January 30, 2018
Nebraska

Pierce commissioners pondering county-wide survey on wind energy

By Michael Shively | Sandhills Express | January 29, 2018 | sandhillsexpress.com

PIERCE, NE – The citizens of Pierce County could be getting another chance to voice their opinions on controversial wind developments.

The Pierce County Board of Commissions met Monday morning and discussed the possibility of using an externally-funded survey to better gauge the feelings of the county in regards to regulating wind developments.

Commissioner Brad Albers floated the idea of using his own money to distribute an unofficial mail-in survey to constituents.

“I sure would like to know where the whole county stands at,” Albers said.

The first public meeting on wind energy was held in March with official hearings taking place in November. After the hearings, the commissioners extended an already existing moratorium on development until June 19th.

The survey idea is tricky because the county cannot do an official referendum vote on the topic and cannot finance a survey. So, Albers said he will discuss the idea with the county’s consultant and hopes to have a decision on the survey by the group’s next meeting on February 12th.

The commissioners also heard from Dave Rich of Nebraska Public Power District who answered myriad questions, like why there aren’t wind farms next to Omaha when they’ll likely be the ones buying the power.

“Basically, Northeast Nebraska – there’s a lot of good wind up here… the wind in Omaha is not very good,” Rich said.

The meeting was attended by about 20 people including wind developers and citizens who were for and against wind farms.

The Stanton County Commissioners voted unanimously to prevent wind developers from building in the county at a November meeting.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/01/30/pierce-commissioners-pondering-county-wide-survey-on-wind-energy/