September 12, 2012
California

Wind energy plans heating up across Yolo County

By DON FRANCES | Daily Democrat | www.dailydemocrat.com 12 September 2012

County supervisors and other local leaders will gather Thursday morning for a forum on the pros and cons of wind energy – complete with a bus tour of a wind turbine facility in Solano County.

The public is invited to attend the forum, billed as a joint meeting of the Yolo County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.

Planning Commission members organized the forum as they endeavor to learn more about a wind farm application for Dunnigan Hills by Woodland-based company Dunnigan Hills Wind I, LLC, a subsidiary of Pioneer Green Energy, based in Texas.

According to a meeting agenda, the forum will kick off at 9 a.m. at Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center in the Founders Room on the UC Davis campus.

Scheduled morning speakers include Dr. Case van Dam, professor and chairman of UC Davis’ Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department; V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies; Garry George of the Audubon Society; and Bronwyn Hogan, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Authorities from Solano County also will be in attendance to discuss the Shiloh Wind Power Plant, a wind farm with hundreds of turbines situated across the Montezuma Hills near Rio Vista.

Those talks will wrap up around lunchtime, followed by a bus ride to Birds Landing Fire Station and a tour of the Montezuma Hills wind farm.

Those hoping to attend are encouraged to arrive at UC Davis by 8:30 a.m. for check-in and registration. There is no guarantee of space on the bus, although attendees can follow in their own vehicles.

Pioneer has submitted an application with Yolo County’s Planning Department to build as many as 400 360-foot-tall wind turbines in Dunnigan Hills west of Interstate-505. The proposal has sparked an outcry from some nearby residents, many claiming that wind farms ruin the land without providing such “green energy” benefits as reduced carbon dioxide emissions.

Zamora Hills resident Mary Jo Hoes wrote in the Daily Democrat last October, “The noise and strobing lights from similar towers have driven residents from their homes, tourists from quiet country, and birds and wildlife from their habitat.”

Another Zamora resident, “Leslie Pfardresher, wrote in March that “The landscape of northern Yolo County will be forever changed if the decision is made to move forward with plans to allow a wind turbine industrial plant to be built in the Dunnigan Hills region.”