Residents react to new wind-energy plans

Debra Williamson stood outside Circle K convenience store on Tehachapi Boulevard. In one hand she held a clipboard with dozens of sign-up sheets. In the other, she held a photo of her sister’s property in Old West Ranch, an unincorporated community east of Tehachapi.

“This is what my sister’s property looks like now,” Williamson said.

She then folded a transparent sheet with wind generators drawn in black marker over the photo, giving the appearance large turbines rising into the skyline.

“This is what it what it’s going to look like if new wind generators are built,” she said.

Williamson said almost 700 people have signed a petition against putting new wind generators in the Tehachapi area.

“It’s a wonderful type of power, but it’s so close to residential homes,” Williamson said.

The proposed Alta-Oak Creek Mojave Project, which would allow for the construction of up to 300 new wind generators, has drawn reactions from Tehachapi residents – much of it negative, according to Old West Ranch Property Owners Association President Merle Carnes.

“We don’t want it,” Carnes said of the project.

Carnes said she didn’t know about the project until about a month ago.

“They’re being sneaky about this,” Carnes said.

According to representatives from Oak Creek Power and Terra-Gen Power – with the latter currently heading up the project – it has been anything but a secret.

“If people didn’t know about this project, then they just weren’t paying attention,” said Vaughn Johnson, vice president of Oak Creek Energy.

Johnson said the project had been initially planned as far back as eight years ago. And every step of the way has been public record, he said.

Williamson said people signed her petition “90 percent of the time.” Many who chose not to sign either worked for a company that produces wind energy or was close to someone who did, Williamson said.

If she can’t keep the wind generators out, Williamson said, she at least wants ones near Old West Ranch moved five miles to the east of their current proposed location.

“We want to keep Tehachapi the way it is,” Williamson said. “Move to Mojave.”

But Johnson said the Tehachapi-area section of the project could not be moved five miles to the east because many wind generators are already there.

On the issue of alerting the skyline, Terra-Gen power said in a statement, “Visual impacts are not new to the area, since wind generation has been prevalent in the general vicinity for nearly 30 years.”

Some residents have already spoken to the companies about leasing their land for the project, which would be built entirely on private land, according to officials from both Oak Creek and Terra-Gen.

“You can’t say 100 percent of the people are against it in Old West Ranch,” Carnes said.

Those who are looking to lease are “keeping to themselves,” Carnes said.

Linda Parker, executive director of Kern Wind Energy, said the project would be built in its proposed location because “it is a designated wind-resource area.”

“They have to go where the wind is,” Parker said.

As far being not knowing about the approaching project, Parker said, “You can’t really say that people haven’t been aware of the project.”

Parker, who has worked in the wind-power industry since 1995, said the project was far from final, and that public comment would be considered.

“Maybe there is a way we can work together and communicate and hear their concerns, and maybe vice versa,” Parker said. “I know if there’s comments put in, they will be addressed.”

A public meeting will be held to discuss the project on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Kern County Administrative Center on Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield.

“We’re not against wind energy,” Carnes said. “We are willing to sit down and talk with the Alta-Wind folks.”

Parker said wind energy currently brings Kern County $6 million in revenue, with the potential for that number to grow. She said more wind generators would mean more jobs for the Tehachapi-Mojave area.

“Just the jobs alone, it will be phenomenal,” Parker said.

Arthur Unger, member of the Sierra Club’s executive committee in Kern County, said the organization tended to favor wind energy, though wind generators had reputations for being “unsightly,” as well as killing bats and birds.

Unger said that no one at the Kern chapter of the Sierra Club had researched the new wind generator project. He said he was “not sure” if anyone at Sierra Club would.

District 2 county Supervisor Don Maben declined comment on the project until after the Nov. 12 meeting.

By: Mark Powell, Reporter, Tehachapi News

tehachapinews.com

21 September 2009

Tags: Wind power, Wind energy

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