Better Plan, Wisconsin

Today's interview is with a registered nurse who talks about what it's been like to live in the Invenergy Wind Farm near the town of Byron in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin where she can see over 20 turbines from her home. The turbines went on line in March of 2008. For those whose internet connection isn't fast enough to watch this video, we've provided a transcript below.

SANDY VERCAUTEREN
Registered Nurse
Interview conducted near town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, WI
April of 2008

I don't call it a common sound. It's something you're very aware of and it shouldn't be there and what distresses me about it is you can't get away from it.
I've had somebody say to me, well, there's a lot of sounds [you can't get away from]-- trains-- I can hear the train when it goes through in Byron, -- airplanes-- what ever. But that comes and goes. It goes away. But this is something you cannot get away from and after awhile you have to really work on getting your head set so that it's you know,--OK I've got to live with this, it's there, it's not just going to go away-- and it doesn't go away. And it's very distressing at times.

Q: I wanted to ask you a question about hte effects on the local community. When you talk to your neighbors in the area what's the general consensus or the thoughts of the people in this area since this project has come into this area?

Well, I haven't talked to a lot people to be very honest, but the people that I have talked to who are having problems with the sound or the lights are very distressed about it and I do know of people who have put up their houses for sale, and I'm thinking along those lines myself. I'm very concerned.
This was my retirement and I'm not sure what I can get for this property now. I'm sitting back here with turbines on three sides of my house, noise, lights all over , and on the one side where I don't have a turbine I have the weather tower, which has a very piercing white light that I have that is very easily seen through my sliding door and my deck and no where here can I get away from it--- any side of my house-- any part. I don't honestly know. I haven't really looked into putting the house up for sale yet but I am very concerned and I have heard from people that are in the town that it's very possible you'd have to look at $50,000 less for what you could get for your home.
    I always find this kind of comical in a way, [the wind developers] say "Your place doesn't depreciate. It's not worth less."  Well, no, it's not worth less, it's can you get what it's worth?  And they will always come back at you--that's what I have had that happen to me, you know-- [they say] It's not going to be worth less' and after I thought about it I thought, no it isn't worth less, it's just can you get what it is worth? And probably not. People will use that to get the price down.

Q: How many turbines can you see from your property?

Over twenty. Out my west bedroom window at night I see at least -- over the line of my trees-- 15 blinking red lights-- because I've counted them-- it's like a show back there. I quickly put the blind down, I don't like looking out there anymore.

Q : I want to ask you a couple of questions about the local economy and jobs. What kind of benefits does this type of project bring to the community, and one of the things the states are talking about is that they are going to create jobs. Do you know anything about what kind of benefits as far as jobs go that this will bring to your community?

Honestly I don't. All I know is that the people that put them up were from a lot of different states. One of my family members lived in a condo and [the workers] lived up above them, they're gone now. All the ones that were in the apartment complex where my family member lives all had Utah license plates. So, not from really around here as far as construction, not that I know of. I don't really know, I don't know how much there really is to do now.

Q: Maintenance issues, maybe?

Can I just go back-- you had asked me about the neighborhood-- I will tell you what I think is the saddest part of this whole thing. I know of families that are broken up because of this, I know of neighbors that are broken up because of this--- this community is in two camps right now and I don't know how this will ever get resolved that people will again live--  unfortunately I am in that position too, and I feel awful to think that at my age that I have these issues with people, that I don't feel that I've ever had anything like this before, and I've had them at my door, telling me that I should just be happy and be quiet, and I'm going to benefit, and if I don't do this we're going to have black outs like in California--- I've had it all said to me and I've just chosen to be-- I'm not arguing with anybody because it doesn't work. But I do know of many situations.
    I'm no guru on numbers, from everything I've read-- they are not efficient, they are not worth the tax dollars that we are going to stick into them, and we are going to pay. My only comment is, if [these things are true] then I am very much against it. If I am in the wrong on this subject, then I would say-- I would hope that other town boards would look at this and not impact other homes and residents. Put them like they do in Iowa, out in these places, you don't see a home anywhere near, and they do have many turbines, but they do not have any homes anywhere near them.

Q: Would you say that the major issue in a development like this is that the wind turbines are placed too close to residences?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Today's interview is with Gerry Meyer, who carried mail in his community for 30 years. He also keeps the Brownsville Diary, a daily turbine noise log that can be read by clicking here

For those whose internet connection isn't fast enough to watch the video, a transcript is provided below.

