December 6, 2007
Illinois
Illinois
Livingston County is still waiting for wind farm developers planning projects in the Cayuga Ridge area to file their final applications.
PPM Energy, a wind power company based in Oregon, filed an application in July, and Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy filed in September. The Livingston County Board has asked for additional information from both companies, but has yet to hear all of the details.
“We are basically awaiting the applicants … to provide us with additional detail information before we proceed,” Livingston County Zoning Administrator Chuck Schopp told the board’s agriculture and zoning committee Tuesday. “We are still looking for them to give us final sitings for particular towers.”
The county is waiting for more detailed noise studies and resolutions for road and tax issues. When all information is received, a public forum will be the next step in the process.
Two other wind farm developers also are researching Livingston County, but Schopp said those applications probably won’t get filed until later next year.
Horizon has submitted an application for Top Crop Wind Farm, which would have about 200 turbines on 18,200 acres in the Cayuga Ridge area near the towns of Blackstone, Odell, Pontiac and Ransom.
PPM plans to build about 373 wind turbines on sites scattered across 36,000 acres in the same areas of Livingston and LaSalle counties.
Each wind farm application carries a $25,000 fee, which pays for the consulting work.
One issue that has been simplified is how wind turbines will be taxed.
Committee Chairwoman Jeanne Rapp said legislation approved in October when the Legislature overturned the governor’s veto. It standardizes how wind farms are taxed for five years.
“Counties have had to use their own methodologies in determining the tax,” Rapp said. “This new law will just standardize all of them through the state.”
By Tony Sapochetti
5 December 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/12/06/livingston-awaits-filings-from-wind-farm-projects/