by jboullion | Jan 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
Jennifer L. Heinzen
Manitowoc, WI
Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer
Manitowoc County Executive
Courthouse, 1010 S. 8th Street
Manitowoc, WI 54220
January 27, 2009
Dear Representative Ziegelbauer,
This letter is in response to your comments made in The Daily Reporter dated January 24 concerning the Manitowoc County Board of Adjustment’s recent rejection of a seven-turbine wind farm. I am for many reasons baffled and disheartened by your statements, and ask for a few moments of your time to consider my words.
I am the lead instructor at Lakeshore Technical College (LTC) for the Wind Energy Technology program, a 2-year associate degree for aspiring wind turbine technicians. It is the only such program in the state, and we have worked very hard to make LTC nationally-recognized for its efforts in promoting conservation and renewable energy. Our 65 kW wind turbine started producing electricity for the campus in August of 2004, and nearly 30 students have climbed the tower since then. Two more wind turbines will be erected at LTC by 2010. Construction for the first will begin in just a few months.
As a state-certified master electrician and technical college instructor, I have a strong interest in keeping jobs at home. Promoting renewable energy in Wisconsin encourages conservation, efficiency and environmental stewardship. It also opens an exciting new market for a plethora of “green” jobs in the commercial, industrial, agricultural, and residential sectors. I work with the Department of Commerce, International Association of Electrical Inspectors, Wisconsin Distributed Resources Collaborative, and the Rural Energy Management Council to provide training for electricians in renewable energy. These classes and seminars fill up quickly and are in high demand statewide.
Manitowoc supports wind power in many respects. Companies like Tower Tech and Manitowoc Crane are prospering because of their connections to the wind industry. Orion Energy Systems recently obtained a permit from the City of Manitowoc to erect a large wind turbine at their new facility, and Manitowoc Public Utilities will likely be adding wind power to their energy portfolio. It’s ironic that this county, while supporting wind energy in so many ways, has also become notorious for writing ordinances that may as well say “no wind turbines allowed.”
I was a member of the Manitowoc County Wind Energy Systems Advisory Committee from 2005-2006. I had been asked by the County Board Chair to join this committee because of my experience with wind systems and my position at LTC. I accepted, believing naively that simple education was the remedy to the controversy. I thought the committee would only need certain fears eased, myths dispelled, and questions answered.
Unfortunately my attempts to help the committee write a reasonable ordinance were thwarted by the relentless storytelling and fear-mongering tactics used by the WINDCOWS, the Manitowoc-based wind energy opposition group. I underestimated their passion and dedication to the cause of essentially outlawing wind energy. As a result, the group created unrealistic and highly restrictive ordinances for wind farms, as well as small, privately-owned systems.
My defeat was both frustrating and inspiring. I dove into energy policy and legislation, and I am now president of the board of directors for RENEW Wisconsin. As you know, RENEW is a Madison-based, nonprofit organization that promotes clean energy. We have been working diligently on a statewide siting campaign that will hopefully end these expensive and extravagant local battles. (This 7-turbine project has been debated for nearly five years!) We have strong support from a wide variety of stakeholders and are confident that the legislation for uniform siting will pass this year.
Please believe our intent is in no way to belittle local communities or imply that anyone is “dumb,” as you stated in the article. But when irrational and unfounded fears are propagated and allowed to infest the minds of our local decision-makers, the madness must be stopped. I honestly don’t understand why the WINDCOWS and their allies hate wind power… Money? Aesthetics? I quit trying to rationalize it long ago because it really doesn’t matter.
State Statute 66.0401 outlines local governments’ authority to restrict wind and solar energy systems. Those opposed to a project must prove legitimate health and safety concerns. That’s hard to do, considering no civilian has ever been physically harmed by a wind turbine. Therefore, anecdotal tales of “wind turbine syndrome” run rampant on anti-wind websites, but the “evidence” is nothing more than a conglomeration of exaggerations, misrepresentations, and outright fabrications.
Wisconsin currently has a renewable energy portfolio standard of 10% by 2015, and Governor Doyle is recommending 25% by 2025. The recent extension of the federal production tax credit emphasizes our commitment to make renewable energy systems cost-competitive with the highly subsidized world of traditional electrical generation.