GERRY MEYER INTERVIEW- Spring 2008
Town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, WI

GERRY: Well I've been keeping a daily log and I think it was March 5th the turbine that is 1560 feet behind our house was turned on. I didn't know it at first. I walked out of the door and when I walked down the sidewalk and I heard the sound of a jet flying over so I'm looking up in the sky for this jet. Well it wasn't a jet. It was the turbine going.

So the majority of the time it sounds like a jet going over. Sometimes the whooosh whooosh whooosh of the blades turning around.

We have another turbine that's about 2800 feet across the road and at times that one is just as loud as the one behind our house. In all we hear five of them from our house.

Q: Have you noticed any change in your quality of life because of the noise, or has anyone in your family noticed any change in their quality of life?

Last Saturday seemed to be the loudest when all five of them were running. At one point I was walking across the yard, I had a little funny feeling, I don't know, a  different feeling inside of my head kind of like after you get off a roller coaster, you're not completely stable.

We have a 13 year old son we adopted through social services who has a lot of issues, emotional issues, health issues, and a couple days after the turbine started turning-- the one behind our house-- he had headaches for about three or four days, pretty strong headaches---  and he's on an unusual program at school because of discipline. Level four being the best, he can stay in the class room with other students. Level three he's in a special ed room,  level two he's in the special ed room but segregated from the other children and level one he's in a different room, kind of like solitary confinement . And after these headaches he went from level four down to level one and two for almost two weeks.

He'd come home and tell us, he'd tell the principal, tell his teachers that he felt his head was spinning a hundred miles an hour. So we can't prove at this time that it's from the turbines but we're thinking there's a connection.

When we first heard that the turbines were going to be built in our area my wife was especially concerned because our son is kind of like Radar on "Mash"-- he hears a siren, tells us there's a siren, but we don't hear any siren, then a couple of seconds later sure enough the fire department is out or there's an ambulance run taking place.

Q What has the interaction with the local officials-- either township or county-- been with its residents?

I think most of the ground work had taken place before the residents were aware. I think the energy people had visited the counties, the towns, and it was cut and dry. And then there was a few local residents who caught wind of it and attended meetings and tried to tell the town officials--  here it's a very small township-- there's a chairman and two supervisors-- we're in the town of Byron, Fond du Lac County, it's the southern edge of Fond du Lac County.

Q When you talk to the neighbors in this area, what's the general consensus, are they satisfied with the project?

I think some of the farmers feel they were mislead. And after they signed the contract the energy company pretty much walked all over their land. They didn't build roads in a common sense manner, they stayed off of fence lines-- in some cases they went along the fence line and then cut diagonally across the field. I was at the first meeting when the energy company came and said maybe there would be an acre to two acres of land being disturbed on each site. And if you take the width of the road and the distance-- some of them are a quarter to a half mile off the main road, they're disturbing quite a bit of land.

Q. Are there a lot of homes out here that turbines are situated close to?

I would say yes. The majority of the turbines would be close to homes. The set back is 1000 feet. However we're 1500 feet and 2400 feet and we hear them and to me they are a real nuisance. And 2500 feet should be a minimum.
 
Q. Under state guidelines they can come closer to your home.You're already being affected by the distance they're at now. At a thousand feet, what do you think, would they be unbearable?

I would think, in time, from what I've heard, that the low frequency noise, something we may not hear or be aware of,  but it's in the air,  and our bodies feel it even though sometimes consciously we're not hearing or feeling it. There's one thats about three quarters of a mile from my house, last Friday my son woke up at 1:30, I saw the light on and I sent him to bed, and I could hear something, I went into our family room and I could hear Turbine #6 which is three quarters of a mile away, inside my house. To me, that shouldn't be.

Today's interview is with  with Jim and Cheryl Congdon who are members of Wisconsin's Horicon Marsh Systems Advocates
CLICK HERE to go to the Horicon Marsh Systems Advocates website

Thanks to their efforts this one-of-a-kind wild life refuge --which is considered to be of global importance to migrating birds and home to thousands of bats-- has a two mile setback from the turbines. 88 of the proposed 133 went  on line in  March of 2008.  Without the work of HMSAdvocates, the developers would have put the turbines much closer to the marsh. We expect that they will try to do just that when the issue of turbine siting reform comes up again during the next legislative session.

For those whose internet connections are not fast enough to view this video, a transcript has been provided below. Watch other interviews from this series by scrolling down through the last three postings.

