 | 1/24/2014 | Mainstream unloads 225MW in US |
Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power has sold the 225MW Green River wind project in Illinois to Geronimo Energy.
Geronimo Energy is already at the advanced stages of developing the 210MW Walnut Ridge project adjacent to the Green River site. Financial terms for the transaction were not disclosed.
“Geronimo Energy’s agricultural roots, combined with their regional development experience and financial backing, makes them an ideal partner in moving Green River to construction,” said Mainstream vice president for development and operations in North America Matt Boss.
“We look forward to continuing to support Geronimo Energy in delivering the project into operation.”
Minnesota-based Geronimo said it took steps to qualify Green River and Walnut Ridge for production tax credits, which expired on 31 December 2013.
Green River takes in 13,500 acres of primarily flat agriculture land south-west of Chicago.
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| 8/22/2013 | Lee County residents sue over proposed wind farm |
Dozens of Lee County residents have filed a lawsuit against the County Board and an energy company in an effort to stop construction of a wind farm.
The (Dixon) Telegraph reports that the lawsuit was filed Wednesday by almost 60 residents of the north-central Illinois county. The suit names the county board and Mainstream Renewable Power.
The Ireland-based company wants to build the 53-turbine Green River Wind Farm. The project was approved by the County Board in May, overruling a zoning board recommendation that they reject it.
The suit asks the court to stop the project and void its permits.
Plaintiffs say the wind farm is incompatible with surrounding residential and agricultural uses and say they fear it would hurt property values, create noise and disturb wildlife.
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| 5/21/2013 | A new hurdle for wind farm? |
A proposed wind farm might have an unexpected hurdle if the project's opponents get their way.
On Friday, Rockford attorney Rick Porter, who is representing Hamilton Township, informed Lee County of the township board's Dec. 11 decision to file an objection to the wind farm, known as the Green River project.
Last month, the county's zoning board voted 3-2 against the project. The County Board is expected to vote on it today.
Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power plans 53 turbines for the county's southwestern corner.
By Porter's reading of the law, the township's written objection now means the project needs a three-fourths County Board majority for passage.
Mainstream's project manager, Vince Green, said he didn't think the three-fourths rule applies.
"At the end of the day, the lawyers will battle it out," Green said.
Porter's letter was addressed to Assistant State's Attorney Matt Klahn, who represents the county on wind farm issues.
Contacted Monday, Klahn said he was reviewing the issue and declined to comment.
In his letter, Porter referred to a state law that requires a three-fourths majority when at least one township files an objection to amendments to zoning ordinances and maps. But it's unclear whether that law applies to a vote on a wind farm's permit.
Last year, Willow Creek Township objected to a new wind farm ordinance, which was technically an amendment to the existing one.
In that case, the county acknowledged that the three-fourths requirement applied. But the county contended the township failed to properly file its objection.
According to County Board meeting minutes, a Willow Creek official presented the resolution objecting to the ordinance to officials. But then-State's Attorney Henry Dixon said the document should have been filed with him, the zoning administrator or the county clerk's office.
The dispute was irrelevant because the County Board rejected the proposed ordinance.
On Monday, Mat Boss, Mainstream's vice president of development and operations, argued in a Sauk Valley Media guest column that the proposed wind farm offers more protections to local residents than any previous one in Lee County.
He also noted the zoning board found, in a 4-1 vote, that Mainstream's petition complied with the Lee County wind farm ordinance.
"The Green River wind farm, as proposed, would bring more than $1 million a year in property taxes in Lee County," Boss wrote. "How can the County Board ignore that as members weigh their decision?"
In a full-page advertisement in Friday's Telegraph, a group calling itself Citizens Committed to Responsible Lee County Wind Energy Policy urged the County Board to follow the zoning board's recommendation.
"By recommending that a permit not be granted to Mainstream to construct the Green River Wind Project, the Lee County Zoning Board has fulfilled its obligation to protect the people of both Hamilton and East Grove townships," the ad said.
Over the last few weeks, Sauk Valley Media has surveyed County Board members on how they plan to vote on the wind farm. Fourteen couldn't be reached for comment or say they're undecided. Five are for the project, while four are against it.
Steve Kitzman, R-Dixon, said Monday night that he was leaning in favor of the project. He called the project pro-business and said he believed in the landowners' property rights.
No public comments before wind vote
DIXON – The Lee County Board won't take public comment before its decision on a controversial wind farm today.
That's in accordance with a county ordinance, officials say.
The county's zoning board heard from the public about the proposed wind farm in the course of 27 sessions of a public hearing.
The County Board usually takes public comment near the start of its meetings, but this time, it has moved that portion to near the end of the meeting.
Last year, the Whiteside County Board took no comments before it approved nine wind turbines in the southeastern part of the county.
Stuart Richter, Whiteside County's planning and zoning administrator, said an attorney general's opinion advises county boards against taking comments before their zoning decisions.
The County Board looks at the record from the zoning board in making its decisions, Richter said.
"The County Board doesn't take testimony," he said. "If the County Board doesn't get enough information, they can send it back to zoning for a further public hearing."
On Friday, Frances Mitchell, an attorney who lives in eastern Lee County, sent an email to Lee County Board Chairman Rick Ketchum, D-Amboy, questioning why the county moved comments to after the board's wind farm vote.
"Plain common sense tells us that public comments after the fact are a joke. You know that. I know that. We all know that," she wrote.
To attend
The Lee County Board will meet at 9 a.m. today on the third floor of the Old Lee County Courthouse, 112 E. Second St. in Dixon.
The board is expected to consider a wind farm in the southwestern part of the county.
Go to www.countyoflee.org or call 815-288-5676 for an agenda for this meeting, minutes from past meetings, or more information.
