Dear Editor, At the recent Knox County zoning meeting to address proposed amendments to regulations regarding setbacks to wetlands for wind tower development, the representatives to that meeting from the developers tipped their hand regarding how they really feel about the quality of life for Knox County citizens.
The company seeking to develop the North Fork Wind Farm is asking the county to reduce the setback from wetlands from the existing distance of 1.1 times the maximum height of the tower to 50 feet. They stated doing so would open up an additional 7,000 acres to wind development that would not be available under current regulations. Obviously, the development of the maximum number of towers is in the financial interest of the company so the request is certainly logical, but what I found problematic was at no point did any representative of North Fork express any concern about the potential for contamination of the streams, creeks, or groundwater of Knox County.
As a stand-alone issue, the county can certainly maintain current setbacks and justifiably say they are protecting our waters, but the real issue laid bare at that meeting was this: The North Fork developers have no real concern for the quality of life for the people who would eventually live in the middle of a commercial energy facility. The uniformly young and bright-faced representatives were simply asking for greater leniency on locating towers, but never attempted to address the real environmental concern that would be exacerbated by the close proximity.
In the course of normal operation, the towers are not themselves a danger to our waters, but in the event of a failure, they can become a significant point source of contamination. A tower that collapses will obviously fall to a distance of its height at a minimum so to account for that, the setback is set at 1.1 times height and setbacks to residences are higher to further protect the integrity of life and property and are therefore quite justified. What every Nebraskan must consider is this: Do these developers have any real concern for the quality of life for the areas developed?
Wind development has become a juggernaut in rural America; the vast open areas and seemingly never-ending winds combined with regular injections of federal incentives and tax breaks are driving new developments at an ever-increasing pace. One of the earliest farms, Elkhorn Ridge, located near Bloomfield, began as a 27-tower farm. Initially, it was presented as a boon to the community; not only would it utilize an otherwise untapped resource, it would pay a massive portion of taxes due to the valuation at installation, approximately $169,000,000. The local school district would have seen close to 40 percent of its revenue from the wind farm; by most accounts, the wind farm was a win-win situation.
I served on the Knox County Planning Commission during the permitting of Elkhorn Ridge so I am familiar with the history of the project and the adoption of Knox County wind development regulations. At the time, Knox County did not have regulations for commercial wind farms; we looked to regulations from Minnesota as a template as they were several years ahead in development. The regulations we have today are still largely based on that project.
What first became concerning following the completion of Elkhorn Ridge was when the first tax bill was coming due, the facility would have been taxed as equipment just as a farmer would be taxed on equipment or facilities, but as that bill was substantial, Edison Energy based in California lobbied the Legislature to give wind farms an alternative, nameplate capacity tax. Rather than be taxed like everyone else, wind farms would be taxed on the capacity to generate, currently $3,518 per megawatt. The impact was that instead of seeing a significant increase in tax revenue to help support local schools and roads, Knox County and Bloomfield only received a fraction of what was expected during the permitting process.
The wetland setbacks and the bait-and-switch on taxation are both representative examples in the real world when corporations seek to develop resources in an area that doesn’t have a previous history to draw experience from. The 27-tower project in Bloomfield is dwarfed by projects built recently at Stuart, Elgin and Wayne and would be by the proposed North Fork Wind Farm. Elkhorn Ridge was constructed in 2008, and in the years since, much has been learned about the full impact of wind power generation on local communities and environments.
In terms of economic development, the farms are constructed by non-local firms with mobile crews erecting towers whose components are constructed overseas in China. The farms, once constructed, typically require a minimal crew so even large operations only result in a few local jobs and nameplate taxation drastically reduces the tax revenue that would normally come about from a manufacturing facility, for example. Unlike traditional large projects, there is no resulting boom in employment or secondary construction in housing or retail. Has any community embedded in a wind farm seen a new subdivision for housing or subsequent increase in class size at the local school?
The environmental impacts which were once thought to be negligible are now becoming increasingly concerning, particularly as the size of wind farms escalates. Cattle feeding is something quite familiar to most counties in Nebraska and has been incorporated deep into our economy, but the state knows that a 100-head feeding operation can easily locate and exist within a community with little impact; a 100,000-head operation is going to have an impact that can easily be detrimental to air and water quality and needs to have significantly more oversight and planning. The scope of the North Fork project along with the mega projects already constructed are of such size and footprint that they now represent a threat to many species of migratory birds.
Finally, we have to consider if commercial power generation is compatible with the quality of life for the people of Knox County. Rural Nebraska has been seeing a drain on our population since the peak of the early ’70s. Schools are forced to consolidate to maintain viability as class sizes shrink and all small communities continue to fight to maintain local businesses so that the life that so many of us grew up in can be passed down to the next generation.
The prospect of yet more communities becoming embedded in a sea of turbines doesn’t bode well for population growth. The synchronous flashing of red lights piercing the night sky strips away one of the most scenic aspects of rural Nebraska, the starry sky of a cold, moonless night in winter; the steady thump of a turbine blade penetrates the walls of the home and drowns out the songbird. The rhythmic nature of the light and sound pollution is strangely reminiscent of the famous Chinese water torture.
Wind farms are the modern-day equivalent of aerial strip mining; I can’t help but think of our recent tourism slogan that caught so much grief: “Nebraska, it’s not for everyone.” While that may be true, I know Nebraska is the place for me and my family, but if we bury ourselves in a sea of wind towers, I wonder if it will be a place anyone else would want.
— Mike Kumm, Wausa
