What I want
I live in the proposed Goodhue Wind project area. I want what all people expect to be their right. I want to feel safe in my home. I want to continue to enjoy my quiet rural property without the noise from wind turbines or the shadow of a wind turbine falling on my property or on my house. I have worked hard all my life. My property is my single most important possession. What right does anyone have to threaten me by erecting something on their property that will destroy the peace and quiet of my home? Wind developers plan to erect turbines surrounding my home on all sides without my permission. The Goodhue County Commissioners refuse to protect me. They refuse to even acknowledge that industrial wind development is a threat.
The Goodhue County Board has failed to understand the magnitude of the impact that Industrial Wind will have on area residents or the county as a whole. It is their duty to protect the rights of all citizens. The board continues to fail to acknowledge the concerns of the overwhelming majority of citizens who are only demanding caution and consideration of their rights and the risk to their health and property value.
The Goodhue County Planning Advisory Commission appointed a subcommittee to draft a wind turbine ordinance that would protect resident’s health and property rights. The members of the subcommittee worked very hard to arrive at language that will mitigate many of the problems caused by large turbines. The new ordinance is not perfect, non-participants are still expected to put up with noise levels that will mean the turbines will still be heard in our yards outside our homes. The PAC should recommend that the County Commissioners adopt the new wind turbine ordinance.
The Belle Creek township board realized the legitimate concerns of majority of area residents and enacted a moratorium to study wind development problems with the goal of protecting the people with proper setbacks from homes for all wind turbines. Why has Goodhue County failed to do so? I believe in wind energy but I would never erect a 400-foot tall wind turbine 1500 ft from my neighbor. Adequate setbacks are needed to protect all people who will live near turbines for the next sixty years. All citizens are expected to obey the laws and pay their taxes. Is it to much to expect our government to fulfill their responsibility to protect our basic rights?
Rick Conrad
Comments About C-BED Siting and Need
To Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman
Regarding the Certificate of Need and the environmental impacts and siting of National Wind’s proposed Goodhue Minnesota wind project. Dockets 08-1233 and 09-1186
C-Bed status for this project should be revoked on multiple grounds. One at the time that Goodhue Wind requested a C-bed resolution of support in 2008, the C-bed rules required that investors living in the local jurisdiction granting the resolution own 51 percent of the project. Two that no single investor could own more than 15 percent of the project. Three Goodhue Wind LLC only allowed local investments to investors capable of investing more than ten thousand dollars unless they were signing over their wind rights then they could invest their one thousand dollar signing bonus as a minimum investment amount. Neither the 51 percent ownership requirement nor the 15 percent limit to any single owner were met. If changing of the C-bed requirements by the legislature in 2009 justifies the C-bed status of Goodhue Wind retroactively, could you not also pass a law in 2009 against something that was done in 2008, then prosecute people for past deeds?
When I asked National Wind whether their primary reason for seeking C-bed status was the preferential treatment that C-bed projects got from permitting authorities or the additional revenue available to C-bed projects Chuck Burdick stated neither. If Chuck was telling the truth then they do not need C-bed Status and have not earned it. If National wind truly had the community support that they claimed, they would have signed more than half the land in their footprint. They have signed less than half the land in their footprint. There is only a small percentage of local ownership probably around 3 or 4 percent in the footprint. If their C-bed resolution of Support is dated 2008 the rules and laws that were valid at that time should determine their C-bed Status. Not the current C-bed rules that almost appear to be written to fix problems like the one that National Wind has with their C-bed status. The fourth and I believe most important reason that this project should not be considered C-BED. Before seeking a C-BED Resolution of Support from Goodhue County, National Wind should have worked much harder to enlist local support for their project. They did not do so. They sought only the appearance of being C-BED to promote their project as popular and supported by the community. The community does not support it. An overwhelming majority of local people have concerns about this project or strongly oppose it. In addition, C-bed status cannot be conferred on this project by the endorsement of the lame duck Senator Murphy who chose not to run for office and will not represent the people of this area again unless the Governor calls a special session of the Minnesota Legislature. Senator Murphy’s opinion should be considered as only what it is, the personal opinion of an individual citizen. Mr. Murphy does not live within the project area and to my knowledge, he holds no financial investment in this project. I do not understand why he is promoting this project as community based.
Goodhue County is hard at work updating its wind turbine ordinance. Local elected officials and Minnesota State elected officials up to and including the Governor will change this November. This could affect the makeup of the Goodhue County Board, the makeup of the PUC and the makeup or even the existence of the OES. Why move this project forward under these conditions? This project is far from the perfect wind energy project. It is being squeezed into a far too populated area. Any problems with this project will be well documented by the local Goodhue Wind Truth organization.
