by jboullion | Feb 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a letter to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules from Fond du Lac County in support of PSC proposed wind siting rules, not the rules proposed by Gov. Scot Walker:
Utility scale wind farms in Wisconsin have meant a lot to local
businesses. Farmers that want to continue working their farmland have additional income to support their operations. Land rental payments for turbine sites bring farmers $5,000 each year for each turbine site. Farmers invest these dollars, $829,900 in 2010, into growing crops or their dairy herds. One of our local contractors, Michels Corporation of Brownsville, Wisconsin, has been the prime contractor in several utility scale wind farms. Michels was the prime contractor and paid living wages to just over 200 employees in the Fond du Lac/Dodge County area during the construction of the Forward Energy Center and the Blue Sky/Green Filed wind farm. Michels was also part of the construction team for both Butler Ridge and Glacial Ridge projects elsewhere in Wisconsin. Michels has been in discussions with 4 other wind developers each with 100 MV projects around Wisconsin.
by jboullion | Feb 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
A note from a kind reader in the Montfort area:
Tower Junction Restaurant and Bowling Alley is entirely based on the wind turbine towers. He has a small kiosk outside that describes the Montfort Wind Farm. His placemats at his business features interesting facts about the Wind Farm. He has small scale turbines there too. He has exploited the whole turbine farm and built a successful business and tourist attraction. He gets all kinds of people coming in to visit the Tower Junction theme. Try to talk negative in there, and the locals will look at you like you are nuts.
by jboullion | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Sarah Elmquist in the Winona (MN) Post:
A portion of the proposed CapX2020 electric transmission lines that would connect Alma, Wis. to a substation near Holmen, Wis. hit a snag this week, after the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin determined the lengthy application was incomplete. The PSC included dozens of detailed requirements for information and documents that need to be added to the application for the project to be considered, including areas in the application where environmental review was deemed insufficient, where greater information was needed, and where the utilities need to further explore the ways that efficiency programs might change electricity use projections.
Two possible routes have been proposed for this portion of the CapX2020 project. One would run along the Mississippi River from Alma, Wis., to the La Crosse area. The other would travel from Alma east to Arcadia and then south to La Crosse.
by jboullion | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by by Nick Paulson in the Wausau Daily Herald:
STEVENS POINT — The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is using competitions as a way to engage students in plans to reduce energy use across the campus.
Students in residence halls currently are competing in two contests — one in energy and one in recycling — that, in addition to offering prizes, organizers hope will teach students sustainable practices that will stick long after graduation.
UWSP has been exposing students to green living for years through more passive measures such as a “greenest dorm room.” But by appealing to students’ competitive natures and bringing whole residence halls together, contest organizers hope to engage students who otherwise wouldn’t care.
“Wherever there is that added support, you see an increase in participation,” said Cindy Von Gnechten, facilities designer for UWSP Residential Living. “Obviously, we want to educate them, but the biggest thing is to carry that with you as you go beyond the residence halls.”
One competition, created internally, will pit residence halls against one another to see which one can cut its February energy usage the most, compared with a baseline from November. The hall with the biggest reduction will win three grand prizes.
Students also can be caught doing something green to be entered into a weekly raffle for environmentally friendly prizes.
UWSP residence halls also are participating in a national recycling contest, RecycleMania, in which universities across North America compete to decrease trash and increase recycling.
by jboullion | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
From an article by Dave Alexander in the Muskegon (MI) Chronicle:
MUSKEGON – When the head of the Grand Valley State University alternative energy center asked for the city of Muskegon’s help in establishing an offshore wind research buoy in Lake Michigan, there was no controversy.
Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center Director Arn Boezaart asked the Muskegon City Commission for the city to be a co-applicant on state and federal environmental permit applications.
Commissioners quickly voted the city’s support and heaped praise on Boezaart for the activities of the energy center in downtown Muskegon.
Anyone who sat through last year’s hearings on offshore Lake Michigan wind farms proposed by Scandia would be hard-pressed to see the Ludington City Council or the Pentwater Village Council taking such quick action.
The offshore wind turbine issue simply is not as controversial in Muskegon County as it has been in Oceana and Mason counties. County boards in both Oceana and Mason voted against the Scandia proposal, while Muskegon officials remained relatively supportive.
So when Boezaart approached the city of Muskegon this week for a hand on a $3.7 million offshore wind research buoy project, no one asked if the wind testing effort would eventually lead to huge wind turbines being placed on Lake Michigan off the coast of Muskegon.
There was no debate about turbine blades killing birds or about low-frequency turbine noise — topics that would have likely been part of the conversation with Muskegon’s northern neighbors.
“Muskegon has had a willingness to look at offshore wind,” Boezaart told The Chronicle after receiving the city’s support on the research buoy project. “It goes right back to what we saw with the Scandia issue. In Muskegon, offshore wind is viewed as a potential source of jobs and represents new business for the region.”
by jboullion | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized
From a story on WQOW, Eau Claire:
Town of Forest (WQOW) – A dispute over wind turbines has now turned into a lawsuit.
This week, a citizen group filed a lawsuit against the town of forest. That’s north of Glenwood City. An energy company is looking to build more than three dozen wind turbines on various properties in the area. The board approved the measure last year, but residents say they were kept in the dark about the plans.
