Minnesota lawmakers Tuesday gave a gust of support to bills allowing Winona County to form a corporation with private investors to build and operate commercial wind turbines.

The House and Senate tax committees recommended the bills -- sponsored by Rep. Gene Pelowski and Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes, both Winona Democrats -- be included in larger omnibus tax bills in both chambers.
The bills still must clear future hurdles, and lawmakers must determine if the public-private turbine partnership would be subject to government open-records laws. But Ropes and Pelowski agreed their measures passed big tests Tuesday, when lawmakers combined them with similar bills from lawmakers near Mountain Iron, Minn. That city is attempting an endeavor similar to Winona County's � to build commercial wind turbines using mostly private capital, then assume primary ownership of the turbines after 10 years.

Winona would be the first Minnesota county to launch such a project, according to officials with the county's Economic Development Authority, which is spearheading the $3.6 million project. County leaders asked Ropes and Pelowski to carry the bills to allow the project to move forward, with construction starting as early as this year.

Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, who chairs the Senate Tax Committee, questioned last month whether the Winona County proposal adequately protects county taxpayers if the turbine project fails. Ropes said those questions didn't loom large in Tuesday's discussion, though lawmakers recommended modifying the bill to protect private investors in the turbine from having to make their financial records public to comply with government open-records laws.

The omnibus tax bills may be considered by the full House and Senate as early as next week, Pelowski said.