I have heard that wind developers are now claiming that turbines are considered temporary and not permanent structures. Buffer zones around towns will not be necessary as turbines that obstruct expansion of towns can always be relocated. Will turbines that do not meet updated ordinance setbacks also be considered temporary structures able to be relocated and if so at whose expense?
Wind developers have brought too little to the table. The only two things that wind developers appear to be offering is the ability to negotiate purchase power agreements and a ready supply of deep pocket investors. Farmers can and will develop their own wind energy resources if the State of Minnesota would support its own farmers and rural landowners as strongly as the state has supported corporate wind developers like National Wind. A 250 million dollar wind project that was owned by local farmers and area residents (a truly C-BED project) would do just as much to meet Xcel energy’s need for renewable energy. It would benefit local landowners many times more than the proposed project. And it might even enjoy local support. This project is viewed as being crammed down our throats by the state and the mandate for renewable energy. Local people will never be happy with this project. It offers too little and threatens the health and well-being of individuals and the community.
I personally believe that the renewable energy mandate that utilities get 25 percent of their generation from alternative sources is necessary to stimulate alternative energy development. But I question why the mandate was amended to require that so much of the renewable power come from industrial wind. There is just as much if not more potential to meet this mandate by assisting homeowners who want to install solar collectors at their residences and larger solar collector systems installed in rural areas would have much less impact on local residents. Even smaller more acceptably sized wind conversion systems installed at rural locations and on farmers would have fewer impacts on rural residents. The state should act to limit the involvement of for profit corporations and redirection the alternative energy incentives to local homeowners and local landowners. The MOES’s mission should be to insure the energy security for the benefit of the people of Minnesota, and not concern itself with how that mission might affect the profitability of any energy producing utility. Permitting this project at this time limits the potential of the homeowners and landowners of this state to profit from the alternative energy movement.
Mr. Larry Hartman of the OES revealed during the Goodhue hearing that it might be possible for Xcel Energy to acquire ownership of the Goodhue wind project at some point in the future. If that happens then utility ownership could allow them to expand this project using Eminent Domain to take wind rights and turbine sites from local landowners. This project is crammed into too small a space because local landowners did not see enough benefit in signing onto National Wind’s Goodhue project and they are still very concerned about how this project will affect their property rights their farming practices and their lives and livelihoods. Permitting this project under current conditions with current state setbacks will set the standards for wind development in Goodhue County and possibly all of Minnesota. Also, it may set the price that local people are paid for their wind rights. Goodhue County is still in the process to developing setback language for its wind turbine ordinance that will deal fairly with wind conversion systems of any size. This is a very complicated problem and we are attempting to solve it. If anyone can solve this problem fairly I believe that we in Goodhue County will. This project places the property rights and possibly even the lives of people living near it in jeopardy. There is no overwhelming need to move this project forward except the conditions of the PPA agreements, which require that the project be in production before the end of 2010, and the PUC’s own timeline requirement to complete the permitting process in one year. The need if any need exists for doing this project is based upon the renewable energy standard, if there is valid need delaying this project for a year or less will not affect that need. The PPA’s can be renegoiatated. The PUC can take action to extend the permit process or start the permit process over again. There is no need to permit this project with all the problems it currently poses to the citizens living in the footprint. Permitting this project will only increase local resistance to wind energy development. The problems posed to area residents will eventually require solutions. These solutions will possibly affect the profitability of this project and the output of electricity from this project. It makes much more sense to solve the public image problems that wind energy is now facing than to push forward with another bad project crammed into too few acres because National Wind never really ever got the support of the majority of the landowners and residents in the footprint. I believe that cooperation and understanding and proper compensation and property value assurance are all necessary elements of successful wind development. Obviously, National Wind does not share my belief.
Rick Conrad 2 Aug 2010
Possibility of Eminent Domain
Your Honor Eric Lipman
I would like to take one more opportunity during this comment period to express my concern about the possibility of ownership of and or control of the Goodhue wind projects falling into the hands of Xcel Energy. I think that this possibility must not be allowed. If this project moves forward it must be under the condition that Eminent Domain will never be used to expand this project in any way. This project cannot be allowed to set the standards for wind development in any way. Or limit the potential income from wind rights that private land owners now enjoy. I believe many area residents did not sign contracts with National Wind for three primary reasons. The compensation offered for wind rights was too low, the contracts were unjustifiably long, and too much control and too many property rights are given up if you sign.