Q: Would you say that the people who were making decisions on allowing this development to take place did they listen to the concerns of the local people are far as what the impacts would be, and set backs, and environmental concerns

Cheryl: No

Jim: I would say at the township level in particular, no.

Cheryl: By then the company was so embedded with t the township that there was no chance any more. We went to township meetings, to other townships

Jim: The townships had to go through their legal-- they had to do public hearings and all that because they're required to but it was very obvious that the towns board had their decision pretty much all made up especially dodge county they listened to us because they had to and that was all. They very clearly had their decision all made before the public hearing even occurred.

Cheryl: And the town of Leroy, which is one of the main townships, the closest one to us. The town chairman would come to the county meetings when they were writing the ordinances for the meetings, she would attend those meetings with the wind company.

Jim: She sat right next to a representative of wind company and the wind company actually helped the county draft the ordinance.

Q. The wind company did.

Jim: The wind company did.

Q: What was the basis of their ordinance? What did they base their facts on? Was it base on some type of sound science or planning or--

Jim: Well, what we've learned since, no. The answer to that is no. At the time I have to say we were uninformed. I wouldn't want to use the term ignorant we were uninformed.
 
Cheryl: You know how you say people aren't watching their local government--- we did. It's just that no, you're not watching every single committee meeting, but we're very informed.

Jim: Wisconsin right now has a model energy ordinance that they recommend for the townships or counties to use. If remember right it has a 400 foot set back from roads and a thousand foot setback recommended from residences. What we have learned since is that ordinance-- the model ordinance it's not mandatory, but it's a model ordinance-- was actually written by lobbyists for the wind companies. They drafted this and it was just adopted by the state as:  "This is the model you should be following". And we do have a state statute that says that in effect, wildlife does not count. You can only base local ordinances on health and safety. That's actually written in the statutes. So what we've learned since is that the model ordinance is written by lobbyists for the wind companies and has absolutely no science or legal basis for anything that's in the ordinance. And this is what all of our state representatives, right up to the Governors office, are telling people.
This is the model that we should be using. So that was the basis for the local ordinances being adopted.

Q Could the local community have drafted their own ordinance?

Jim: What we've found out since is yes.

Cheryl: That's what many are doing.

Jim: What we faced, at the time, in our particular case. We testified against what was being proposed at the county hearings. And the wind energy companies sat there with their attorneys and any time we suggested we should have something more restrictive, they would state that the law says you can only consider health and safety. We were threatened that if you do anything other than this model ordinance, you'll be sued.

Q: Threatened by whom?

Jim: By the wind energy companies. We'll take you to court and we will sue you if you don't follow the model ordinance.

Cheryl: Because they would be at these public hearings.

Q: You said you testified before a committee. What were the areas you testified on?

Jim: Well. Personally, for myself-- our organization, the Horicon Marsh Systems Advocate fought this project based primarily on wildlife concerns. At all of the hearings, my personal comments, yes I supported the wild life concerns but we always concerned both the aesthetic and health and safety. We didn't feel what was being proposed was adequate from a health and safety standpoint. And we're very much opposed to it on the aesthetic effect of putting these things all over the landscape. That was my personal comment, though we were being told that we could only consider health and safety.

Q: Were there any health and safety issues that were brought up that were considered?

Jim: At that time we didn't have enough knowledge to effectively rebut.

Q: How about at this given time?

Jim: Since that time there has been a lot learned.

Q: Can you share with us what you've learned as far as health and safety is concerned?

Jim: Well I think what you heard today-- from Gerry Meyer particularly, reflects what we've heard. There's Dr. Pierpont out of New York, is doing a lot of research along these lines and what she says it there is substantial medical basis for concern about the effect of wind turbine noise. She has very thoroughly documented and researched the work she has done. And there have been a number of cases and the one I mentioned earlier in Kewanee County that the property owners won against the wind energy company. And there are other cases we've heard about, one in particular in Nova Scotia where a family just had to move out of their house because of the health effects it was having on them. There are more and more cases being documented that there are health effects from the sound.

Q: Now you said this was in the state law that the only consideration a local community can give in their decision-making is for health and safety.

Jim: There are townships now that are working on it-- the good example of that is the Town of Union

Cheryl: And Trempealeau County has the strongest ordinance in our state now; they just passed it about a month and a half ago.

