June 27, 2025
Iowa

County extends wind energy moratorium

CHRIS BALDUS · Jun 23, 2025 · clintonherald.com

The Clinton County Board of Supervisors on Monday again extended a moratorium that wind energy proponents say has effectively frozen development.

Despite saying they want the year-long zoning ordinance revision process to end as soon as possible, Supervisors Erin George and Jim Irwin voted to add three more months to the moratorium on zoning change requests for utility-scale wind energy installations, with the option for three more.

“I am committed to getting this done prior to that,” George said.

“Absolutely,” said Irwin. Supervisor Dan Srp abstained, due to conflict of interest.

Last June, the supervisors put in place the initial three-month moratorium to allow for review of the wind energy ordinance language that has been in place since 2008. The supervisors have extended the moratorium multiple times since then.

“This is been a long process already,” Irwin said. “ You know, it’s been a year long. We want this over just as much as anybody else does. There are just so, so many aspects of this that are pretty intense. This is not something that is just like a normal process for any of us. We went with this process with the solar (ordinance) conversations and discussions. Those were not easy. This has been very difficult.”

Supervisors have received many emails and a lot of information, he said.

“And that’s part of the process. We are listening.”

He summarized one side is arguing for landowner rights and economic benefits such as job and tax base. The other side has cited health and safety issues of rural residents.

“We are doing our best to listen to both sides and weigh things out,” he said.

“You don’t have to convince us much that we have to get this done,” said George.

People on both sides of the issue spoke up at the public hearing that lasted less than 30 minutes Monday on the moratorium.

Ken O’Connor, of Charlotte, read from a prepared statement and said more than 20 landowners sent letters in advance of the hearing asking the supervisors to end the moratorium, and more have signed a petition.

“We’ve been patient for one year and landowners of Clinton County respectably urge the Board of Supervisors to lift the year-long moratorium.”

Continuing it delays the financial benefits to the landowners and the community, he said.

“The stakes are high, and further delays threaten the county project‘s viability, potentially causing financial harm to landowners,” O’Connor said.

Tim Arnold, of Nex-Era Energy, developer of the Clinton County Wind Project, said the company expressed its concerns a year ago about the moratorium, but had engaged in the public discussions anyway. At the time, the company was at least six months away from submitting an application for the Clinton County Wind Project.

“We knew from experience that moratoriums have a chilling effect on signing new leases, sighting infrastructure, conducting studies, and all the items required to move a project into that application phase,” he said. “A year later, that is proven to be true, and, now, a new extension is being contemplated to the moratorium. We willingly engaged in the information gathering process, participated in all the public hearings, provided peer reviewed scientific data, subject matter experts to address concerns and combat misinformation. And we made it an ongoing priority to show that projects like ours are safe, contribute significantly to the county tax base, bringing good paying jobs to Clinton County, and provide a predictable stream of long-term income for the participating landowners.”

“Those benefits can only be realized if development is allowed to continue. So we ask that you not extend the moratorium even while you continue to update the wind ordinance. We believe there’s a path forward for our project and for the county, but it has to start with allowing the moratorium to expire next week.”

Ryan Drew, representing Union Local 150, asked that the moratorium be lifted to allow the continuation of good paying jobs and apprenticeships that are getting a start currently working on solar energy projects in the county.

Speaking in favor of the moratorium, Lana Griswold, thanked the supervisors for keeping its rural residents protected.

Marty Seyller, an online viewer, said there is still a lot of work to do to protect rural residents.

Reacting to legal concerns raised about further extending the moratorium, County Attorney Mike Wolf, and consulting expert attorney, advised the supervisors that they could do it. Wolf recommended that the Planning and Zoning Commission also vote on a recommendation to do so.

The commission has already recommended its new version of the ordinance language to the supervisors, which has caused objection from Clinton County Wind, LLC. Attorney Samantha Norris wrote about that in an email to the county that also argued against extending the moratorium.

“The county has moved from a balanced ordinance to contemplating one that would prevent any wind development in the county,” she wrote. “Clinton Wind has tried, through numerous rounds of public comment to detail why the terms of the under-consideration ordinance are troubling. In short, the draft ordinance’s noise, shadow flicker, and setback restrictions prohibit any wind development in the county and area arbitrary capricious and unreasonable. They do not have any factual or scientific grounding in protecting the public, health, safety, and welfare, beyond the terms in the current ordinance. Finally, those terms constitute a de facto ban on wind development contrary to Iowa law.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2025/06/27/county-extends-wind-energy-moratorium/