There has been a lot of talk about natural renewable energy sources around the world. Locally, the power from wind turbine farms is what some of the people in Burt County are talking about.
The decision of whether or not Burt County wants a wind farm here is turning out to be a subject with concerns and, at times, a heated debate.
“I think that if people just got the facts that they can trust, it would help them to make the decision they are comfortable with,” said Graham Christensen, president and founder of GC Resolve said.
GC Resolve is a communication and consulting company that focuses on helping communities and the environment through agriculture. They are strong supporters of having a wind farm in Burt County.
“My primary concern is the state of the farm economy and that's always been part of the conversation of the wind group,” Christensen said.
The wind group is based on 22 different farm families spread across the county. Every town is represented based on the farm address and location. “Diversification of revenues, getting new revenues into these areas, and new payments for farmers has always been something that we figured would help the whole community immensely."
The amount of revenue that would be brought into Burt County will not be determined until contract negotiations happen between Burt County and different companies. By taking data from other counties, such as Madison, that have similar wind farms, organizations like Burt County Wind LLC can build revenue models that would bring Burt County residents approximate numbers to look at.
“The projects would pay a real property tax amount of about $3,108 per MW (megawatt), which for this project would be $233,100 annually and $4.66 million over 20 years,” Christensen said.
The opposition of the wind farm believes the potential of roughly $300,000 a year wouldn’t make that big of a difference compared to potential struggles and impacts that it could have on the county.
“There are companies in Burt County such as AT&T that owe millions in back property taxes. We need to clean house before we consider bringing in another big company. We can tighten our belt just a little to make up the difference from not building a wind farm,” Oakland landowner Robert Byrnes said.
Some who are opposed to the wind turbine farms, like Byrnes, are looking at it differently with health concerns being one of the top reasons why they don’t want the wind turbines in Burt County.
“One of the key health concerns is vibrations,” Byrnes said.
The vibrations that they feel would be present would be transmitted into the ground from the inner workings of the turbines. They feel there is a lack of credible information that shows the long-term effects of vibrations. Byrnes, along with some others, feel that the information needs to be researched before the county commits to anything.
“I think until we see that credible science confirms that the long-term effects are safe, we should err on the side of caution,” Byrnes said.
“We have the research and facts from credible sources that state that the impact on health from wind energy is almost non-existent. We are willing to share it with anyone that would like to see it and check it’s validity,” Christensen said.
Bird Swanson, Supervisor of District 6, confirmed the subject of the turbines in Burt County has not made it to the county Board of Supervisors.
“As of now the project is in the zoning and permitting stages, and after that, we go to the Board with our recommendations where they have a public hearing. Then they start setting up the regulations,” Christensen explained.
The one thing that everyone can agree on is that re-purposing or recycling wind turbines is something that will need to be addressed. To date, there is no good way of doing this.
While people for the wind farm like Christensen are optimistic about this challenge, the opposition sees it as another reason Burt County should hold back and wait until more plans and information come to the surface.
“While the repurposing and recycling of the decommissioned turbines are a concern at the moment. This will make a great opportunity for the next generation to make a business out of,” Christensen said.
“I am not totally opposed to windmills coming to Burt County, I have one on my own property. I just think we need to be cautious and better educated about it,” Byrnes said.
Burt County seems to be divided on bringing in wind turbines for many reasons. However, both sides want to do what is best for the county, and that is going to take the sharing of information on both sides.
“With COVID restriction starting to lessen, hopefully, we can start having town meetings and informational gatherings so the public can make an informed opinion on wind energy,” Christensen concluded.
