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Tower removal marks end of wind farm battle in Lafayette Twp.
Credit: www.keyc.com 23 November 2010 ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
A group of farmers fighting to bring down a wind project in Lafayette Township, finally see their work pay off.
A tower designed to track wind speeds today comes toppling to the ground… a final sign the project is defeated. News 12’s Ryan Gustafson was there.
The tower was put up to measure wind speeds where the city of New Ulm wanted to place a five-turbine wind farm.
The city was able to obtain the land needed for the actual wind turbines, but not the surrounding wind easements they would need to put them up.
After meeting roadblocks at the county and state levels, the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission abandoned the project rather than using eminent domain.
Jeff Franta says, “We know it was a David and Goliath situation, but we knew with the precedent setting that we had a chance. Would probably gain a lot of attention, so we thought if we stuck together, whether we come out on top we’d feel good knowing we did something about. And it’s great to see in America that the system did work.”
The several hours it took to take down the met tower is the culmination of several years and dozens of neighbors working to keep their community as they want it.
Clete Goblirsch says, “Gives us a chance to go back to where we are. We’re here to do crop production and I think the wind industry is ok, but there’s a place for the wind industry and there’s a place for crop production.”
Now those in the area who fought the wind farm for over two years are enjoying the sight of the last physical reminder coming down.
Jeff Franta says, “Wind energy is fine, but I think we need to put it in places that are much more efficient and we need to be environmentally responsible and use our resources efficiently and we feel we have the resource of crop production, livestock production an let’s put wind energy where there’s marginal land.”
In Lafayette, Ryan Gustafson, News 12.
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