I believe the landowners that signed were takings risks. If they knew of all the risks they were taking, they had the right to take these risks. But the risks that a small number of landowners took should not be conveyed to all local landowners. Our potential wind rights income should not be limited or stripped from us by the decisions of our neighbors. It must be stipulated now that no one not even Excel Energy will ever be allowed to use Eminent Domain to expand expand this project.
Rick Conrad 5 Aug 2010
talk2rickconrad@aol.com
Goodhue County’s Progress towards enacting an improved Wind Turbine Ordinance
I have attended several of the subcommittee meetings to update the Goodhue County Wind Ordinance. It is apparent that this is a very complicated issue. The subcommittee appears dedicated to producing an ordinance that will allow wind energy development and protect the citizens of Goodhue County. I believe that if they were given enough time and were not under pressure from the wind developers, the OES, and the PUC they would produce Wind Ordinance language that all parties involved could live with.
I believe that there is one major problem with how the subcommittee is proceeding. The subcommittee appears to have adopted the position that any language in their new ordinance that adversely affects the AWA Goodhue wind project will not be enforceable. This attitude presupposes that AWA Goodhue is an excellent project being done by developers who would not dream of doing anything to harm the County or its citizens. AWA Goodhue should not be allowed to set the standards for wind energy development in Goodhue County. The standards need to be set by our citizens who will live with the adverse effects that could result. There is too much at stake. I am not opposed to wind development. I see great potential for wind development in the future. I would like every farmer to be able to erect wind turbines on their land and hook them to the electrical grid, if they so desire. I believe the County should not only be concerned about possible adverse effects from wind projects, the County should be pursuing a strategy for alternative energy development that will insure the majority of the benefits from these projects remain inside the County.
It is obvious to me that we need more time to consider and develop appropriate ordinance language and to hold public hearings to prove that the ordinance language is acceptable. I ask that the Planning Advisory Commission recommend that the Goodhue County Commissioners request more time from the Minnesota PUC to develop and adopt an ordinance that will be acceptable to the citizens of Goodhue County. And I ask that the Planning Advisory Commission encourage the subcommittee to press forward with their difficult task.
Rick Conrad 19 Jul 2010
P. S. I beleive the most appropriate setbacks proposed to date is the ten rotor diameters setback from non-participants brought forward by Steve Groth, Paul Reese and Erin Logan. This language treats all turbines equally and addresses the issue that size does matter in a simple straight forward manner.
Why is the State Backing Industrial Wind?
The problems with Industrial Wind.
Industrial Wind will do little or nothing to reduce carbon emissions or our reliance on conventional fuels. The wind cannot be trusted to blow on demand. While there is plenty of energy in the wind, unless you can store it until needed you get little net energy gain from erecting industrial size turbines. Nameplate megawatt sizes on turbines reflect their maximum instantaneous generating capacity they actually only generate about a third of the nameplate value and then only when the wind blows. One megawatt of installed industrial wind will yield about a third of megawatt of electricity and only if you have a way store the electric and release it during demand conditions. Without the capability to store the electricity you get even less net gain possibly even no net gain.
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The BIG problem.
The big problem with industrial wind is the turbines are too large, too loud and placed too close to the homes of citizens by wind developers seeking to maximize their profits which come mostly from incentives paid out of our tax dollars. Peoples main objections to industrial wind could be eliminated by reasonable set backs or much more stringent siting and noise requirements. The very idea that a 50 db sound limit should be acceptable to me when I currently enjoy a background sound level that is much lower is a personal insult to myself and most other rural residents. CBED was meant to address many of the siting problems. It doesn’t because local ownership is not required and enforced. Working with only a few local people who own large tracts of land wind developers are taking advantage all the other people that live in our community. A very large percentage of the people living in this area reside on small acre parcels and pay very high property taxes anything that adversely affects their property values will eventual affect the entire County. We are not fighting wind energy development. We are fighting to protect our homes and our families. We must have safe setbacks of at least the .6 mile recommended by many sources including the Minnesota Health Department.
Other Alternatives.
