By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Letter to the Editor: County should consider more issues on wind project
Letter To The Editor

From Cindy Blanc

Juda, Jefferson Township

To the editor:

An application for an industrial wind project is currently being considered by Green County Zoning Administrator Adam Wiegel.

In addition to concerns about incompatible zoning, loss of property value, and the wind developer’s track record, there are several other issues the county needs to consider when deciding whether to approve or deny this application.


1. The financial risks to the county are too great to approve this project. 

Highland Wind, a similar project proposed for St. Croix County, was developed by Emerging Energies of Wisconsin. It has already changed ownership twice. Highland Wind is now foreign-owned by company from Toronto, Canada.

What assurances do we have that Green County assets and resident interests will not be bought and sold on the market at the whim of the wind developer? And to the next owner, and the next?

As wind projects are flipped from owner to owner, what assurances will the county have that a decommissioning agreement will be honored? Or its road use agreement?

2. The nuisance risks to the county are too great to approve this project. 

Noise, infrasound and shadow flicker will be generated by these twenty-four 499-foot industrial installations. The project should be denied based on modeling information contained in the project application.

Of 197 modeled noise and shadow flicker predictions, the application shows that only 33 of them are on “participating” properties (Appendix C, pp.11-15). On paper, this industrial wind project will exceed shadow flicker standards and, in real time, may exceed noise standards as well.

3. The risks of believing everything the applicant puts forth is too great to approve this project.

Green County must weigh heavily the benefits of requested pre- and post-construction studies. Test results would increase county officials’ knowledge of the project’s impacts on county assets and residents.

Related to that, a complaint resolution plan must be established, and that plan must include at least one member of the County Board to field the complaints and communicate with EDF. The complaint resolution process should not be put solely upon affected residents.

Green County must be willing to enforce what it permits.