Jim: That'd be about right. They have done a lot of research and gotten into the literature. And they are coming up with what they consider substantial evidence that there are health effects from these turbines if they don't have adequate setback. And I believe Trempealeau County is a one-mile, isn't it?
I think what Town of Union is proposing is half mile setback from any residence. I believe Trempealeau County’s ordinance says one mile.

Cheryl: It's definitely the strongest ordinance in the state at this time.

Jim: And they feel that they have adequate research information that if they are threatened with a lawsuit that they can defend themselves.

WANT TO SEE A MESSAGE FROM A BAT ABOUT INDUSTRIAL WIND TURBINES? CLICK HERE:

The following is an excerpt from a series of interviews with residents who live inside of a wind farm in Fond Du Lac County. The interviews were conducted in spring of 2008  (You  can download the entire series by CLICKING HERE)

We'll be presenting more interviews from this collection this week. Scroll down to watch the ones you've missed.  This interview is with Fond du Lac County fire fighter who lives with a turbine 1100 feet from his door. The turbine is part of an industrial farm run by a corporation called Invenergy . The project is cleared for 133 turbines. 88 of the went on line March 7th, 2008.

For those who don't have a fast enough internet connection to view this video, we've provided a transcript below. Related links are posted at the end of this transcript. The photos below are part of the wind farm spoken about in this video.

 

 

Q. What can you tell us about your experience of what's happened here?

This project started about four years ago when they first came into the area here.  A lot neighbors in the area got wind of this kind of late. In fact I first found out about this when a person from the company came  here on my property and asked me if I wanted to host some of the turbines.

And then we investigated over the course of the next couple of months and found out the size of the project and how close the turbines could be to my property and of course there were a lot of questions and especially there were a lot of issues. And as we got into it we found that the energy company was lying to the board, they had the board bought into the project, it is a state project, in other words it has to be approved by the state public service commission -- and it just seemed like we were a small group trying to fight this-- it was big money and we just didn't have the resources or the money
to continue the fight.
    And, well, as you can see I have one 1100 feet from my house. Issues that we've heard about from other people who live in wind farms-- shadow flicker, noise,-- for instance this one (points to the turbine)

-(Interviewer:-I can hear the noise, it's quite loud, I don't know if the camcorder is picking it up or not-- and you say it gets much louder when it's winder? There's not much wind today---)

There's only about ten mile an hour winds and when the winds are like 15 and gusting, it sounds like a jet engine on a taxi way of an airport is what it sounds like.

The shadow flicker-- (points to turbine) that is the west direction-- and the sun gets right behind it. This time of year it gets right behind it. (Video shows sweeping shadows going over the entire house, outbuildings and surrounding property) So I have a blade flicker that flickers over everything in the house here. I have a sun room off the back of the house where it looks like someone is flashing a camera. Now maybe some people can adjust to that, but I can't. My wife and I have a real hard time with this. We have a lot of money invested in our property. This our home, everything we have is invested in this property , and I guess the change from that (points to turbine) to what we had is the problem we're dealing with.

Q: You mentioned that if the windows are open in your house you'd hear this noise on a windy day can you describe when you hear it at night, would it wake you up at night?

Here's what the difference is. When you walk out in the field  you can hear the wind through your ears, but if you stand inside my bedroom which is off the front of the house here, you're standing in a completely quiet environment. And if I open up my windows (points to turbine) that's the sound I hear. I don't wind running through my bedroom. I'm hearing the sound of the turbine. So people will say "Well I went to a wind farm project, and we listened and it wasn't that bad."
But you've got to be in an environment where it's quiet and you open up the windows. That's where our argument is about the noise. And not only this one (points to turbine) but even ones that are farther away-- some of those out 2000 feet, I can still hear those today.

Q. How big of a project is this? How many turbines are here?

The project is cleared for over 100 megawatts. The project is 133 wind turbines. They have 88 of them up now, this is Phase One, they are going into a Phase Two. So with the setbacks they could actually put more into our township. I don't know. I sure hope they don't do that.

Q: Have you talked to some of your neighbors in the area? How are they impacted and what are their thoughts on this project?

We have a group of neighbors that has pitted [members of] the township against each other. If you drive through our township you'll see signs that say "Good Neighbors Don't Put up 400 Foot Wind Turbines"  You know,  it's all about money. It doesn't have anything to do with renewable energy. And I think the people who are hosting them are aware of that. But you know-- there are definitely two sides to the township.

Q: How many people would you say are impacted by this development?

