Dozens of Lafayette and West Newton Township property owners surrounding the New Ulm Public Utility Commission's planned wind farm have signed a petition opposing the project.

Petition signers said they sent a copy of it to the Nicollet County Planning and Zoning Board scheduled to meet at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 15 in the Nicollet County Government Center.

In Letters to the Editor of The Journal, "concerned area land owners and residents" stated they were not opposed to wind energy but think there are places better suited than their property.

"We know that the area being considered is much better suited for the producing of crops for food than being sacrificed for wind generation and energy production," read a Letter printed in the Sept. 9, 2008 edition of The Journal.

"There are 32 building sites within a mile of the proposed turbines, 15 of which are small business producers actively farming the land they own and occupy...a wind farm has never been considered in this high a populated agricultural community...Noise pollution, health concerns and visual pollution are not near the problem in undeveloped, open prairie...read the letter.

"In consulting with wind power experts, reviewing wind study research, it is known that nearly all of Nicollet County is marginal for wind energy production and at a high risk of not being successful. Even as close as western Brown County, there is a greater incidence of wind than all of Nicollet County," continued the letter.

Jeff Franta, one of the residents and letter signers, said he expects many of his neighbors to attend Monday's meeting in St. Peter.

"It seems people are pretty interested in what's going on," said Franta.

New Ulm Public Utilities Engineer Pat Wrase said all the PUC seeks to do at the meeting ask for a permit for an anemometer tower to measure wind speed (at the project sites).

"We've struggled with high (electrical) rates in the past few years and believe there is wind there, enough for a good project for our customers," said Wrase.

He added that Nicollet County is the best site for wind turbines within 30-40 miles of New Ulm.

"It's a close second to southwestern Brown County but only three miles from our substation, so the economics are much better (than western Brown County)," said Wrase.

He added that he initially worked on the wind project favorably with some of the what he called "disgruntled" land owners.

"They changed their tune somewhere in the process, asking for (land lease) numbers four to five times the going rates," said Wrase.

He added that the New Ulm PUC used a wind resource map from Wind Logic, which he said researched the entire state.

Wrase said the resource map is available from the PUC and Minnesota Department of Commerce.