The answer is blowing in the wind

Wind energy facilities almost certainly will be allowed in the area once developers submit a request to the state, but the projects will be closely scrutinized, a highranking state energy official told residents of Champaign and Logan counties on Monday.

"Wind is coming whether you want it or not," Ohio Power Siting Board Executive Director Kim Wissman said at one point in the more-than-two-hour-long meeting with concerned citizens and wind turbine leaseholders.

She said that while some companies have abandoned a project in the early stages, she does not recall a time in her 30 years with the Siting Board that the arm of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has turned down a project.

"I'm not sure the board has outright rejected an application, but we have required certain modifications," Ms. Wissman said.

The Siting Board is a panel consisting of the heads of PUCO, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio's departments of development, health, natural resources and agriculture, one private engineer representing the public and four non-voting legislators.

The role of the Siting Board is to accept and review applications from any utility company or developer looking to build a major operation or high voltage transmission line in the state.

In recent months, wind energy has become a top priority in Ohio as the Legislature passed a new alternative energy bill requiring utility providers to buy 25 percent of their electric from renewable and advanced sources.

A recent law also gave the Siting Board oversight over all wind developments that are capable of producing 5 megawatts or more of power. Previously the Siting Board only dealt with facilities capable of producing 50 megawatts or more.

Ms. Wissman said she was not in favor of taking responsibility for smaller operations, but she said she eventually came to see that allowing wind to develop under rules that vary from one township to the next might not be the wisest move either.

"Frankly I didn't want anything to do with this," she said. "Anything from five to 50 (megawatts) I said, ‘Keep it.'But when we started to see that most zoning commissions have no wind turbine zoning and given the concern of haphazard placement, we accepted it."

That inspired the Siting Board staff to develop a special permit application process - similar in most ways to the permit process for any other energy generating facility but with some wind specific components such as ice throw, blade shear or shadow flicker. But the rules, which are still in draft form, were intentionally left without specifics, she said.

"We don't have standards in these rules and we don't have guidelines. These rules don't dictate anything; they just say, ‘Give us the information so we can do an adequate analysis,'" Ms. Wissman said.

The rules do include specific Legislature-imposed setbacks, which Ms. Wissman said are only bare minimums that will likely be greater when a project is actually developed.

She also noted that the Siting Board staff does detailed map analyses and spends nearly the entirety of the 60-day review window on site verifying information and evaluating the proposal.

But some residents like Teri Elliot of Jefferson Township in Logan County said they do not believe two months is enough time to independently verify facts being provided to the agency by a company looking to develop a project.

"How do they know they are getting correct and adequate information?" she said. "It also bothers me that there is no recourse if they do give bad information. I realize she is a very capable and talented woman, but it was a canned spiel from the Department of Development. There was nothing enlightening or encouraging at all tonight."

Those who own the land on which wind turbines may eventually be located were more favorable about the information.

"I thought it was very informative and there's no doubt in my mind PUCO will enforce it," said Rick Archer of Jefferson Township. "There's still a long way to go to make anything happen, but I'm glad to see the state is involved."

Chris Walker, a lawyer for Union Neighbors United, pointed out three things he would like to see addressed in the final copy of the proposed application rules.

The Siting Board needs to evaluate each turbine individually, consider the aesthetics of the project and develop objective standards for measuring and dealing with noise issues, he said.

"We think this would be critical for not only the host community but to the developers as well," Mr. Walker said.