewable energy” that is, in fact, destroying municipalities’ trust in the AUC, a regulator whom Sandberg says is now at a “crossroads” for its seemingly utter disregard for community stakeholders.

Communities are established, maintained and flourish in an environment of collaboration and trust. Increasingly, the divisive nature of renewable projects has proven to divide lifelong friendships, family relationships and the unity of communities. Technical evaluation criteria developed and tested through legal means belies the ongoing failure of these decisions at an interpersonal and community level.

Reeve Maryanne V. Sandberg, letter to the AUC, June 2, 2025

Sandberg and her M.D.’s Council, despite lack of recourse to appeal, are asking the AUC to reconsider their decision. Her letter was copied to MLA Chelsae Petrovick and Minister of Affordability and Utilities, Nathan Neudorf. See the full text below:

1. cf. Alberta Government Puts on the Brakes[↩]
2. Red Deer Advocate[↩]
3. Macleod Gazette, February 8, 2023[↩]
4. cf. Turbine Sickness – How Far Away is Safe?[↩]
5. The Western Producer, December 22, 2022[↩]
6. cf. Carney… Finishing Trudeau’s Carnage[↩]