Commissioners Ralph Miller and Rodney Bounds raised opposition to a routine application for a Conditional Use Permit and turned the Wadena County Board’s discussion into a criticism of wind energy at their Aug. 3 meeting.

Russel and Susan Nystrom requested the permit to put up one wind turbine on their property in Section 8 of Aldrich Township. The Wadena County Planning Commission recommended approval. The proposed 1.65 MW wind turbine would provide electricity for 350 homes.

The Nystroms’ wind turbine would be the first one permitted in Wadena County. Hundreds of wind turbines are already in private and commercial use in Minnesota. The closest one to the City of Wadena is on U.S. Highway 71 near Hewitt.

Appearing on behalf of the Nystroms were the wind turbine contractors, Bob Christensen and Mark Thyron of Private Energy Systems, Inc., Oakdale. They explained how they had evaluated the proposed site and designed the turbine project so that all the requirements of the Wadena County Land Use Control Ordinance would be met.

Tim Pavek of Todd Wadena Electric Co-op said the Nystroms had contacted the utility about an agreement to sell the electricity generated. Negotiations had not been completed, he said.

It was pointed out acknowledging a request to negotiate an agreement did not guarantee that power would be purchased by Todd-Wadena Electric Co-op.

Christensen explained that the utility company could not proceed with an agreement until the CUP was in place.

Pavek said that Great River Energy, the umbrella company for the 28 electric co-ops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, will be able to meet the Minnesota requirement to generate 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2025 and will meet it by the year 2020. Therefore, the local co-ops are not in a hurry to sign up more wind turbines to generate power locally. However, he knows that local power generation is an important key to Minnesota’s energy future.

Commissioner Ralph Miller said he had been approached by two of his constituents who were opposed to the application. Chuck and Lorrinda Davis said they were neighbors whose property is across the street from the Nystroms’ proposed wind turbine site. Miller said that the Davises had provided him with “the facts” about wind turbines and their dangers.

When asked by Miller, County Assessor Lee Brekke said there were no county tax consequences, because the county assessors he talked to did not change the assessment of the property where wind turbines were installed. If the turbine was installed in a cornfield, for example, the property continued to be assessed as a cornfield. The presence of the turbine would not change the value of the land.

Miller interpreted this as a disadvantage of project because the county would not benefit from increased property taxes.

Chuck Davis read a list of reasons why he was opposed to the wind turbine project.

First, he said that the CUP application was not complete because it did not include a signed agreement with an electric utility to purchase the electricity.

Second, he said that the escrow fund that the Wadena County Land Use Control Ordinance requires ($3,000) is too small.

Next he disagreed with the ordinance’s setback requirements (400 feet from the nearest residence), and quoted from a book which says the setbacks should be 7,000 feet.

Fourth, he told about information he had found that discussed “devastating consequences” to the health of people who lived near wind farms, and referred to the book Wind Turbine Syndrome and the website www.wind-watch. org. The wind turbines were said to affect people’s hearing and heart rhythm.

Finally, since there would be no additional property taxes paid to Wadena County, he said the wind turbine project was not fair to the county.

Lorrinda Davis said she investigated wind energy and found that it was not feasible as an energy alternative because the wind does not blow all the time.

Then she said she had seen a bald eagle on her property and she read from a statute that provided penalties for disturbing the nesting sites of bald eagles. She seemed to believe that the wind turbine project would disturb a nest site, although she presented no information about a nest site on the Nystroms’ property.

Finally, she said the wind turbine would cause health problems due to the low frequency sound waves and vibrations that a turbine generates.

Commissioner Miller followed the Davises comments by stating his concerns about road damage that he believed would be caused by the delivery of the turbine equipment and the concrete to create the foundation. Christensen explained the precautions that his company takes to prevent road damage and that any damage would be repaired if it occurred.

Miller also raised concerns about the FAA and public and private airfields that the turbine might interfere with. Christensen and Thyron explained that the FAA had been contacted and were aware of the project.

Board Chair Bill Stearns called for the end to public comment and asked for discussion by board members.

Miller called for the CUP to be denied.

Commissioner Rodney Bounds gave his opinion against the wind turbine

saying that more research

was needed. He asked, “What do we want as a

county? Do we want these things in our county?”

Since there were no wind turbines in the county so far, he said that they should not be allowed until more research was done on their effects. He said that the people on the Planning Commission did not have the expertise to evaluate applications for wind turbines. He also said that wind turbines should not be sited near a river or near woods, but gave no reasons for this.

Planning and Zoning Director Skov disagreed with a number of things said by Miller and Bounds and attempted to provide information to rebut their assertions but was repeatedly interrupted by the commissioners.

Christensen and Thyron asked if they could have a copy of the “facts” that were given to Miller and Miller referred them to the Davises. Christensen and

Thyron were not given the

opportunity to dispute the “facts” that the Davises

gave Miller, or to know what they were.

Stearns said that the CUP application had to be acted upon within 60 days of its presentation. Since it was dated June 29, it had to be acted upon by Aug. 29. He suggested that it be tabled until the board’s next meeting on Aug. 19, so the county attorney could be consulted about whether the application for a CUP could be denied by the county board, even though the application met all the county’s criteria for approval, and other issues that the county attorney might see.

Skov offered to meet with the county attorney along with Bounds, who is the board liaison to the Planning and Zoning Department, and bring back the county attorney’s opinion to the board. Stearns wanted the county attorney to attend the meeting on Aug. 19.

Stearns said no additional testimony would be taken on Aug. 19.

In other business, the board:

o APPROVED the application for a CUP by Jeffrey and Teresa DeGeest to operate a daycare in Section 24 of Thomastown Township.

o APPROVED a resolution requested by Kari Tomperi of the Wadena County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) to coordinate the five-year review of the county’s water plan.

o APPROVED a draft notice from the Solid Waste Department to be published in August to announce the closing of the emergency tornado debris management site on Oct. 2.

o APPROVED the request of the Solid Waste Department to require a credit application from transfer station commercial haulers bringing tornado debris after Aug. 12.

o APPROVEd the purchase of GPS survey equipment for the Highway Department. The County Recorder’s Technology Fund will pay the $52,082 cost of the equipment from Frontier Precision, Inc., by state bid. The equipment will benefit several departments by streamlining their work and improving accuracy of parcel boundaries.