For second time, Minnesota’s Swift County rejects wind power moratorium – West Central Tribune

BENSON — For the second time, the Swift County Board of Commissioners has rejected calls for a moratorium on wind power development.

A motion by Commissioner Larry Mahoney of Appleton calling for a moratorium of up to a year was defeated by a second motion and failed because of the consequences. The commissioner made the request Tuesday after about two dozen people attended the commissioner meeting. Eight commented, some supporting and others opposing a moratorium.

Commissioners previously rejected calls for a wind power moratorium in May. They decided instead to create a renewable energy committee to review the county’s nearly two-decade-old wind and solar energy ordinance. This committee has met twice and will continue to meet, but there is no set schedule to make recommendations, according to information at the meeting.

When he made his motion in support of a moratorium, Mahoney said there were 410 signatures on a petition calling for a moratorium. A major renewable energy company, Apex Clean Energy, is proposing a potential 400-megawatt wind farm in western Swift County.

It would provide power to the electric grid by connecting to a planned 345-kilovolt transmission line that Otter Tail Power and Missouri River Energy Systems plan to build as the Big Stone South to Alexandria project.

“My comment is this,” Mahoney said when introducing his proposal. “Whether it was Jennifer, Tyler, Scott, Bernard or Dennis, the reaction was almost the same. They are stunned, disbelieving, clueless and then upset when they learn that a contract has been signed for wind around their home.”

He said the county’s environmental director told commissioners last spring that “wind can divide a community, and it has.”

Marilyn Anderson of Appleton was among the citizens calling for a moratorium.

“We know the turbines are coming, but we don’t want them on our front steps,” she said.

A moratorium would give the county time to address revising setback regulations to protect residents and property owners, she and others told commissioners.

Opponents of a moratorium pointed out that the county has already begun reviewing its renewable energy ordinance to account for the larger sizes of today’s wind turbines. They also noted that utility-scale projects like the Junegrass Wind project proposed by Apex Clean Energy in Swift County are approved by the state, not the local government.

Bonita Ascheman, from Holloway, was among those who spoke out against a moratorium. She said the people who signed the petition asking for a moratorium were not informed or aware that the county already had a committee looking into possible changes. She said the negativity toward wind power is “unfair and dangerous” for the county.

Dan Smith, also from Holloway, said wind power was an important economic development opportunity in the county. He noted that there had been too much fearmongering and said state regulators were doing a thorough job using setbacks and other rules to protect residents. He compared the current resistance to wind power to the resistance faced by agricultural irrigation in the 1970s.

“Very controversial, we understand that,” Commissioner Gary Hendrickx of Appleton said of the county’s wind power problem. He thanked those who voiced opinions on both sides and said the county would “do our due diligence” in reviewing its ordinances.

Apex Clean Energy representative Anna Hays said the company was aware of the sensitivity of the issue in the county. The company plans to present its proposed Junegrass Wind project to the Swift County Board in the near future. An office will open in Benson in a few weeks.

She also emphasized that there is a lot of time to work to ensure the best for the community. According to Hays, current plans for the project do not call for the first turbine to be built until 2030.