Turbines imperiled by shifting political winds
After
seven years of development, controversy and exhaustive legal
examination, the two wind farms planned for Champaign County might soon
be put on the scrap heap because of recent state legislation that
discourages their construction.
It’s
too soon to say for certain because the proposed projects continue to
be affected by ambiguity on many fronts, but EverPower’s comments to the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday sounded like the beginning of the end of Buckeye Wind.
“It’s
clear this development isn’t wanted here … and it gives us less
confidence in where Ohio is moving forward,” Michael Speerschneider,
EverPower’s chief permitting and public-policy officer, told the Dispatch. “We’ll take that message to heart.”
After Gov. John Kasich signed legislation on Friday
that stops increases in requirements for the use of renewable energy,
such as solar and wind, the prospect of any new large-scale wind
development in the state probably is gone. The legislation also repealed
a rule that had required utilities to get half of their renewable
energy from in-state sources. That component has been key to making
Ohio-produced wind energy competitive with that in cheaper markets to
the west.
Making
the wind farms appear to be even more of a long-shot now is an
amendment to Ohio’s midyear budget-review bill that will lengthen the
proposed setbacks between wind turbines and adjacent properties. The
amendment fundamentally shifts where wind turbines can be built. State
law specifies that turbines must be at least 1,250 feet from the nearest
house. The new amendment measures that distance from the nearest
property line rather than the building. Lengthening the setbacks makes
it less feasible to concentrate turbines in one area and too expensive
to connect them all to the power grid. Kasich’s office hasn’t said
whether the governor will veto the increased setback amendment. Wind
energy proponents say if Kasich allows the longer setback distance, it
will be the end of the line for the wind industry.
Senate
President Keith Faber, a Celina Republican, and Sen. Bill Seitz, a
Cincinnati Republican, support the amendment and have said it is crucial
to protecting private-property rights of people who do not want a
turbine near their land.
According to the Dispatch,
as written, the setback legislation appears to grandfather in approved
projects such as EverPower’s Buckeye Wind project in Champaign County
and its Scioto Ridge project of 176 turbines in Hardin and Logan
counties. Both were designed with setbacks measured from neighboring
structures.
But Speerschneider told the Dispatch
it is unclear whether any of the approved projects can move forward
after the renewable energy freeze; any deadline extensions or changes in
plans might require the company to adhere to the new setbacks. He said
it probably will take a legal challenge to sort the issues out and,
after having spent an estimated $10 million to plan, design and engineer
its projects, EverPower would have to decide whether the fight would be
worth it.
These
definitions for what should limit or encourage wind development in Ohio
are particularly confusing and annoying for residents of Champaign
County. Institutions here, including the Champaign County Prosecutor’s
Office, the city of Urbana and the Urbana Daily Citizen, have
incurred extreme amounts of staff time and expenses to continue
participating in and covering the developments of these proposed wind
farms since 2007. In addition, opponents of the wind farms have spent a
small fortune attempting to either stop the wind farms’ construction or
put severe limitations on them. EverPower has spent significant time and
money lobbying in Columbus throughout this process in order to keep
Ohio’s terms as friendly to their speculative venture as what was put in
place under former Gov. Ted Strickland.
Speerschneider’s comments to the Dispatch
are more of the same attempts to manipulate the message in the capital
city’s major media in order to keep the project viable in Ohio.
EverPower has a history of trying to broadly affect popular opinion by
sounding the alarm about any limitations on its projects. Such activity
is understandably aimed at preserving EverPower’s business model.
The
sad reality is that Champaign County continues to be stuck in limbo as
the legal boundaries change with the political winds. Whether or not the
wind farms are built here, there will be a sector of this community
that feels hurt, betrayed and bitter. It will be another finger-pointing
chapter in Champaign County’s history, much like the folklore that
surrounds whose fault it was the 68 bypass was stunted decades ago and
why other major industries never located here.
The
most painful question now is which sector of our community will
consider itself the loser in this wind saga – an exhausting drama that
has yet to result in any of the millions of dollars in local government
revenue or private-sector economic activity that has been used
throughout to sell it here. To date, the only measurable result of this
seven-year process so far has been mounting expenses and acrimony. We
would like to exit purgatory now. Perhaps our escape is nearer now.
