Better Plan, Wisconsin

COUNTY TO HOLD HEARINGS ON WIND FARM REGULATIONS

By John Reynolds,

VIA The State Journal-Register, www.sj-r.com

January 22, 2012

“We intend to use between 1,800 to 2,000 feet,” Nickell said. “Essentially, they could go from 1,000 feet to 1,800 or 2,000 feet and in our eyes, it wouldn’t change the way we are going to lay out the wind farm.”

Sangamon County’s zoning rules allow large wind turbines within 1,000 feet of a house.

For some people, that’s too close.

As a result, Sangamon County is considering a moratorium on wind turbines that could last up to nine months. County officials want to use that time to hold public hearings and find out what area residents want, and whether the zoning rules need to be changed.

Board member Tim Moore, chair of the county’s Public Health, Safety and Zoning Committee, said the county’s zoning code contains setbacks for wind turbines, which state how far away they have to be from a property line or house. The current rule calls for a large wind turbine to be at least 1,000 feet from a house or three times the diameter of the rotors, whichever is greater.

“Setbacks are probably the principal reason we are having the moratorium,” he said. “It gives us a chance to look at setbacks as they appear in the code right now, versus what some of the citizens have proposed.”

The county board is to vote on the moratorium Tuesday. If the issue passes, the county would then schedule a series of public hearings.

Wind turbines could be 480 feet tall

While no wind farm proposals are in front of the county board now, American Wind Energy Management is planning a wind farm in western Sangamon County.

The wind farm would be built in phases within an area bounded by the Morgan County line to the west, Illinois 125 to the north and Illinois 104 to the south. The eastern boundary would run from about a mile west of Farmingdale Road on the north and continue south along an approximate extension of that road to Illinois 104.

Chris Nickell, vice president for site establishment for American Wind Energy Management, said the company is in the process of closing the land sign-up process for property north of Old Jacksonville Road, which includes the first phase of the project.

“I’d estimate we have around 25,000 acres signed up for this project, which is plenty for us to move forward,” Nickell said.

The company hasn’t selected the exact turbines for the wind farm, but the most likely candidate is a model that is 480 to 490 feet tall.

“Essentially, they stay below 500 feet because of FAA regulations,” Nickell said. “The newest turbines on the market that are the most efficient for this kind of project are around 480 to 490 feet tall.”

Deeper setbacks

As far as the setbacks go, Nickell said the company planned to exceed the minimum 1,000 feet all along.

“We intend to use between 1,800 to 2,000 feet,” Nickell said. “Essentially, they could go from 1,000 feet to 1,800 or 2,000 feet and in our eyes, it wouldn’t change the way we are going to lay out the wind farm.”

American Wind energy doesn’t expect to have its application ready for the county during the nine months of the proposed moratorium, Nickell added. As long as there aren’t any dramatic changes in the county’s code, the company expects to submit an application by the end of the year.

“As long as the changes are minor, we don’t expect them to impact us,” Nickell said.

If everything goes smoothly, work could begin by late 2013 or early 2014.

While setbacks are expected to be the main issue during any public hearings, Moore said he also expects to hear from people concerned about wildlife, noise issues and the overall aesthetics of a possible wind farm.

Tuesday’s county board meeting begins at 7 p.m. It will be held in the board chamber on the second floor of the Sangamon County building at Ninth and Monroe streets.

From Ontario

NO MORE TURBINES IN ONTARIO: FARMERS

By Vicki Gough 

Via www.nugget.ca

January 22, 2012

Ontario's largest rural voice is blowing back on industrial wind turbine development.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) released a position paper Friday calling for a moratorium on any further construction of the energy-generating giants emerging across the land-scape.

We are hearing very clearly from our members that the wind turbine situation is coming to a head -- seriously dividing rural communities and even jeopardizing farm succession planning," said OFA president Mark Wales.

The OFA's new position statement addresses concern over the price paid for wind power, inefficiencies and a lack of storage capabilities for use during times of peak demand.

Setback issues, health and nuisance issues, and the removal of municipal input from industrial wind turbine projects round out the anxieties.

I support what they're doing," Kent Federation of Agriculture president Louis Roesch told The Chatham Daily News Friday.

However, the owner of Roesch Meats and More, near Kent Bridge, added: We have not had that much of a problem in this area."

Not everybody is 100% satisfied, Roesch said, but everybody seemed to be able to come together with some kind of a conclusion that they're happy with, other than the one in Thamesville."

Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls told The Daily News he's pleased to learn of the OFA's stance.

These wind turbines are not efficient," Nicholls said, adding they are wasting taxpayers money."

Chatham-Kent is slated to become home to over 400 wind turbines by 2013.

Nicholls said each one generates $7,200 in taxes for the municipality, but few jobs.

The Ontario government has paid $1.8 billion over the past six years to Quebec and the U.S. as we are forced to export our excess power," Nicholls said.

Ontarians have paid 16.2 cents per kilowatt hour to produce that power, according to Nicholls.

The MPP added that wind turbines are only 28% efficient, and the wind blows the strongest at night when extra power is not needed and can't be stored.

Nicholls said farmers are getting huge signing bonuses, plus $12,000 a year for every wind turbine leased on their property for 25 years.

Yet there are about 90 municipalities that don't want them, Nicholls claimed.

We believe the Green Energy Act needs to be amended," Nicholls said.

The OFA will present its position statement to the government later this month.

Video of eagles in footprint of proposed wind project, Goodhue County, Minnesota

DNR, U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE CRITICIZE GOODHUE COUNTY WIND PROJECT

By Brett Boese

via The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN, postbulletin.com

Jan 20, 2012,

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has set the public hearing Feb. 2 for the Avian and Bat Protection Plan associated with the AWA Goodhue wind project.

The news was released Friday, one day after the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed separate paperwork challenging or disputing portions of the 127-page ABPP.

Approval of the plan is the final permitting hurdle National Wind, the project developer, must clear before it can begin constructing the 78-megawatt project; it has targeted June to break ground. The process, which includes a legal appeal proceeding concurrently, has taken almost three years.

The bird-and-bat plan, which was finalized in December and is among the first of its kind, has become the latest target of criticism.

Concerns registered

A 12-page report by the USFWS and the five-page document from DNR that were posted to the PUC docket Thursday echo concerns that have been voiced for months by citizens, since Westwood Professional Services, the environmental agency hired by National Wind, identified no bald eagle activity within the project footprint in its initial report filed to the PUC in 2010.

“It’s almost like there might be a showdown between the DNR and (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife and Westwood,” said Rochester’s Mary Hartman, a project critic who has been the catalyst in identifying and verifying six to seven active bald eagle nests within the project footprint. “We were really well represented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the DNR. (It shows) our information was fair and accurate.”

Though officials from the DNR and USFWS did not return calls on Friday, both agencies appear to have issues with many of the plans and claims developed in National Wind’s document. For example, the plan specifically states that the USFWS has no recommendations for avoiding and minimizing impacts from wind turbines on bald eagle nests. In response, the service cited a 2003 guide that calls for a minimum two-mile setback from bald eagle nests and another document from 2007 that contains “explicit spatial buffer recommendations” around bald eagle nests and important eagle use areas.

Issues with eagles

Both agencies also took issue with how the ABPP used eagle baiting allegations to explain increased avian activity in the project footprint. National Wind claims its point count surveys have been “seriously compromised by an active baiting program being conducted by project opponents.” However, no landowner has been cited for baiting and the Minnesota Board of Animal Health has not drawn any correlation between carcass disposal and increased bald eagle activity.

“The service recommends AWA Wind analyzes the data they have collected, rather than attempt to extrapolate potential data,” wrote Tony Sullins, USFWS field supervisor.

Turbine shut downs were also recommended as a potential mitigation plan, while calls for clarification and more data were common — though bald eagle issues were most prevalent.

Across the United States, five bald eagle deaths have been reported in wind projects. The USFWS says information on those incidents cannot be shared because most are tied up in litigation.

It’s unclear if public comment will be allowed at the Feb. 2 PUC hearing. A PUC spokesman did not return calls on Friday.

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission meeting:  121 E. Seventh Place, Suite 350, St. Paul, 9:30 a.m. Feb. 2.

From California

SCAM WATCH

Via the LA Times:

Wind energy – A Carson man has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for bilking investors out of more than $1 million by making numerous false statements about a wind-energy business he said he operated.

James A. Rivera, 42, told victims that his companies, Apostles Inc. and Almighty Wind Inc., would market wind turbines and that the Nigerian government had agreed to place a $1-billion order.

In reality, there was no such order and the companies never sold any turbines. Rivera also failed to disclose to investors that he had eight prior criminal convictions, including five for fraud.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY RELEASES NEW WIND SPEED MAP

Click here to go to view interactive national map at Department of Energy Website