There's probably-- I'm guessing in our township-- and we have this in the corner of our town--- I'm guessing we have about 20 to 30 landowners that are impacted. There are only about eight that are hosting the the turbines. So the rest are non hosters, is what it is. People will argue that we're "Not  In My Back Yard" people, but I would ask that when you go up to someone who advocates wind turbines, especially the developers ask them if they have a wind turbine 1100 feet from their house. Ask them --when they get out of their house, where ever they live, how many wind turbines they see.

Q. What are your thoughts on how issues were handled at the local government level?

The whole board-- now remember this-- in the town of Byron, Fond du Lac county here, all three board members do not live in the project. They live in the outskirts of the project. The six people on the board of appeals that decides on the project-- none of them can see the project, so that gives you a little bit of insight as to how that was decided.

Q. Do you have anything else you want to add insofar as what it's done to the community or how people feel about it?

My recommendation to anyone looking at wind development is to take their time and study things.
Research it out. There's a lot of stuff out there. Wind development in the country is fairly new. In the state of Wisconsin, this is the first project of this size. They've had smaller projects but-- this was "Slam, Bang, Boom, sign this, sign this, let's get this project going, and we never took the time to research property values, which we asked for-- a property value protection plan--- which they said "We can't really do that, we'll never get the financing"-- which was a bunch of BS. They could have done that for us. That would have put me more at ease, knowing if I couldn't sell my property I would have a back up plan.

Q: ... There is a big push for a certain percentage of renewable energy by a certain date-- what are your thoughts on that?

There's a leading manufacturer who employs five hundred people in the city of Fond du Lac. They use 20 megawatts of electricity. That's their normal production need. These are GE 1.5 megawatts and they need a 30 mile an hour wind-- almost a 30 mile an hour wind to produce 1.5 megawatts. You need 15 of these, turning in a 30 mile an hour wind operating at 100% efficiency in order to power one leading manufacturer in Fond du Lac.  The state of Wisconsin wants 10% of the states electrical to come from wind turbines? It don't happen.

I researched this stuff. WInd turbines are nothing but a scam-- in my vision--- the rate payer and the tax payers are paying for this. My electrical went up 8% already, we're going to be paying for these things and certain small share holders are going to be making millions of dollars.

Q: What about jobs, we hear a lot jobs, about how this is going to be good for the economy-- and they're going to bring a lot of jobs to the area.

This project-- the construction started in September. Was pretty much wrapped up by mid-January, February,  with one major construction company, and I'm sure there were a lot of jobs, I mean it gave jobs for three or four months. Now it's done. So they'll have a maintenance  group-- and I wouldn't have an idea how many-- I would think a maintenance group to look after 133 wind turbines  consisting for about 8 people-- so  they are providing work for 8 people here with this project?

Q: Are these local jobs? Around the area? Do you know?

 That I'm not sure of.

Q: Do you have anything else you want to add?

I willing to give my name and help people out. Like I said, this is going to affect our life and I'm outspoken, I'm not afraid to talk about it. I'm not trying to grind an ax here, I just want to make sure people understand that if a wind turbine gets placed 1100 feet from their house-- I want them to understand it's  a possible impact not just on their lives but on the lives of [others living ] where they wind turbine is going to be.

Q: So what you're saying is 1100 feet isn't far enough away.

No. If it was a mile-- I think that I could live with it. Even though I don't like it-- like I said I think it's a scam--- its a fleecing of America to tell you the truth, but if it was a mile away I could probably live with it. But 1100 feet, no. I can't.

Q Could they come into a community like this and put them up at a greater setback

They could but, state statute--- now, remember the energy companies in 2001 lobbied to create a state statute that produced a model ordinance that said they could put them up to a 1000 feet [from homes]
Of course the board that put this together was energy company officials. It wasn't me, or a town chairman or anybody like that.

The following is an excerpt from a series of interviews with residents who live inside of a wind farm in Fond Du Lac County.  (You  can download the entire series by CLICKING HERE)

We'll be presenting more interviews from this collection this week.  This interview is with Fond du Lac County farmer who is hosting a turbine which went on line March 7th, 2008. For those that don't have a fast enough internet connection to view this video, we've provided a transcript below. Related links are posted at the end of this transcript.

