Don’t blow chance for windpower
From an editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal:
Wisconsin Power & Light’s plans to look more toward the wind as a power source should underscore for lawmakers the need to support wind farm development.
Wisconsin cannot afford to let the statewide interest in harnessing clean, renewable power from the wind be frustrated by local “not in my backyard” campaigns against wind farms.
The goal should be to adopt statewide standards for siting wind farms that limit local government regulation and provide developers with an opportunity to appeal. The standards should also preserve local authority to restrict or reject wind farms when warranted.
Interest in wind power is growing following state regulators’ rejection last year of a new coal-fired power plant proposed by WPL, As an alternative to coal, the utility planning to develop more wind, biomass and natural gas power sources. . . .
But wind power confronts a barrier.
Developers of small wind farms, unlike developers of large wind farms, fall outside the regulation of the state Public Service Commission. They left to local regulation.
Too often, local governments are cowed by “not in my backyard” worries about the impact of wind turbines — worries that may be based on misinformation but that local governments lack the expertise to evaluate.
The result is impossible-to-meet restrictions that draw small wind farm development to halt.
For example, in 2007 Trempealeau County adopted a wind power ordinance so restrictive that it effectively banned wind farms.
A solution emerged with a proposal to require the PSC to issue model rules specifying what restrictions local governments could impose on wind farms. The bill also granted developers a right to appeal.
Lawmakers failed to pass the proposal last year. This year should make that legislation a top priority.
We all know who the PSC is so let’s look at the definition of stakeholder.
stakeholder : a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in something, as a business or industry.
Do you seriously believe that The PSC and their friends the stakeholders are going to do anything to develop standards that will restrict the amount of turbines they can install? Mr. Vickerman at Renew Wisconsin has stated several times that if siting setback distances are increased it will be the end of wind turbine development in Wisconsin. Most recently he stated that if the distance from a property line was increased from 440’ to 1000’ there would not be a single commercial wind project operating in Wisconsin today. If the PSC gets control of siting the setbacks will decrease if anything. Any increase in setbacks would be an admission that they have been doing it wrong so far, and that will never happen. The irresponsible shoehorning of 400’ tall industrial wind turbines must stop.
Wind power is expensive, subsidized $23.37 per MWh compared to $0.25 for natural gas. As taxpayers and rate payers we deserve a better bang for our buck. Wind power is unreliable and not dispatchable so no coal plants will ever be shut down no matter how many turbines are installed. Coal plants continue to run at full power when wind power is on line, the gas and hydro plants are throttled back, and that is our cleanest form of electric generation.
If the PSC and their stakeholders get their way they will cover over one million acres of land in the next few years. A few of the adverse effects of this large taking of private land are:
1 Loss of Med Flight service for sick or injured citizens.
2 Farmers will loose the ability to crop dust their fields.
3 Wind turbines and tornadoes look the same on Nexrad radar. Meteorologists will not be able to accurately predict the path and location of tornadoes or severe storms.
4 Property values inside wind facilities and a 5 mile boundary outside will decrease by 50% or more.
5 Serious adverse health effects will plague residents especially children under 6 years and adults over 65 yeas.
The good thing is Wisconsin can produce all the clean renewable energy we need without any wind turbines. We have a tremendous bio fuel and bio mass resource. We do not have a wind resource. Wind developer can extrapolate their wind data till they are blue in the face, but they can’t make the wind blow.
Contact your State Representatives, and Senators and tell them not to support the siting reform legislation that will eradicate local control of industrial wind turbines. Your Town, City, and County Board members that you elected know the best way to protect your health safety and welfare.
Nimby: a person who wants to put a turbine in everyone’s back yard except his.
kitfox
March 20, 2009