March 13, 2011
Illinois

Should the voters decide?

By Donna Barker, Bureau County Republican, www.bcrnews.com 11 March 2011

PRINCETON – At least one Bureau County resident would like to see a non-binding referendum placed before voters to get their opinion on the future of wind farm development in Bureau County.

At Tuesday’s Bureau County Board meeting, Deb Anderson of Ohio addressed the board regarding her ongoing complaints about interrupted television reception, shadow flickering and noise concerns at her home which she believes are caused by the nearby Big Sky wind farm. The problems have been going on for more than five months, since the activation of Big Sky, and there still has not been any solutions, she said.

“Nothing has changed. As of today, none of the issues have been resolved,” Anderson said.

Anderson said she never had problems with television reception or shadow flickering before the Big Sky wind farm went on line. She is also hearing about some people having health issues, like migraine headaches and nausea, from wind farms.

Anderson asked the board to consider putting a non-binding question on an upcoming ballot to get the public’s input on what they think about wind farm development in Bureau County.

“Maybe you need to ask the residents of Bureau County if they would like more wind farms,” Anderson said.

Anderson also recommended the county looks at changing the wording of the existing conditional use permits and making wind farm developers responsible for what is happening to residents and their properties.

“I really think that until all of these complaints have been 100 percent completely satisfied, you should not renew any more conditional use permits,” Anderson said. “Once these complaints have been 100 percent completely satisfied, and you have made all the changes to them (permits) that you would like to be made, then move forward with another wind farm.”

Anderson also invited county board members to come to her house, and other houses in the Big Sky area to see for themselves the problems they are experiencing.

The county board made no response to Anderson’s comments.

Big Sky is a $525 million, 240 megawatt project, with more than 100 turbines spread over Bureau and Lee counties.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/13/should-the-voters-decide/