THE BAPE WILL INFORM THE PUBLIC AT CLORIDORME ON JUNE 18^th 2008

Québec, June 4^th 2008 – The Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) is holding an information session on the Projet de parc éolien de Montagne Sèche sur le territoire de la Municipalité de Petite-Vallée et de la Municipalité du canton de Cloridorme par Cartier Énergie Éolienne inc. This session, which the proponent will be attending, will be hosted by a representative of the BAPE and will be held on June 18^th 2008, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at the gymnasium of school Notre-Dame de Cloridorme, 535, route 132 in Cloridorme. The purpose of the information session is to allow citizens to obtain information on the project, the environmental impact assessment study and review procedure, the public consultation process, as well as the role of the BAPE. This information session is being held as part of the mandate entrusted to the BAPE by Madam Line Beauchamp, Minister of Développement durable, Environnement et Parcs. The BAPE must make available to the public the impact assessment study and entire file related to the project. The public information and consultation period begins today June 4th and will end on July 19^th 2008.

It is during this 45-day period that citizens, groups, municipalities or organizations can submit a request for public hearing to the Minister of Développement durable, Environnement et Parcs. If necessary, a commission of the BAPE could be mandated to make inquiry on the project and to consult the public on this subject.

WHERE CAN THE PROJECT DOCUMENTATION BE CONSULTED?

Citizens can learn more about the project by consulting the impact assessment study prepared by the proponent and the other documents describing the project and, among other things, its repercussions on the environment. Starting today and until July 19^th 2008, these documents can be consulted at the following locations:

The entire file is also available at the BAPE office in Québec, 575, rue Saint-Amable, bureau 2.10, at Bibliothèque centrale de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, Pavillon Hubert-Aquin, 1255, rue Saint-Denis, local A-M100, as well as on the BAPE website at www.bape.gouv.qc.ca, under the heading “Mandats en cours”.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CITIZENS?

Citizens are invited to examine the file, to act as experts in their community by underscoring the issues related to the project, to ask questions during the information session, and to record their comments in the registers opened for this purpose at the consultation centres.

WHAT RIGHTS DO CITIZENS HAVE?

Any person, group, organization or municipality wishing a public discussion and evaluation of the project may submit a request for public hearing during the public information and consultation period. This request must be sent in writing no later than July 19^th 2008 to Madam Line Beauchamp, Minister of Développement durable, Environnement et Parcs, 675, boulevard René-Lévesque Est, 30^e étage, Québec (Québec) G1R 5V7. The applicant must indicate the reasons for his request and his interest in relation to the milieu affected by the project.

WHAT IS THE BAPE?

The BAPE is a public information and consultation body that allows citizens to express themselves on a project and to intervene in the decision-making process leading to the authorization or denial of a project. The BAPE carries out the mandates that it receives from the Minister of Développement durable, Environnement et Parcs, notably the public information and consultation mandate lasting 45 days and the public hearing mandate lasting a maximum of 4 months.

Persons wishing to obtain more information can get in touch with Louise Bourdages at 418 643-7447 or toll-free, at 1 800 463-4732 extension 532, or by e-mail at the following address: eolien-montagne-seche@bape.gouv.qc.ca.

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Source: Marielle Jean, communications advisor

TECHNICAL SHEET

THE PROJECT

Cartier Énergie Éolienne inc. is planning to build a wind turbine farm on lands in the domain of the State of Petite-Vallée and Cloridorme in the RCM of La Côte-de-Gaspé. This project was chosen during the first call for tenders of Hydro-Québec Distribution held in 2003. With a rated capacity of 58.5 MW, the park would include 39 wind turbines, each having a capacity of 1.5 MW, namely 16 in Petite-Vallée and 23 in Cloridorme.

The construction of the wind turbine park includes the clearing and stripping of a portion of the surface soils, the construction and improvement of the access roads, the installation of aerial and underground power transmission lines and wind measurement masts as well as the construction of the connection substation and the 230 kV power transmission line linking the wind turbine park to Hydro-Québec’s transmission network. The project’s operating phase is slated to last twenty years. At the end of this contract and if it is not renewed, the project would be dismantled and the site restored. The laying out and construction of the wind turbine park would extend over a period of approximately one year.

The work would begin in 2010 and the commissioning of the wind turbine park would be in December 2011. The cost of the project is evaluated at approximately $83 million.

THE REPERCUSSIONS ANTICIPATED BY THE PROPONENT AND THE MITIGATION MEASURES PROPOSED IN THE IMPACT STUDY

The project would require the clearing of 98.2 ha, namely 5.6% of the forested surface area of the wind turbine project, located in softwood-dominated stands. Given the composition of the forest stands and the fact that the surface area used to build the infrastructures would be reduced to the necessary minimum, the impact is considered low by the proponent. However, this clearing work would cause birds to abandon habitats located near the facilities and infrastructures and would deprive bats of numerous shelters. The proponent plans to reforest the surface areas used at the end of the dismantlement phase. As for the sound climate, the park would be configured in such a way as to ensure that no individuals outside the dwellings would perceive more than 40 dB (A), since a distance of more than 500 m would be maintained between the dwellings and the wind turbines. Turning to the visual impacts, the wind turbines would only be partially visible from a distance and in small number in relation to the few viewpoints affected. An environmental monitoring program would be prepared and implemented for, among other things, avian wildlife, bats, the sound climate and the landscape.

To reduce the repercussions of the work, notably on surface water, and to limit the repercussions on the fish habitat, no watercourse crossing point would be set up within 50 m upstream of a spawning ground and all government road construction and culvert installation standards would be adhered to. In addition, the underground transmission lines that would cross watercourses would be buried in fill above the culvert wherever possible. As for the groundwater, it would not be affected by the construction work according to the proponent.

Some mitigation measures would be implemented concerning the use of the territory, such as the relocation of certain segments of snowmobile and ATV trails and the suspension of work during the week of moose hunting. Measures would also be taken to make sure that residents and vacationers can have access to their chalets/cabins at all times.

The project would have positive regional repercussions at the socioeconomic level as, according to the conditions of the call for tenders, 60% of the project’s global costs will have to be spent in the RCM of Matane and in the administrative region of Gaspésie-Île-de-la-Madeleine. During the construction phase, more than 150 jobs would be created in the immediate Gaspésie region and 6 permanent jobs would remain for the entire operating period of the wind turbine park. The turbine supplier chosen by the proponent would rely on two wind turbine component production plants in the Gaspésie region. The nacelles and the towers would be built in Matane, and the blades in Gaspé. Local contractors would also be involved in the construction and dismantlement phases.