Solar projects would be safer, quieter, and be a better match to needs. While a 79 Megawatt wind energy project requires control and wind rights to ten thousand acres , a similar size solar energy project could be done on as little as ten to twenty acres. The real opportunity for alternative energy for the future and broader based economic development is solar cell roofing materials which even people living in town could use to lower their net energy demand on the grid or even sell excess home owner generated electricity to the grid. I see great hope for wind energy in the future. But done with smaller more durable and less intrusive technology. While larger turbines seem to offer greater performance efficiencies the turbines are also operating near the outside performance envelope of the materials used to construct them, this means that they will be less sustainable, require more maintenance, and pose greater risks of accidents to anyone living close to them.
The REAL problem.
Anyone armed with a sharp pencil and a list of facts about wind energy conversion can easily show it just does not make economic sense. Why are so many wind developers trying to do projects in Goodhue County? The answer is politics and energy policy. The United States government and the Minnesota government both have wisely realized that we must plan for a cleaner and more reliable energy future. Minnesota has placed goals on energy production requiring that utilities get 25 per cent of the electricity that they sell from renewable sources by the year 2025. They also placed an even higher requirement on any utility that operates a nuclear power plant (Xcel Energy Prairie Island) of getting 30 per cent of their electricity from alternative sources. Faced with having to meet these goals to continue operating. And not wanting to deal with thousands or tens of thousands of people hooking up small net metered generation systems all over the State. Utilities have chosen to promote utility scale wind generation or industrial wind. Even though it costs the utility more to for the wind generated electricity the government incentives will help them to make up the difference in cost or they will raise their rates or both. Industrial Wind allows the utilities to maintain control of electricity production and control of electricity prices.
Rick Conrad 25 Jan 2010
The environmental impact to my property
This is the letter I sent to Mr Larry Hartman of the Minnesota OES he never responded to my concerns or even acknowledged receiving this corespondence.
Larry B Hartman, Project Manager
Minnesota Office of Energy Security
Energy Facility Permitting
85 7th Place E. Suite 500
St Paul. MN 55201-2198
Dear Mr. Hartman:
The environmental affects that this project will have on the 80 acres that I own will be more severe than 80 acre parcels in other areas being considered for wind energy development. None of my land is prime farmland. Only fifty acres are tilled land and my yard occupies about three to four acres. A creek runs diagonally from the southeast corner of my land meandering along the south side and west side and exiting at the northwest corner. Almost thirty acres along the creek are kept untilled as grassland and woods. This varied habitat supports deer, pheasants, wild turkeys, squirrels and raccoons. I have foxes, coyotes, wood chucks, chipmunks etc. My woods is home to all manner of common birds and uncommon birds. I have had bald eagles here for at least the past decade . Any adverse effects that turbines have on wildlife will be more extreme on my property because for the past twenty five years I have maintained part of my land as my own private wildlife preserve.
As I write this for more than the past week the Canadian Honkers have been flying over my yard headed in a north northwestern direction. This land is on the migrational flyway. Will the turbines if erected here be shut down to protect migrating birds? Prime farmland supports very little wildlife. The land here is marginal farmland there are undeveloped areas left yet. Without doing a through survey there is no way to be sure that there are no endangered species are living in this area.
This area is densely populated with people and wildlife. The biggest concern I have is current setbacks will not protect people or wildlife from problems that turbines will obviously cause. Without greater setbacks will anyone or anything want to live here after turbines are erected?
Rick Conrad 22 Mar 2010
Con need?
Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
121 7th Place E., Suite 350
Saint Paul, MN 55101-2147
Attn: Mr. Burl W. Haar Executive Secretary, Docket Number E-999/CI-09-845
In the 09 1186 docket the PUC posted a notice that the CON Certificate of Need permit will be discussed on 15 April 2010 In the notice it is stated that this item is unusual, but not in dispute. I believe that this maybe inaccurate as many people have filed protests against National Wind and their Goodhue Wind Project in the 09 1186 docket and its sister docket 08 1233. Several parties including myself have questioned whether or not Industrial Wind projects serve any legitimate public purpose .
I live inside the footprint of the Goodhue Wind Project and I dispute that any permits should be issued to this project until such time that the PUC or the OES can guarantee the safety of all area residents and that the property values of non-participants will be protected.
As to whether there is an actual need to construct this project, that possibly depends upon the fair interpretation of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Standard. To properly determine whether a renewable energy project will help any utility meet the renewable energy standard I believe a determination of the actual output of a project must be determined. Without actual wind data from the area covering a reasonable amount of time (years of data) it is impossible to determine this. I feel that the lack of a reasonable wind data set from the Goodhue project area is reason enough to deny to permit this project at this time.