I have lived in northeast Wisconsin my whole life, and I plan to stay and remain politically active. I hope you will reconsider your views on wind power here in our own back yard. The fuel is clean, renewable, abundant, and free. The concept is simple and the technology is readily available. Wind turbines are beautiful! They represent ingenuity, wisdom, forward-thinking, sustainability, and energy independence.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my views. I would be happy to speak with you more on this subject if and when you are interested.
Sincerely,
Jenny Heinzen
by jboullion | Jan 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
From a story by Paul Snyder in The Daily Reporter:
A Madison environmental group wants the state, rather than local governments, to oversee wind farm placement after a five-year push for seven turbines in Manitowoc County failed.
“There should be legislation in the next few weeks,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of the nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin. “Our concern is that local control is being abused, and smaller, independent wind farm developers aiming at community-scaled projects will just be deterred from coming here.”
The Manitowoc Board of Adjustment last week rejected the latest request by Hubertus-based Emerging Energies LLP to build the seven-turbine farm, which would send 15 to 20 megawatts of electricity to the town of Mishicot. Orville Bonde, the board’s chairman, declined to comment on the rejection because, he said, Emerging Energies is planning to sue the county.
Representatives from the company could not be reached for comment before deadline Friday.
Manitowoc County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer called the rejection the latest of many disputes over the project between the county and the company.
“They argue that our ordinance is too restrictive,” he said. “We think it’s reasonable and was created in good faith. This isn’t the final say in the matter by any means.”
Manitowoc County’s ordinance, adopted in 2004, calls for a minimum distance of 1,000 feet from a turbine to a property line. It also contains a noise restriction that turbines cannot create sound five decibels more than ambient noise.
“What does that mean?” Vickerman said. “If you fire up a leaf blower, that shoots up the ambient noise level 25 decibels. Do you measure it over crickets? What about a dog barking?”
Vickerman said the rule is an example of the way wind farm ordinances have been abused since the state ruled in 1994 that local governments can approve or deny the projects if they generate less than 100 megawatts.
A bill to create statewide regulation of all wind farm projects, regardless of energy output, failed to make it out of committee in the last session and could be hotly contested if it re-emerges this year.
Vickerman said state Sen. Jeff Plale, D-South Milwaukee, who led the Senate charge for the bill last year, likely will lead it again this year.
by jboullion | Jan 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2009
More information
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Manitowoc County Says “No Can Do” to Windpower Project
The Manitowoc County Board of Adjustment rejected earlier this week a developer’s request for approval to build a seven-turbine wind project west of Two Rivers. The decision marks the latest setback in the project developer’s four-year-long quest to erect a community-scale wind project in the Town of Mishicot.
By contrast, the project developer, Emerging Energies LLP, recently secured a permit to erect eight turbines in the Town of Glenmore in Brown County, about 15 miles from Mishicot.
Under development since 2004, the Mishicot Wind Farm is strongly supported by Wisconsin-based environmental and clean energy groups, including RENEW Wisconsin.
“The Board’s rejection of the Mishicot Wind Farm is certain to send a chill through every Wisconsin developer seeking to construct a community-scale wind project here,” said RENEW Wisconsin Executive Director Michael Vickerman,
Blessed with some of the state’s strongest winds, Manitowoc County adopted a wind ordinance in 2004. Emerging Energies first proposed the Mishicot project in 2005. Progress since that time has been slowed by a countywide moratorium on wind development and the subsequent adoption of one of the most restrictive wind ordinances in Wisconsin.
Among these features is a minimum setback requirement of 1,000 feet from a turbine to a property line. In contrast, Emerging Energies’ permit in the Town of Glenmore specifies a setback of 1.1 times the total turbine height from property lines and public rights-of-way. The total height of a commercial wind turbine–tower plus vertically extended blade–ranges between 350 and 450 feet.
“Suffice it to say that if every jurisdiction adopted Manitowoc County’s setback standards, there would not be a single commercial wind project operating in Wisconsin right now,” Vickerman said.
As part of its application, Emerging Energies offered to provide an annual payment of $77,000 to be allocated equally among the county, the town, and neighboring residences living up to ½ mile away from a turbine. Over a 30-year operating life, the developer’s offer would pump $2.31 million directly into the local economy.
