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Commissioners hear from wind farm opponents
Credit: By Tom Stephens 2/11/2014 peakofohio.com ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
“EverPower is not welcome here, and if they do come, it must be without the blessing of the Logan County Commissioners.”
So said Betsy Reames, who, along with about 60 other residents from northern Logan and southern Hardin counties, appeared at a public meeting conducted by the Logan County Commissioners Tuesday afternoon. The meeting concerned the proposed construction of dozens of wind turbines by EverPower, a British-owned company, in the flat lands that straddle the county border, just north of Belle Center and Indian Lake.
The commissioners’ office was standing room only, with several people sitting on the floor during the hour-long meeting. Of the several people who addressed the commissioners and those gathered, all were opposed to the proposed wind farms. Speakers cited a decrease in property values, health issues, and environmental concerns as reasons for their opposition, while others opined that the proposed wind turbines – which could reach as high as 500-feet – are simple eyesores, which will ruin the natural beauty of the area and adversely affect the vital tourist trade on which many Indian Lake residents and businesses depend. No one spoke in favor of the wind farms.
Jason Dagger, project manager for Scioto Wind Farms, was at the meeting but did not address those gathered Tuesday. He did say that EverPower will be on hand and will outline its position at a more formal public hearing, if and when the commissioners schedule one.
“There’s a lot of advantages (to wind turbines),” Dagger said after the meeting. “It’s another crop for the farmers, certainly a crop that you can depend on year after year that you don’t have to worry about price and inputs.”
This is not an opinion that was shared by the vast majority of those at the meeting. Milo Schaffner, who is a township trustee for Hoaglin Township in Van Wert County, was invited to attend the meeting and addressed the commissioners directly, comparing the wind turbines to “Chinese water torture” having lived in the shadow of a turbine for the past several years. He referred to companies that develop wind power as “ruthless” and that they “prey on people who cannot defend themselves.”
Another speaker said that property values of land and homes near wind farms that have already been constructed routinely fall once the turbines go up, and another said that if the project is realized that the situation will degenerate into a host of complaints, arguments, and discontent.
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