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Wind farms are a go, but met with mixed reactions

Northern Star|Adam Holt|August 27, 2009
IllinoisGeneral

Every summer, DeKalb County goes green with fields of crops ripening for the harvest. However, this summer the county began going green in a very different way. NextEra Energy Resources, out of Juno Beach, Fla., broke ground in Afton Township after July 4, said Anthony Pedroni, the project manager for DeKalb County's wind farm project. If the construction time line goes according to plan, the project should be fully operational on Dec. 31, Pedroni said.


Every summer, DeKalb County goes green with fields of crops ripening for the harvest.
However, this summer the county began going green in a very different way.

NextEra Energy Resources, out of Juno Beach, Fla., broke ground in Afton Township after July 4, said Anthony Pedroni, the project manager for DeKalb County's wind farm project. If the construction time line goes according to plan, the project should be fully operational on Dec. 31, Pedroni said.

By the beginning of September, the turbine components will be arriving on sight to be erected on the foundations that have been under construction since July.

Each turbine occupies only one and one-half acres, and this includes the service road running up to the windmill itself, …

... more [truncated due to possible copyright]

Every summer, DeKalb County goes green with fields of crops ripening for the harvest.
However, this summer the county began going green in a very different way.

NextEra Energy Resources, out of Juno Beach, Fla., broke ground in Afton Township after July 4, said Anthony Pedroni, the project manager for DeKalb County's wind farm project. If the construction time line goes according to plan, the project should be fully operational on Dec. 31, Pedroni said.

By the beginning of September, the turbine components will be arriving on sight to be erected on the foundations that have been under construction since July.

Each turbine occupies only one and one-half acres, and this includes the service road running up to the windmill itself, Pedroni said.

The project is aiding in the employment of area residents. Pedroni projected that 450 people on the job site were from the DeKalb region.

Once the wind farms are complete, about 20 full-time energy technicians with annual salaries ranging between $40,000 and $60,000 will be operating the maintenance facility in Shabbona, Executive Director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation Paul Borek said. "NextEra also purchased $60 million in local goods and services" which helped bring money to the county, Borek said.

DeKalb County will also see money in the form of tax revenues related to the project. Borek explained that over the wind farm's 30-year lifespan, NextEra will pay $42 million in property taxes, along with generating $50 million in lease payments to the landowners where the turbines will reside.

County Board Chair Ruth Ann Tobias said some of those tax dollars generated will go to the Indian Creek School District, a rural school district serving LaSalle, Lee and DeKalb Counties.

Tobias, Borek and Pedroni are all very optimistic about what the project will bring to the area. They have high hopes that this will help wean the area, and eventually the nation, off of foreign oil, carbon emissions and heavy power sources.

Pedroni summed up what he feels many need to realize about wind farms.

"Wind is not a perfect solution, but is part of the solution," Pedroni said.

These winds of change in DeKalb County aren't welcomed by all of the residents.

One of the biggest complaints has been the possibility that noise caused by the windmills could be disruptive.

"Standing in a field in the middle of summer, it is hard to hear the turbines over the corn blowing in the wind," Pedroni said.

Tobias disagreed, saying she has been told that standing between two turbines sounds like a roaring jet engine.

Hillary Leffelman, a 21-year-old nursing major, agrees with Tobias. Leffelman resides in the town of Sublette, within Lee County, and her home is less than a mile from a wind farm.

"It did sound like a jet flying overhead," Leffelman said, speaking of times when she's looked for a plane, only to realize it was one of the many turbines near her home.

The residents of the county are not just worried about the noise.

A group known as Citizens for Open Government has filed suit against the county and NextEra Energy, along with other companies involved in the project.

A representative of the group could not be reached for comment by the Northern Star.

Tobias believes that many of the people filing suit are upset because they may lose their quiet country lifestyle.

Leffelman suspects a different reason these residents may be against it, having seen a repeat of what happened a few years ago in her home town.

"In Sublette, a few people were against it until they realized they could [get paid for having] a turbine on their land," Leffelman said. "That changed their mind pretty quick."

Another aspect of the debate is findings by Nina Pierpont about Wind Turbine Syndrome (WTS). This is a term she coined to explain various symptoms people experience when living near a wind farm. These include sleep disturbances, vertigo, rapid heart rate and nausea, to name just a few.

Leffelman doesn't know anyone who has experienced any of these symptoms, except her mother's trouble sleeping, which she attributes to her mom being a light sleeper.

"There is a constant ‘woosh' and my mom has to turn a fan on to drown it out and fall asleep," Leffelman said.

Pedroni said that NextEra is very concerned with every issue related to their business, and takes them all very seriously.

"Nothing has shown us yet that WTS is a scientific concern," Pedroni said. "If a verified problem did exist, we would take action."


Source:http://www.northernstar.info/…

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