I am also curious as to how industrial wind energy as a source of meeting the renewable energy standard will be accounted for. I assume that the State of Minnesota when requiring that utilities get 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by the year 2025 intended that carbon emissions from energy production would be reduced by a like amount. Would that not require that wind energy developers account for the total carbon emissions from constructing the turbines and how the actual net energy output from turbines will meet the publics desire for clean energy?
My point is simply this, Will utilities be able to install wind turbines then simply claim the nameplate capacity of the turbines at full value against their total non-renewable generating capacity ? This would allow utilities to skirt the true goals of the renewable energy standard and the desires of the public expressed by this legislation for a cleaner energy future. Or will utilities actually be required to offset all of the carbon emissions from all of their generating capacity non- renewable and renewable alike with clean carbon free megawatts? What is the value of industrial wind projects which are at best about 35 percent efficient and take up to fifteen years of operation to offset the carbon emissions from their construction? How much will they actually do to help meet renewable energy standards? If you can not qualify the output in actual megawatts of power produced with zero carbon emissions over the lifetime of the project how can you fairly weigh the costs born by members of public like myself and hundreds to Goodhue residents. Many who have expressed their concerns in PUC dockets about the inadequate minimum setbacks currently being used to site Industrial size turbines at distances that are only two to four times their total height from the home and families of non-partcipants.
This project is proposed for Goodhue because of a study that identified 78 megawatts of existing grid capacity. That would seem to me to be a matter of convenience, not need. The PUC needs to shine a strong light on this project and look at it under a magnifying glass to see if there will be any benefit from it. Until such time as the PUC or the OES can truly weigh the cost in both dollars and human suffering against the gains in reducing carbon emissions no permits should be issued to the AWA Goodhue Industrial Wind project. I say this because I will have to bear these costs and so will hundreds of other Goodhue residents.
Rick Conrad 3 Apr 2010
Goodhue County Commission
I Rick Conrad announce my candidacy for the Goodhue County Commission second district. I have lived in Belle Creek township most of my life. I attended Red Wing Votech for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1977 as a non-communications analyst. I graduated top of my class from USAISD, Army Intelligence School Ft Devens. I served three years in Germany as a military intelligence analyst at VII Corps Headquarters just outside of Stuttgart. I reenlisted in 1980 and served as a computer programmer at the U.S. Army Signal Warfare Laboratory, which was, located about 60 miles from Washington D.C. before my father’s terminal cancer forced me to return home in 1981. I served out the remainder of my enlistment with the Minneapolis District Recruiting Command assigned to the Red Wing U.S. Army recruiting station.
I have since then worked at Riviera Cabinets for seven years in the production and shipping departments and have worked the past eighteen years at Red Wing Shoe Company in the production and maintenance departments.
I have a broad base of work experience. I worked in an office for the six years I was in the Army. I have worked with my hands and my mind for the past 25 years. I understand the challenges and the rewards of both.
Wind development is only one of many challenges facing Goodhue County in the near future. Cap X2020 if it goes in will likely run right thru the second district. A proposed high-speed rail system may be sited along the Highway 52 corridor. Whether or not that happens Highway 52 will need ramps and overpasses added. Many of you in the second district will be affected.
Almost every dollar that I have ever made has been invested in my home and property in Goodhue County. Corporate Interests that wish to exploit our wind energy resources are fracturing the County. Instead of fighting amongst ourselves, we must all demand good County policies to protect our property rights. We need fair and reasonable setbacks that will allow for the development of wind resources without adversely affecting neighbors who seek only to protect their families and their life’s investment in their homes.
My beliefs and views are documented at my www.areavoices.com/windenergy/ blog site and in the Goodhue Wind dockets at the PUC and OES. Regardless if the industrial wind project in Goodhue moves into the construction phase before the elections this fall we must establish better policies for dealing with renewable energy development. Policies that will insure the maximum benefits to the county and its citizens and eliminate adverse affects on non-participants.
I have strong beliefs about personal rights and freedoms. While I understand that the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few, I also believe that if the government needs your property for public necessity they should pay a more than fair price for it. No price is fair if you do not wish to sell.
Rick Conrad 31 Jun 2010
E-mail talk2rickconrad@aol.com
Please e-mail me with your issues if you live in Goodhue County’s second district or anywhere in Goodhue County. Please vote in the primary in August.
