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 moratorium, which the board passed Tuesday night with a 17-2 vote, will block construction of wind turbines that generate electricity for six months or until a wind power ordinance is passed. The County Board needs more time to iron out an ordinance that would put size and setback limits on turbine projects, and could force them to stay a certain distance from protected environmental areas, said County Corporation Counsel Melody Buchinger.

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.