Some would argue there has never been a more controversial issue in Palo alto County as wind energy. What began as a way to protect the rights of citizens, landowners and the environment in the county, has turned into a legal war.
Some would argue there has never been a more controversial issue in Palo alto County as wind energy. What began as a way to protect the rights of citizens, landowners and the environment in the county, has turned into a legal war.
(Editor's note: this is the first in a multi-part series that will examine the major issues relating to wind energy and the proposed windfarm installation in Palo Alto County.)
Some would argue there has never been a more controversial issue in Palo alto County as wind energy. What began as a way to protect the rights of citizens, landowners and the environment in the county, has turned into a legal war.
The Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance was created to replace the original ordinance, which was a few sentences and very vague as it related to wind energy. The new ordinance was created to specifically address wind energy. As with anything new, there are controversial issues that have arisen and need to be looked at more …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright](Editor's note: this is the first in a multi-part series that will examine the major issues relating to wind energy and the proposed windfarm installation in Palo Alto County.)
Some would argue there has never been a more controversial issue in Palo alto County as wind energy. What began as a way to protect the rights of citizens, landowners and the environment in the county, has turned into a legal war.
The Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance was created to replace the original ordinance, which was a few sentences and very vague as it related to wind energy. The new ordinance was created to specifically address wind energy. As with anything new, there are controversial issues that have arisen and need to be looked at more closely. Some of the more controversial issues relating to the ordinance are landowner rights, aerial spraying and decommissioning.
Landowner's rights became an arguing point early on. The opposition to the wind farm argued that a landowner did not have the right to infringe on a neighbor's property by putting a wind turbine on his land. The argument was that if a person could not keep all of the fallout from a wind turbine from crossing the property line, they do not have the right to put a turbine on their land.
The argument for landowner's rights basically pointed out that the land belongs to the landowner. They paid for it. They pay taxes on it. Therefore, they should have the right to do whatever they wish to do on their land. This argument has been going on since landownership began and will continue into the future.
Aerial spraying became another concern regarding the proposed wind farm. Companies that do aerial spraying in this area refuse to fly in a wind farm area. They have stated that it is too dangerous for them to fly. The wind company has stated that they would be willing to turn the turbines so they are sitting the same direction to make flying safer within the wind farm.
The third major argument deals with decommissioning. Landowners and residents worry that if a turbine breaks down for and sits idle for any length of time, who is responsible for paying to tear it down. There is a separate decommissioning agreement that must be signed as well as money that must be set aside by the owner of the wind farm that will cover decommissioning fees for a turbine.
In the near future, we will look in depth at each of these concerns in greater detail along with some additional topics.