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Family files wind farm complaint

By Megan Sheridan, Capital Newspapers

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

OAKFIELD - A former Town of LeRoy family has filed a formal complaint April 1 with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission against Invenergy, a Chicago based energy company that owns the Forward Wind Energy Center located in Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties.

Jason and Ann Wirtz and their four children used to reside in a home on Highway YY in the town of LeRoy that was situated within the FWEC. According to the complaint, the Wirtzes suffered both physical and financial hardships from living near the wind turbines.

"The Wirtzes were forced out of their home by the noise and vibration of the wind turbines," said Edward Marion, the family's lawyer. "So, they lost all the money in their house, and they lost the value of their livestock, which is a herd of alpacas."

The Wirtzes bought their home in 1997, before the wind farm was built, and began renovations and started breeding alpacas. According to the complaint, once the turbines began running, the family began developing health problems ranging from headaches and fatigue to intestinal and anxiety issues.

The nearest turbine was located 1,250 feet from the home and was even closer to the pole shed in which the alpacas were housed. None of the turbines was on the Wirtzes' property.

"The noise echoed through the shed like the sound of jet engines," the complaint states. "Baby alpacas had always come full term. After the FWEC began operating, two baby alpacas aborted, and one was stillborn," Ann said.

The family attempted to sell their home in 2006, but most real estate agents did not want to list it. Because they could no longer stand living there and could not afford owning two homes, the Wirtzes filed for bankruptcy in September 2009 and moved to Oakfield.

"What they're trying to do now is to recover, from the company that runs the wind power plant, the money that they lost for their property and also the damage to their health while they lived there," Marion said. "We haven't asked for a specific amount of money."

Invenergy is aware of the complaint but was not able to comment on the specifics. But the company said there is no correlation between the turbines and any impact on health.

"There's been a lot of research and analysis of health effects with wind turbines. Most of the studies are pretty clear there is no connection," said Will Borders, deputy general counsel for Invenergy.

For the FWEC, the allowed decibel range is 50 during the day and 45 at night. According to the Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects Expert Panel Review, 50 decibels is about the same noise that someone would hear from light auto traffic 50 feet away.

A study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health connects adverse health effects to wind turbine operations.

According to the WPSC's administration code, Invenergy has 20 days to respond to the complaint and the commission has 60 days to decide what to do with the complaint.



Better Plan will be posting video and providing selected transcripts of the WSC meetings as time permits.

Click on the image below to watch the first Wind Siting Council Meeting held at the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. A timeline is for this video along with a transcript of PSC Chairman Callisto's opening remarks are provided below.

PART ONE

The first Wind Siting Council meeting at the Public Service Commission was held on March 29, 2010.

Timeline:

0:00 Opening remarks by Eric Callisto
2:04 Introduction of Elizabeth Hanigan, Foley lawyer working pro bono,
2:55 Dan Ebert introductory remarks

Introductions from PSC Staff:

6:08 Dan Sage
6:26 Deborah Erwin
6:53 John Lorance
7:07 Joyce Dingman
7:29 Nate Zolik
8:08 Dan Ebert speaks about the handout
8:57 Dan Sage on open meeting protocol

TRANSCRIPT OF CHAIRMAN CALLISTO'S OPENING REMARKS:

Eric Callisto: I’m just going to be here a few minutes to say hi, wish you all well, and then I’ll let you get at it.

 Couple of quick things. First and foremost thank you for your commitment, this is a major undertaking and no small commitment of your time and the commission’s time, obviously, but these are important processes.

 This is probably--- and I say this in a room full of energy people, -- with telecom guys I would probably say something different—this is probably the most important rule-making we have going right now, some on the telecom side as well, for the obvious reasons.

 This a very important issue for the state and I think the statute gets us going in the right direction but as we all know the statute is sort of the framework for these kind of processes, the real detail comes in the rule making. And this advisory council I think is going to provide an important part of that level of detail.

 Before I came to the commission I worked in the department of regulation and licensing an agency that has a very collaborative process between the agency and assisting advisory boards. I’d like to think we can use a similar model here. I really hope we can get to a place of concensus from the council.

  I recognize that’s asking a lot. We have by design very disparate points of view on the council. I think ultimately that cauldron of dialog and approaches to this issue will make the rule a better rule. I know a lot of you have very strong views on what’s the right way to go on this, I encourage you to express those views but I also encourage you to work towards a final solution.

 It’s very helpful to the commission as we take this rule up if we can get from this council what amounts to a concensus point of view. I know that’s a high hurdle to set but I’m going to set it up here at the front end. 

 Again, thank you very much. I do want to note that Elizabeth Hanigan—she’s here – Elizabeth is a Foley lawyer who has offered to do some pro-bono work for the group, she has worked on all sides of this issue with various clients so she’ll be able to help in a scrivener context and I just encourage the council to turn to her as needed for that type of work.

 So again, thank you for your time, for your devotion to this important topic and I wish best success. We’re going to get this done hopefully by July so it’s a very quick timeframe. So please [inaudible], Thank you.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH MORE





Couldn't be there for the Wind Siting Council Meeting at the PSC?

Now you can watch it! Entire Video of the WSC meeting APRIL 7 2010 is posted on YouTube in ten minute segments.

Click on the links below to watch.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17