August 27, 2013
Kansas

BP will refile wind project application

By Gale Rose | Pratt Tribune | August 27, 2013 | www.pratttribune.com

The process to establish a wind energy farm in Pratt County is going to start all over.

Ninnescah Wind Energy, the BP group name for the wind energy project, will refile their intention to establish a wind energy farm during a meeting with the Planning and Zoning Committee at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 16 at the Pratt Area 4-H Center at the Pratt County Fairgrounds, said Pratt County Emergency Services Director Tim Branscom at the weekly Pratt County Commissioners meeting Monday afternoon.

They will have to start the process again. All their information will have to be presented again as will viewpoints from parties interested in the project.

Some 351 area landowners have been notified of the meeting. When BP originally presented the proposal for the wind farm, 500 notifications were sent out but many landowners had several pieces of land and received several notifications so the duplicates were removed.

The first application BP made for the wind energy farm was withdrawn because the county ordinances were not favorable to development. Those issues have been resolved and the application will be made again.

Pratt County is part of many counties in Kansas that were declared disaster areas after the storms in August. Pratt County suffered over $700,000 in electrical damages alone from the storms with damage to electrical lines and poles for the city, Ninnescah Electric and Southern Pioneer, Branscom said.

As a result of that damage, the Pratt County Landfill has four big piles of broken power poles. The commissioners approved a plan to give the poles away. The public will be informed soon how to get the poles.

Jason Winkel, Pratt County landfill and recycleing supervisor, needs hay to stabililze newly planted grass at the landfill and proposed getting bids for someone to swath the grass at the landfill instead of buying hay. It takes two and a half days to mow the grass, so Winkel thought having it baled for cover would solve two problems. Commissioners agreed.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/08/27/bp-will-refile-wind-project-application/