Revoke C-BED resolution of Support
I believe the county should renounce the C-BED resolution of support that it gave Goodhue Wind back in 2008 on the grounds that the county was not given complete information about the project and its effects on area residents. I believe the county’s position on wind and other alternative energy projects should be that the County favors all forms of alternative energy so long as the development can be integrated into the community without adverse effects. And that the county prefers projects with the highest degree of local ownership and control. The county should welcome even industrial wind development projects so long as they respect local values and local setbacks.
I also believe that while a siting ordinance with a 35-db noise limit might eliminate many of the noise problems its real impact will depend on present background noise levels. A half mile from non-participants is a much better option.
Rick Conrad
Wind Issue
Wind energy development may be the biggest issue ever to confront Goodhue County. What started out as Goodhue Wind LLC, a Minnesota Corporation, doing a 14,000-acre project in two townships has evolved into an even larger project, AWA Goodhue that will span around 35,000 acres. With the announcement that Horizon will attempt an 80,000-acre Industrial Wind Project between Zumbrota and Kenyon almost 115,000 acres of Goodhue County’s wind resources may have been spoken for. The total land area of Goodhue County is less than 500,000 acres. The outside world seems to have plans for our wind. Why don’t we have a plan of our own? When you deduct the land area occupied by cities, towns, and villages as undevelopable for large wind energy, how many more projects of this size could Goodhue County possibly support? Two maybe three or four more at the most?
Then what? Without a proper plan for wind energy development Goodhue County’s residents will never receive the maximum economic benefits wind development could provide. Local ownership of wind energy projects would give the County much greater control over wind energy development and three to five times the economic benefits.
The wind is not free; uncontrolled wind energy development may mean no more housing can be built in rural areas. If towns are not allowed buffer zones free of turbines, where will any new housing be built? Will anyone even want to build a house in Goodhue County? Fewer places to build in the County will severely affect local contractors and construction jobs. And what of the human costs? How much noise from turbines will non-participants be expected to put up with? What of possible health affects? Wind developers claim that none are proven. However, there is no proof that health problems are not caused by wind turbines either. What will happen if health problems from living near turbines are proven? Will the turbines be taken down if proven unsafe? Or will we be stuck with them for the duration? What exactly is the duration? Is it only the fifteen to twenty five year service life of a turbine? Or will we be forced to let the wind rights lease holders erect another series of even larger turbines when the original turbines wear out even if the large turbines are proven health hazards.
And what of Goodhue County’s energy security. If wind energy is to play such an important role in future energy production does it matter if Goodhue County’s wind rights are all leased to entities based in Minneapolis, Texas or even Saudi Arabia? All are outside the County and beyond local control. Doesn’t it make more sense to pursue only wind energy projects under County control?
And what about C-BED status? The State Legislature is trying to amend the C-BED legislation. But one part of C-BED that is not being changed is the requirement for a Resolution of Support from the local jurisdiction where a project will be located. It is the responsibility of a local jurisdiction to determine if a project will fit well in the local area. Even if a project meets all other requirements to be C-BED lack of a resolution of support means the project will be denied the benefits of being a Minnesota C-BED. The County needs a cheap but reliable method of determining local support for projects. Perhaps public hearings to determine what level of community support exists for a proposed project or an opportunity for residents to vote a project either up or down would be fair ways to determine C-BED status.
And what of the current C-BED status of AWA Goodhue? AWA Goodhue is not the same as Goodhue Wind LLC. The Project footprint is not the same and the ownership has changed. The C-BED status of AWA Goodhue is being questioned by both the PUC and the OES. Goodhue Wind LLC was awarded a Resolution of Support by Goodhue County Commissioners almost two years ago. But did Goodhue Wind LLC explain why a resolution of support was needed? Did Goodhue Wind LLC explain how much money was at stake? Did Goodhue Wind LLC explain how much control that Goodhue County was giving up by granting a resolution of support? Did Goodhue Wind LLC even deserve a resolution of support? No one at the County level could have been expected to realize the requirements of C-BED or the importance of C-BED resolutions of support two years ago. If anyone is to blame for the current state of confusion it is the people who asked for the resolution of support, they should have explained why it was needed and any possible jeopardy it could cause for Goodhue County. .
To be fair I suggest that the Goodhue County Board request that AWA Goodhue submit a request for a resolution of support and consider their request for C-BED status ahead of any other projects requesting C-BED resolutions of support. Before granting AWA Goodhue a resolution of support the County Board needs to find a fair method of awarding Resolutions of Support of C-BED status. Other wind projects may expect to be awarded C-BED status following the precedent that the County Board sets in awarding this C-BED Resolution of Support.
Rick Conrad 30 Apr 2010
