February 20, 2008
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
A news article two weeks ago in the Tri-County News quoted Johnsburg-area resident Bill Winkler as saying a wind turbine located on a neighbor’s property looked closer to Winkler’s home than the required minimum 1,000 feet.
According to Barry McNulty, a spokesperson for WE Energies, it turns out Winkler was right.
Winkler said he could not measure the distance from his home to the turbine for fear of being cited for trespassing. McNulty said WE Energies saw Winkler’s comments in the article, measured the distance and found out the turbine “is not within compliance.” McNulty said he did not know the exact distance from Winkler’s home to the turbine.
A project manager met with Winkler one evening last week to inform him of the setback error, and with the property owner on whose land the turbine is positioned. Town of Marshfield officials were also notified. McNulty said Winkler could sign a setback waiver, but WE Energies is also prepared to move the turbine if necessary.
McNulty also said WE Energies will have a third party verify the locations and setbacks of all the other turbines in the Johnsburg area and a global positioning system (GPS) map will be created.
In a related note, McNulty said the first two Blue Sky Green Field wind turbines were commissioned on Friday, Feb. 8 and began generating power on Saturday, Feb. 9. As of last Friday, Feb. 15, five turbines were energized and McNulty said plans were to start energizing one or two more turbines per day.
By Mark Sherry
TC News editor
20 February 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/02/20/turbine-too-close-to-home/