| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Wind farm applications halted until review
Credit: Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree | Jacksonville Journal-Courier | October 10, 2018 | www.myjournalcourier.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
The Morgan County Commission Board will not accept permit applications for any proposed wind farm projects until after the board has reviewed and potentially updated the county’s wind ordinance.
Two companies – E.ON and Apex Clean Energy – are proposing wind farm projects in the eastern portion of the county near Waverly, Franklin and Alexander.
While the companies continue to work with land owners, project applications will not be accepted while the board addresses the ordinance, board Chairman Brad Zeller said.
The board has been asked several time to approve a moratorium stalling the projects pending evaluation of the ordinance, but Zeller said he did not want to put a deadline on the ordinance review.
“A moratorium places a deadline of six months or a year,” he said. “We’ve stated that our major concern is to get the ordinance amended. We assured them that we are not accepting applications.”
In addition to addressing possible changes to the current requirements, the board also will clarify some language regarding the group that oversees the projects, Zeller said.
“The planning commission and the regional planning commission are two separate groups,” he said. “One of the issues we need to address is clarifying that language.”
There is no timeline for the ordinance’s review and revision, Zeller said.
The Regional Planning Commission, which reconvened last month, is addressing the qualifications of board members before moving on to address the ordinance or the wind farm projects.
Both E.ON and Apex are proposing building turbines in the eastern portion of the county to supply energy to Ameren’s lines.
E.ON is proposing a 200-megawatt project, which could mean between 44 and 91 wind turbines in the project area, depending on the size of the turbines.
Apex is proposing adding 300 megawatts to the lines, which would include between 83 and 120 turbines.
Both companies are working with land owners and performing environmental impact and other studies before moving forward with permit applications.
If the projects are approved, both companies have said they plan to have the turbines installed and operational by 2020.
“Right now, we don’t want to put a deadline on having this completed,” Zeller said.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Contributions |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=90194 ]
