Townships beware!
Everyone is in favor of renewable energy
After one and one-half years of study and by majority vote, the Potter County Planning Commission passed a wind facility ordinance and forwarded it to the Potter County Commissioners for fine-tuning and adoption.
The commissioners have studied the turbine issue now for seven months. They have studied reports, visited numerous industrial wind installations, personally talked with industrial wind developers, local government leaders, and people whose homes have been devalued (and their lives seriously changed for the worst) because of turbines being sited too close.
The county’s ordinance in its current draft form is not intended to, nor will it, prohibit wind turbines in Potter County. Arguably, it does protect non-participating landowners to some extent by stating how close a wind turbine can be sited to their property line and how much noise is allowable.
The reason for this letter is to point out that some township boards of supervisors are considering wind turbine ordinances that are much different than the county’s proposed standards.
Townships have the power to override the county’s ordinance and if you examine what has taken place in Homer Township, as well as what is being proposed by the supervisors in Sweden and Hebron townships, you may be alarmed to discover what little protection will be provided.
Township supervisors have a very difficult job as they take care of so many responsibilities and balance so many competing interests.
It is not realistic to expect the township officials to be able to thoroughly investigate the complex topic of industrial wind energy, much less enforce an ordinance and protect the rights of the property owners who are not leasing land to wind energy companies.
It’s pretty clear to anyone who is paying much attention that the industrial wind developers have been seeking to exploit the long delay by our Potter County Commissioners in working on a countywide ordinance.
Now that the commissioners have made their proposals public, it should be evident to all township residents that this issue is much too complex, and its implications far too serious, to allow your elected supervisors to rubber-stamp a local ordinance that is so accommodating to those who are out to exploit your township.
At the very least, township supervisors throughout Potter County should agree to delay any further action on local ordinance while the competing interests have their say during the public comment period on the county’s ordinance.
Any action that is taken hastily at the township level could lead to developments that local residents might regret for decades to come.
Now that the county has acted, it’s time for the townships to put on the brakes and closely monitor the battle that is sure to begin at the county level.
Please contact your supervisors and respectfully request that they delay taking any formal action. At a time like this, it is important for Potter County to stand together.
Sweden Township Supervisors meet Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 7 pm at the meeting hall at 129 Cherry Springs Road; 274- 8829.
Hebron Township Supervisors meet, Thursday, Sept. 8, at 8 am at the township building at 22 Whitney Creek Road; 274-7306.
Art Kear
Ulysses
30 August 2008
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
Blog it:
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
|
