Officials hold off on any wind decisions

Residents who want local lawmakers to take a more active role in Goodhue County wind energy development will have to continue waiting for answers.

Goodhue County Planning Advisory Commission members will take a month to absorb comments and information from Monday's five-hour meeting before discussing an application from rural Goodhue landowners Steve Groth and Paul Reese.

Groth and Reese want the board to amend the county's zoning ordinance to better address wind farms and implement at year-long moratorium on wind development to further study possible health and safety concerns associated with industrial turbines.

Groth and Reese are proposing commissioners clarify the level of detail required in wind energy applications. They also want the PAC to increase setbacks between turbines and non-participating dwellings from the state-mandated 750 feet to 3,168 feet.

"You folks are part of government. What is the government's role? To protect life and property," Groth told PAC members at Tuesday's meeting. "It's everybody's life. Not just those who own more land ... or who are younger or healthier. It's everyone.

"What's more important? The project or people's lives and livelihoods?"

Wind development has divided rural Goodhue residents ever since wind companies like AWA Goodhue and Geronimo Wind began showing interest in the area several years ago.

Opponents say wind turbines pose health and safety risks, decrease property values and could harm livestock and wildlife. Supporters say wind developments will bring money and jobs to the area and give farmers another form of income.

AWA Goodhue has already filed an application with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to build 52 turbines over 32,000 acres across five Goodhue County townships. The company wants to begin construction this year.

But concerned residents - many of whom are members of a grass-roots group dubbed Goodhue Wind Truth - want county officials to implement a moratorium on construction to gather more information and better understand health, safety and other effects from wind turbines.

Members of Goodhue Wind Truth say there is already enough research - much of it provided by the Minnesota Department of Health - to back their request for increased setbacks.

The DOH did find that complaints about health and safety issues surrounding turbines are reduced when setbacks are at least 3,168 feet.

"I don't think this proposed amendment or ordinance change has anything to do with doing away with wind energy. That's not what this is about," said Dan Schleck, an attorney representing Groth and Reese. "This is about making sure everyone has the right information before making a decision."

County officials are hesitant to make any decisions, however.

State law allows counties to impose stricter standards - setbacks, for instance - on wind farms between 5 and 25 megawatts.

County officials claim if they take that route state officials have told them they must then also assume regulatory and permitting authority for those projects, a step some county commissioners have said they are unwilling to take due to cost and staffing concerns.

If the county chose to become more involved in medium-size projects, the Public Utilities Commission would be obligated to consider the county's more stringent standards when considering permits for projects as large as AWA Goodhue's.

I don't really care to be on the cutting edge ... and be wrapped up in court for 20 years," said Dan Rechtzigel, the County Board's representative on the PAC. "I need to know that there really is true authority and that we're not being sent on a wild goose chase."

Schleck said county officials and legal staff are misinterpreting the law. He suggested Goodhue County seek out an opinion from the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

"There is a lot of misinformation going around in respect to what the authority of the county is," Schleck said.

Wind company representatives argue Groth and Reese's proposed zoning changes are unrealistic and unfairly punish wind.

National Wind representatives Ben Kerl and Pat Pelstring both said Tuesday that a moratorium would likely spell disaster for their project. National Wind manages AWA Goodhue.

"I'm not saying (a moratorium) would kill our project but it could be very problematic," Kerl said.

Pelstring agreed.

"This industry goes away in Minnesota if we go to a half-mile setback," he said. "So you have to be very careful about the precedent you set."

The PAC will take up the wind issue again at its next meeting 7 p.m. April 19.

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