“The irony here is that Manitowoc County has prospered more from wind energy’s rapid expansion in recent years than any other county in Wisconsin,” Vickerman said. “The project site is 15 miles away from a turbine tower fabricating plant (Tower Tech) and a company that manufactures specialty cranes for wind farm construction (Manitowoc Crane Group).
“As a result of the global recession, wind component manufacturers are seeing a slowdown in orders. It is not unreasonable to believe that both Manitowoc companies could use the work,” Vickerman added.
Under Wisconsin’s renewable energy law, 10% of Wisconsin’s electricity must be generated by qualifying energy sources by 2015. RENEW estimates that windpower will contribute more than 75% of that electricity. In the past 12 months alone, 251 utility-scale turbines were installed across Wisconsin totaling 396 megawatts, expanding wind generating capacity by a factor of eight.
Yet a half-dozen projects totaling 600 megawatts of planned wind capacity in Wisconsin, from Grant County in the southwest to Kewaunee County in the northeast, have run into roadblocks, mostly from restrictive ordinances designed to thwart development.
“What happened in Manitowoc County is not an isolated phenomenon,” Vickerman said. “However, the county’s decision to reject the Mishicot project is at odds with state energy policy, which not only favors renewable energy development but also prohibits local jurisdictions from saying no to wind projects except to protect public health and safety.
“If we are serious about preventing local governments from arbitrarily exercising veto power over responsibly designed wind projects, then we have to change the law. Nothing else has worked so far.” Vickerman added.
–END–
RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that acts as a catalyst to advance a sustainable energy future through public policy and private sector initiatives. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.
by jboullion | Jan 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
A media release issued by Natural Resources Consulting, Inc.:
NRC was awarded a grant to evaluate the potential impacts of wind energy development on migrating birds and bats in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. NRC will lead stakeholders from the wind energy industry, natural resource agencies, conservation groups, and research community in a series of workshops to consider migratory patterns and standardized methods to evaluate the potential impacts of wind energy facilities on migrating birds and bats.
The Upper Mississippi River Valley is recognized as a globally important bird migration corridor. Increasing interest in locating wind energy facilities along the Mississippi River corridor has created a need for objective and cost-effective methods to evaluate and mitigate potential impacts on migrating birds and bats. The workshops will bring together a diverse stakeholder group to identify research needs and objectives, build consensus on appropriate study design and methods, and expedite the process for the mutual benefit of resource agencies and wind developers.
“We are excited about this opportunity to discuss and reach a consensus on how to best evaluate migration behaviors in this part of Wisconsin” said Dave Siebert, Director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Office of Energy.
Louise Clemency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), added, “The Service commends NRC’s proactive approach in addressing potential impacts to birds and bats from wind energy development within the Upper Mississippi River Valley.”
Funding for this project is made possible by a grant from the Focus on Energy “Environmental and Economic Research Program” (EERP), which supports the understanding of environmental and economic impacts of energy use.
Perhaps the results will be relevant to all wind projects in the Midwest.
by jboullion | Jan 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
A media release issued by Natural Resources Consulting, Inc.:
NRC was awarded a grant to evaluate the potential impacts of wind energy development on migrating birds and bats in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. NRC will lead stakeholders from the wind energy industry, natural resource agencies, conservation groups, and research community in a series of workshops to consider migratory patterns and standardized methods to evaluate the potential impacts of wind energy facilities on migrating birds and bats.
The Upper Mississippi River Valley is recognized as a globally important bird migration corridor. Increasing interest in locating wind energy facilities along the Mississippi River corridor has created a need for objective and cost-effective methods to evaluate and mitigate potential impacts on migrating birds and bats. The workshops will bring together a diverse stakeholder group to identify research needs and objectives, build consensus on appropriate study design and methods, and expedite the process for the mutual benefit of resource agencies and wind developers.
“We are excited about this opportunity to discuss and reach a consensus on how to best evaluate migration behaviors in this part of Wisconsin” said Dave Siebert, Director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Office of Energy.
Louise Clemency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), added, “The Service commends NRC’s proactive approach in addressing potential impacts to birds and bats from wind energy development within the Upper Mississippi River Valley.”
Funding for this project is made possible by a grant from the Focus on Energy “Environmental and Economic Research Program” (EERP), which supports the understanding of environmental and economic impacts of energy use.
Perhaps the results will be relevant to all wind projects in the Midwest.