 "This thing came up here--- you know, they do a lot of tramping around and do tests. 
And they apparently found this to be a good windy area --I think the big attraction was that Horicon Marsh is 30 miles long. And that lays about eight miles west of here, and it's about ten miles wide and it's about a good thirty miles long.
What they told us was the winds start to pick up over that big marsh and there's a pretty good wind over here on this east side of the marsh. So they proposed to build over in this area here, more close to the marsh, but then, what they call "The Marsh Advocates" they put up a great big stink. And they said the turbines are going to kill the birds, the geese and the birds, and also the bats. There's some old coal mines down there-  the steel mines, and there's a bunch bats in there, they say there's thousands of them in there-- and they're afraid they're going to kill the bats.

And they got an organization. They call it the Horicon Marsh Advocates, and they fought this like crazy.
They delayed this thing for a couple years. They fought like crazy. And they spent a lot of money. But they lost. I think they lost because of big power and big money. But then when it come down to the end, in the final phase now, they can build this side of the marsh but they have to stay two miles from the marsh. Which is where they are now.

Q: Originally, did they want to be closer to the marsh?

I think so. I think they felt that when the winds come up over the marsh, it was strong by the marsh. Because the other day-- I just talked to them now-- in Brownsville, and they got 88 of them put up. But they want to put up another 22. But they prefer to build closer to the marsh. So I think they are going to be pushing on that.

I think the other obstacle was these city people come out here to build homes. They bought an acre of land and they built a home and they don't want to be disturbed. And of course they don't like that change.
Part of it is the change and part of it is the money. I think the money is the biggest one. The money us farmers are going to get for the turbines. It bugs them. Severely, I think. Because they don't have enough land. Unless you have -- well we only have 80 acres here-- but unless you some land where the turbine is at least a thousand feet from a building, you can't build.

Q: How many feet?

A thousand feet.

Q. Where did they come up with that?

That's their general rule. Now some people have them closer than a thousand feet from their own buildings, but they have to be a thousand feet from somebody elses.

Q. Do you think -- I guess in your opinion, do is a 1000 feet is a good setback?

It isn't any too much.
Because my tower up here on the hill is a thousand feet from Hickory road here. A guy built a new home there in the woods. And he's made a hell of a stink.  He's filed a written complaint and he's really fighting it right now.

Q Is he a thousand feet away?

Yeah. And he claims it's noisy and it aggravates him.

Q Do you notice any noise here?

You can hear it.

Q What does it sound like?

Sounds like a jet plane.

Q Sounds like a jet plane?

With a little whirl to it (imitates the noise)
Mainly you won't hear it unless the wind is blowing towards our house. If the blowing the other way you don't hear it. As far as I'm concerned, I don't consider it very significant. I would consider it  ---it's something I think that as time passes you won't even notice it.

Q This type development-- it you had to stack up some of the pros and the cons-- what are the pros and cons of this development?

Well, the pros are-- it certainly brings money into the community. We are going to get fifty-five hundred a year. Now---some I guess are getting more than that. They're going to pay us twice a year now. We're going to get our first check on August 15 ---won't get full six months because they say ours was commissioned on the 7th of March so it will probably be about four and a half months. But then after that it will be a full half. But then it's going up I guess a couple percent a year. I think two percent per year.

They are very very good---about--- they bend over backwards with their P.R. program. And the are bending over backwards to help the people and pay us right.  Right now they got a bunch of meetings they are going to pay us for our land that they destroyed. Right now on top of the hill where they put mine in  they determined there were 5.3 acres of cover that was destroyed, that was sod and I'm going to get $2,544 for that.

The biggest reason I'm all for it is it's clean. It's clean as it can be. Probably the only ones that are as clean are solar power and water power. And I would lean that way personally. For  solar or water power.
I think they could do more with that.  But I definitely in favor of the whole thing because I think we should get off this oil kick. We burn way too much oil.

Q. You mentioned change,and when there is change in a community --that's kind of disruptive. Can you comment at all on how that change has  impacted the community? Has it been a positive?

No it's -- in general my neighbors are a little sour to me about it. Yeah, my neighbor up the road he was always stopping in here every couple of weeks. He hasn't been here in six months. He's mad because I got that tower.  And that other ones still got a big sign -- says  "A good neighbor would not put up a turbine"   And this neighbor over here (pointing) he's bitching to other people. But in town I haven't' heard too much.

Q Why do you think they're mad?

They're mostly jealous. Jealousy. Because they said farmers are greedy. That's the general idea they have. That farmers are greedy.


(CLICK HERE to visit the Horicon Marsh Systems Advocates website)


Below is the layout of the wind farm described in this interview.