Knox County sued over nixed wind farm development

A Minnesota-based wind company and a group of landowners have filed a lawsuit against Knox County over the county’s decision to amend its zoning regulations and effectively kill a wind energy project.

North Fork Wind LLC of Bloomington, Minnesota, and 12 Knox County landowners filed suit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska against Knox County, its board of supervisors, planning commission and zoning administrator, as well as a group of wind energy opponents.

The action seeks declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief necessitated by Knox County’s “sudden, arbitrary and targeted more-than-three-fold increase of its setback limits from nonparticipating dwellings for wind farm developments, with the intention of banning wind energy as a viable enterprise in Knox County.”

North Fork Wind had planned a 600-megawatt commercial wind energy conversion system (CWECS) that had been under development for years and involved the investment of millions of dollars, all with the full knowledge of Knox County’s board of supervisors, planning commissioners and zoning administrator, the lawsuit alleges.

The group of landowners entered into contracts with North Fork Wind in the form of leases and easements, granting North Fork Wind the right to use their property for the wind farm in exchange for escalating rents as the farm was built and operated.

Knox County, through the actions of its officials, adopted commercially reasonable zoning regulations for CWECS in November 2023, with public notice and opportunities for the public to comment.
In early 2024, a group of people referring to themselves as the “Wind Watchers,” among others, organized opposition to the wind farm by proposing a slate of new CWECS amendments.

“The unequivocal goal of the proposed amendments was to prohibit or otherwise prevent North Fork Wind’s construction of the wind farm in Knox County,” the plaintiffs allege.

On July 24, the Knox County Board of Supervisors, at the recommendation of the planning commission, voted 5-1 to adopt a 1¼ -mile (6,600-foot) setback for wind turbines from nonparticipating dwellings, well beyond the prior setback of 2,000 feet.

The board also adopted a new requirement that North Fork Wind obtain a security bond for decommissioning the wind farm in an amount to be determined by the board, and that the company must have Knox County added as an additional insured on the company’s policies for the wind farm.

Among the reasons given by supervisors for increasing the setbacks was one supervisor saying that he opposed the wind farm because his children did not want to look at it.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants adopted the amendments to prevent the plaintiffs’ constitutionally protected use of their property in Knox County for the wind farm. The defendants are accused of violating the Contracts Clause and the Fifth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

North Fork Wind is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid Renewables Development LLC, a developer of renewable energy wind farms throughout the U.S., having developed 13 wind projects totaling more than 2,200 megawatts across six states, including Nebraska. North Fork Wind operates three of the developed facilities.

The company had been developing the Knox County wind farm since 2017. By the time the board of supervisors adopted amendments to its zoning regulations on July 24, North Fork Wind had entered into agreements with landowners in Knox County covering more than 45,000 acres, through which the company had secured property rights in the form of leases and easements for the sole purpose of constructing the wind farm.

At the time the lawsuit was filed on Friday, North Fork Wind had invested nearly $12.2 million developing the project.

Development costs accrued through several steps taken over the past seven years, one of which involved North Fork Wind securing its place in the queue with the Southwest Power Pool. To secure its queue positions for the wind farm, North Fork Wind posted financial security deposits totaling $16,765,072, of which $7,791,268 is nonrefundable.

The project has entailed $1,568,502 in lease and easement payments to landowners, in addition to more than $1 million for performing analyses needed to develop a project layout that complied with the 2023 zoning resolution and prepare associated permit applications.

According to the suit, the wind farm is anticipated to bring more than $5.8 million in payments to landowners per year (more than $115 million in payments to landowners over 20 years); $2.82 million per year in tax revenue for Knox County ($56 million over 20 years); $150,000 per year in donations to the local charitable fund ($3 million over 20 years); millions of dollars in new tax revenue; and temporary and permanent jobs to Knox County.

The total value of the wind farm is estimated to be worth more than $1.3 billion.

The plaintiffs allege that the zoning regulation amendments do not serve a public purpose but instead contravene express federal, state and local policies supporting renewable energy production.

“By adopting, sustaining and enforcing the amendments, which effectively prevent the use of land in Knox County for the wind farm, defendants, acting under color of state law, have deprived plaintiffs of their constitutionally protected property interests without just compensation,” the suit states.

Among the relief sought by the plaintiffs are the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from enforcing or attempting to enforce the amendments, as well as requiring the board of supervisors, zoning administrator and the planning commissioners to make a public record canceling and nullifying the amendments.

The plaintiffs also are seeking damages and attorneys’ fees.

The suit comes at a time where Madison County is amid a four-month wind turbine moratorium in which the county’s board of commissioners are considering changing existing zoning regulations, which are conducive to wind farm development.

Multiple wind energy companies have invested in the development of wind projects in Madison County in compliance with zoning regulations adopted by the Madison County Board of Commissioners in 2018.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of wind energy opponents, as well as proponents, are expected to attend Tuesday’s board of commissioners meeting to voice their opinions as to the pros and cons of wind development in the area.

The board will consider whether to send the county’s existing zoning regulations back to the planning commission for amendment recommendations. In July, the planning commission voted not to consider changing the regulations.