August 20, 2019
Ohio

Seneca County commissioners withdraw support for wind farm projects

Jonathan Monk | WTOL | August 19, 2019 | www.wtol.com

SENECA COUNTY, Ohio – A big change in Seneca County: after initially supporting multiple wind farm projects, commissioners have now reversed their decision.

After voting in March to support the ongoing wind farms plans across the county, commissioners held a special vote last week that officially reversed the decision.

In the 2-1 vote, commissioners now no longer support the current wind farm projects and any potential future projects either.

A large group of people brought up concerns and opposed the projects over the summer.

They were worried about potential health dangers due to the infrasound and light flicker, the threat of property devaluation and the airport needing to reroute its official approach. Additionally, Seneca East Schools didn’t want any turbines near their buildings.

Commissioner Mike Kerschner said so much changed in the multiple wind farm projects from their inception that their approval needed to be rescinded.

“When these projects were first introduced, they were introduced as turbines which would have been 250, maybe 400 feet tall. As the course of the projects went on, now they’re asking for more than 600 feet. So, they exacerbated their own problem by changing the types of turbines they were going to put in in the first place,” Kerschner said.

Earlier this month, the corporate owners of Seneca Wind withdrew their applications to build a 77-turbine wind farm. That leaves the country with two ongoing proposed farms; Republic Wind and the Bloom Project.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/08/20/seneca-county-commissioners-withdraw-support-for-wind-farm-projects/