"HDI Deal with NextEra is Information for Haudenosaunee"

A deal reached between NextEra Energy Canada and the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) for the Summerhaven wind farm being constructed in Haldimand County is something that only Haudenosaunee members can know, said HDI lawyer and board director Aaron Detlor.

"It's not a confidential agreement to any Haudenosaunee citizen," said Aaron Detlor. "The provisions of the agreement." However, when asked when the rest of the public would know the arrangements reached between HDI and NextEra, Detlor said the agreement "will never be revealed to non-Haudenosaunee people."

Six Nations Elected Council has been looking for community input on the deal it has worked out with NextEra for the same wind farm, hosting four community information sessions. If Elected Council accepts the deal, it will be another stream of revenue for the community over the next twenty years that is independent of provincial and federal funding.

If approved, Six Nations will receive $8.7 million over a twenty-year period, with an additional amount of money ear-marked for education and money dedicated to monitoring the impacts of the turbines on the deer and eagle populations.

The deal with Elected Council is out in the open, but you have to be Haudenosaunee to know what deal HDI has brokered with NextEra, which was apparently approved by Confederacy Chiefs. What is known thus far, as reported at the May Confederacy Chiefs Council is that NextEra Energy will give HDI 500 acres of land and an unknown amount of financial compensation. NextEra is renting the land for the Summerhaven turbines and infrastructure.

In the meanwhile, NextEra says the construction of Summerhaven is providing 300 jobs to area residents.

"As large as this project is, it's just one of many renewable projects underway in the area," said Ben Greenhouse, director of Development for NextEra Energy Canada. "Wind projects like Summerhaven are creating new economic opportunities all across the province."

NextEra has reported that the eagles, whose nest was cut down in January to make way for a Summerhaven wind turbine and access road, have not only taken up residence in a replacement nest the company erected; it is believed the pair are now raising an unknown number of eaglets