August 23, 2018
Illinois

Wind farm proposal fuels heated debate

By James Moss | Republic-Times | August 22, 2018 | www.republictimes.net

About 100 residents came to the Monroe County Board meeting Monday to discuss a proposed wind farm south of Valmeyer.

The matter first came up during the Aug. 6 board meeting, when local developer Joe Koppeis submitted a letter for the board to sign and endorse the more than $200 million, 50-turbine project.

The board tabled his request at that time and asked Koppeis to attend this week’s meeting. He did, along with dozens of Monroe County residents who are passionate about the issue.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, the county also received more than 100 emails on the subject.

Koppeis spoke first about what he believed would be benefits of the project.

“Clean energy is a good thing,” Koppeis said. “Our project will overall be good for our community, our environment, job creation, schools, landowners and all the taxing districts who will benefit from our wind farm.”

Koppeis said he decided to build the turbines here because the transmission lines are already in place thanks to nearby power plants in Missouri, Baldwin and the Prairie State Energy Campus in Marissa…>>>

Read the rest of this article in the August 22, 2018, issue of the Republic-Times newspaper.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/08/23/wind-farm-proposal-fuels-heated-debate/