Local Video
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| Reactions to wind farm mixed |
By: DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 11:45 pm
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CORRECTION: This article has been changed to reflect inaccurate information. Daryl and Judy Kuyper will lease farmland to Medin Renewable Energy for the construction of a wind generator.
GREENVALE TWP. — In as little as one year, Duane Frederickson’s rural home could be ground zero for three, 230 ft.-tall wind turbines.
Frederickson, who has lived on his Greenvale Township property for 13 years, is the third generation of his family to have lived in the area. For years, he’s looked out over rolling hills, cornfields and oak groves — a landscape that would change considerably if a proposed, 11-turbine wind farm, under development by two local companies, is approved by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
“When you come home and take a walk out here at sunset, it’s hard to imagine the ‘flip, flip, flip,” Frederickson said on Monday afternoon, emulating the noise of wind turbine blades. According to preliminary turbine siting, Frederickson said, one wind generator could be located as little as 500 to 600 ft. away from his home, with the other two within a quarter-mile of his property.
While he’s in favor of green energy, Frederickson isn’t the only township resident who has concerns about the size, noise and potential environmental impact of the proposed wind farm, which could produce as much as 11 megawatts of energy for Northfield, Lakeville and Faribault.
“It’s not necessarily something that everyone wants to look at on a regular basis,” said township resident Sarah Moore. An outspoken critic of the plan, Moore worries about the long-term environmental implications for a mostly rural township.
“Just because something is green, doesn’t mean it’s right,” Moore said. “We all need to do our part for the environment and the earth, but it has to be in appropriate areas.”
Township resident Dana Kuyper said she supports her mother- and father-in-law's decision to lease a portion of their agricultural land to Medin Renewable for the siting of a wind turbine. Though she is worried about a decline in property values due the the installation of the turbines, Kuyper said in an e-mail correspondence that she was ultimately in favor of the wind farm, especially since energy from the turbines would feed into underground power lines, rather than extensive above-ground cables.
Leone Medin, a member of Medin Renewable, says her family, which owns both Sparks and Medin Renewable, has been very open to the concerns of township residents — even reducing the height of the turbine and the number of blades each turbine has to minimize the visual impact and noise output of the generators.
Despite a letter-writing campaign and two public meetings, Medin said she’s received a very limited response from residents to the project.
“We’ve done everything we can,” Medin said. “I think we have done very well in keeping the residents in mind with those issues.”
WIND FARM UPDATE
Medin Renewable and Sparks Energy were issued a draft permit by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for their proposed, 11-turbine wind farm on Aug. 25. The project is currently in a 180-day public feedback and review phase, after which the commission must issue a final project permit. Once that permit is issued, construction can begin.
The commission hosts a public meeting and discussion on the project on Sept. 22 at the Greenvale Town Hall. For more information, visit www.greenvaletwp.org.
— David Henke covers city, business and youth issues. He can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100. |
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