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| 5/21/2013 | Lee board OKs wind farm project |
The Lee County Board this morning voted 12-9 to allow a controversial wind farm, overruling a decision last month by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The board approved the project, along with a number of conditions dealing with issues such as noise.
In April, the zoning board voted 3-2 against the proposal from Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power.
At today's Lee County Board meeting, the audience was almost evenly divided between the wind farm's supporters and opponents. Each side took its own area in the audience gallery.
On Friday, an attorney for the opponents contended the county needed a three-fourths majority to allow the wind farm. Hamilton Township had filed a written objection, the attorney said, which triggered the supermajority requirement.
However, Matt Klahn, an assistant state's attorney for Lee County, said he researched the issue and found the three-fourths rule didn't apply to special-use permits, which Mainstream was seeking.
Mainstream plans 53 turbines for the county's southwestern corner.
Its proposal is part of a three-county wind farm, which includes Whiteside and Bureau counties. Last year, Whiteside County approved nine turbines, while Bureau County's zoning panel recommended against Mainstream's plan for 19 turbines, saying it didn't meet the county's requirements.
Mainstream withdrew its proposal in Bureau County, saying it planned to submit a new plan.
During the Lee County Board's debate today, member Marilyn Shippert, R-Dixon, said it would be an insult to the zoning board to overrule its decision.
Others agreed, noting the panel had 27 sessions as part of the hearing on the project.
Member Tim Deem, R-Dixon, noted the project would bring jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax revenue for school districts and other entities.
He also said he had gone by wind turbines and found noise and shadow flicker weren't the problems that critics argued they were.
Allyn Buhrow, R-Ashton, said it was inappropriate to bring up money in making a zoning decision. Rather, he said, the purpose should be to protect the public's health and safety.
He called wind turbines "the most intrusive special use we provide."
Dick Binder, R-Compton, said many of those landowners allowing turbines on their properties are absentee. Many more residents in the project's footprint, he said, will suffer the effects but won't reap the financial rewards.
"To those who are looking at dollar signs," Binder said, "are those dollars worth the tradeoff for 196 residents who will be affected for years to come?"
After the board's decision, a number of residents spoke during public input to criticize the board.
Rick Porter, the attorney representing opponents, said he was disappointed in the decision, but called for a moratorium on new wind farms.
He said the county's ordinance on wind farms was "antiquated," urging the board to update it.
Bob Logan of Franklin Grove said the residents are the victims who have to come up with the money to fight turbines.
"From the beginning, you have been in bed with wind companies," he said.
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| 4/26/2013 | A glimmer of hope for wind farm; Chairman says he’ll vote against panel’s decision |
A proposed Lee County wind farm has a fighting chance.
The project suffered a big setback Wednesday when the county’s zoning board voted 3-2 to reject it.
But the 24-member County Board has the final say.
On Thursday, County Board Chairman Rick Ketchum, D-Amboy, said he would vote against the lower panel’s recommendation.
Two other members, Marvin Williams, R-Dixon, and Ann Taylor, R-Amboy, agreed with Ketchum.
Three others backed the zoning board’s decision: David Gusse, R-Dixon, Judy Truckenbrod, R-West Brooklyn, and Marilyn Shippert, R-Dixon.
Ten members said they were undecided, and seven could not be reached for comment. One board position is vacant.
Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power proposed 53 turbines in Hamilton and East Grove townships, in the county’s southwestern corner.
A slim majority of zoning board members said the project would hurt the rural character of the area. They also said the company had failed to reveal the turbine model it planned to use or to provide a plan for taking down the turbines if the project ends.
Members also questioned whether it was wise to put a wind farm in a flood plain.
The zoning board’s decision ended a decade in which the wind energy industry largely drove the county’s approval process for wind farms.
Sauk Valley Media tried to reach every County Board member about the proposed wind farm.
Ketchum, who became board chairman in December, said he would “certainly” vote to override the zoning board. The foes of the wind farm were the minority, he said, but better organized than the proponents.
Williams said he had no problem with wind turbines as long as they don’t infringe on neighbors’ rights.
“We need something to generate tax revenue,” he said. “I think we should go forward with it.”
Taylor said she had always favored wind turbines.
“I have stood under them for several hours,” she said. “I really can’t see the objections.”
Gusse, however, said it would be “damn foolishness on our part” to approve the wind farm after the zoning board held 80 hours of meetings to review the project. He said he didn’t like the idea of putting a wind farm in a flood plain.
Truckenbrod said she was against the project.
“Considering the problems we’ve had in this county [with wind farms], it would be hard to watch us go through that again,” he said.
Many residents who originally had positive or neutral views about wind farms, she said, have turned against them.
“I don’t know anyone who has gone from negative to positive,” she said.
Marilyn Shippert, R-Dixon, said the project would bring in more tax revenue, but that’s not the purpose of zoning.
“We need to look beyond money,” she said. “There are concerns about the health effects. We need to keep people safe.”
Dick Binder, R-Compton, said he was leaning against the project, but said he would make no commitment before getting more information.
Bernie Buckley, R-Dixon, put himself in the undecided camp, but he was concerned about decommissioning.
“I think there are too many loose ends out there still,” he said.
John Nicholson, R-Franklin Grove, said he was undecided. But he wanted to know why the zoning board rejected the wind farm after voting for a finding of fact that the petition complied with the county’s wind energy ordinance.
The County Board is expected to vote on the wind farm at its May 21 meeting.
Mainstream’s proposal was part of a three-county wind farm, which includes Whiteside and Bureau counties. Last year, Whiteside County approved nine turbines, while Bureau County’s zoning panel recommended against Mainstream’s plan for 19 turbines, saying it didn’t meet the county’s requirements.
Mainstream withdrew its proposal in Bureau County, saying it planned to submit a new plan.
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