Calumet County in Wisconsin Bans Wind Turbines
May 19 - Daily Reporter (Milwaukee)
Calumet County banned all construction of wind turbines until the County Board can find consensus on regulating such projects in the future.
The draft ordinance would require meetings between nearby property owners and
the turbine developer, require applicants to file a $20,000 bond per proposed
turbine and block construction within 1,000 feet of a municipal border.
The county is having trouble drafting an ordinance that meets a state law
passed in the late 1990s that limited local governments' ability to regulate
solar and wind energy systems. Buchinger said the state law was crafted to
ensure local governments don't get in the way of wind-turbine projects.
She cited a 2001 state court of appeals decision that threw out Mequon's
rejection of a turbine project because of neighbors' opposition and concerns
about its impact on property values and local land use policy.
Law in Wisconsin is that we're supposed to let these things go up, Buchinger
said.
She said some forms of the Calumet ordinance under discussion could, in
effect, block all new wind turbine construction in the county.
That will be problematic from a legal point of view, she said.
More turbines ahead?
Some members of the County Board say they're pursuing the ordinance because
of local fears that turbines would sprout on a bluff overlooking Lake Winnebago.
About six years ago, Madison Gas & Electric unsuccessfully proposed building
a wind farm on the Niagara Escarpment, a bluff on the eastern shore of Lake
Winnebago in the town of Stockbridge that is part of the rock formation that
culminates with Niagara Falls.
Recently, a private land owner in the area built a single turbine on the
escarpment and rekindled the fear of wind farms.
We knew this issue was out there a long time ago, and it wasn't until we got
a gun to the head that we started to put together an ordinance, said Supervisor
Brian Leonhardt. People are saying that if you stick a bunch of windmills up
there, it will interrupt the quote, unquote beauty of Lake Winnebago.
Supervisor Steven Phipps, who represents parts of the town of Stockbridge,
questioned why the ordinance was in the works now, years after the MG&E
scare. He said he's waiting for his constituents to say whether they support the
wind-farm regulations or not. However, he noted that the town had its own
moratorium on turbine construction that it let expire, indicating maybe the town
residents don't mind the idea of a wind farm on the Niagara Escarpment.
It's the first time the county has grasped the subject, Phipps said. This
issue is six or seven years old, why did they only choose to pick it up now? I
don't know.
The only large wind-turbine project proposed in Calumet County is Midwest
Wind Energy LLC's 54 megawatt Bulter Ridge wind farm. We Energies would purchase
power from the farm. Representatives from Midwest Wind were not available for
comment, but We Energies spokeswoman Wendy Parks said the utility was still
pursuing its deal to purchase power from Midwest Energy.