At a special Bureau County Board meeting Tuesday night, board members voted unanimously to accept an amended decommissioning plan for the proposed Big Sky Wind Farm.

County board members also voted to accept a letter of credit for the Big Sky Wind Farm, a 57-turbine windfarm to be constructed near Ohio by Midwest Wind.

County engineer John Gross said he had worked with Midwest Wind over the past couple weeks to come to an agreement on the decommissioning plan.
"The final amount will be adjusted with two line items added," Gross said.

Line items added to the approved decommissioning plan included engineering and construction services at $150,000, and restoration of turbine areas at $188,100.

Gross said in lieu of transporting pieces off-site, the entire structure will be scrapped on site for an estimated salvage value of $300,000.

"We decreased the salvage value and the overall decommission cost," Gross said. "The two go hand-in-hand."

Gross said conservative estimates were applied to scrap estimates, building in a factor of safety.