Yes, I sat through all but one night of testimony in the February ZBA hearings, taking notes and politely listening to both sides. Yes, I have contacted experts in the fields of concern to educate myself. That is how I became familiar with operational curtailment and mitigated lighting systems before their inclusion in the application. Yes, I have spent innumerable hours researching scientific articles and have spoken to those who live and farm in the footprint of a wind farm, and I have consulted with legal counsel regarding the issues presented and have paid for such with my own money.

The decommissioning plan is laid out in the lease forms included in the special use permit application. The information within the SUP application is the DeWitt County Board’s responsibility to question, a part of the job they perform for the county, as I am not responsible for the fiscal responsibilities of the county.

In 2008, per the NBER, America was in a recession, banks recorded billions in losses, gas was $4.12 a gallon, our soldiers had been fighting the war on terror for five years with no end in sight at an estimated cost of $3 trillion, oil fields were destroyed, our allies were being beheaded and burned alive by our enemies, and non-Muslim women were being kidnapped, raped, and enslaved.

Seven years earlier, 9/11 had occurred. This was the situation when I first heard about the proposed wind tower project in DeWitt County. As a strong believer that we needed to be free of any ties to foreign oil, I also believed that any options that were available, which also had the added benefit of clean energy (i.e. hydroelectric, geothermal, solar.)

Kim Spencer, Clinton

Found online here: https://herald-review.com/opinion/letters/letter-paying-attention-to-both-sides/article_af510b10-eb03-5d67-9251-ed8ca1e75085.html

On Monday, December 2, I attended the DeWitt County ZBA meeting, where they discussed a group of anti-wind farm ordinance amendments. I was appalled by the way the meeting was run.

I am a wind farm supporter, and I signed up on a list to speak to the board. Once public comment began, the list was abandoned, and people wishing to speak were required to just stand up and do so. Or so I thought.

When I stood up to go speak, the ZBA chairman asked me if I was on the list. I said yes I was. The problem is that a few minutes before me, they allowed two anti-wind farm speakers to speak who were not on the list. Later on, a wind farm supporter who attempted to speak for a second time was refused the right to do so on the grounds that nobody can speak twice. Yet, later in the meeting, an anti-wind farm commenter was allowed to speak for a second time.

It seems that this meeting was run to shut out wind farm supporters from giving their opinions. The only question is, why?

Becky Fatheree

Clinton

Found online here: https://theclintonjournal.com/article/why-doesnt-the-zba-really-want-to-hear-from-wind-farm-supporters

Research info on wind project.

I am a 10-year supporter of the Alta Farms Wind Project who feels that we need the new funding it provides for our schools, our fire departments, our libraries, and our roads, along with the opportunity to create jobs, increase revenue for local restaurants, motels and businesses, secure jobs for those in our community that are laborers, and create new jobs here at home.

More than 7,667 students and 155 teachers annually (and 230,000 students and 4,650 teachers over the length of the project) will be positively affected though continued support of revenue to our schools and libraries. Within our county, 16,434 residents annually (and over 493,000 over the length of the project) will receive the benefits of assistance to their local volunteer fire departments and relief from real-estate tax increases.

As a resident of this community, I encourage you not to let a few dictate our future. If you have questions, research answers from reliable sources. Do rely on other people’s fears for input. Make an educated decision and contact your representative on the county board to let them know that, for the sake of our children, they need to vote for the good of the community.

We cannot allow the emotional responses from a few to limit our future, our children’s or their children’s. We may not get another chance to do so much for our county, especially if we become known as a closed-minded community should another prospective revenue source miraculously arise.

Kim Spencer, Clinton

Found online here: https://www.pantagraph.com/opinion/letters/research-info-on-wind-farm-project/article_53a8383c-94a5-5ccf-a067-dd1a90779767.html

Last week at the DeWitt County Board meeting, an agenda item the Board was going to discuss was a request by Tradewind Energy for a substitute zoning administrator for the matter of the Alta Farms Wind Project.

The board removed that item from the agenda and county leaders say the issue has been resolved but Tuesday morning on the WHOW Morning Show, Project Development Manager for Tradewind, Tom Swierczewski says they do not believe it is resolved.

“We have not received formal communication. Our complaint, we feel, is still active and hasn’t been resolved. We simply want to get through this process as quickly as possible so we can start building this project and so DeWitt County can start benefiting from all the economic benefits these projects bring as well as the jobs. We see no reason for this process to take any longer than it needs to. It’s looking like it’s going to be at least 4 or 5 months, and that’s ridiculous.” said Tom Swierczewski.

Tradewind’s biggest contention is they submitted their application nearly three months ago and it has yet to make it to the Regional Planning Commission. Swierczewski feels this process has taken far too long.

“It’s been frustrating. Last Monday, Alta Farms II submitted a complaint against the zoning administrator Angie Sarver. It’s our feeling that she is attempting to stall the process or otherwise make sure the application proceeds through the process as slowly as possible. We submitted our application on August 15. The RPC was scheduled very shortly after our complaint was filed for November 19. That’s over 3 months. Typically, a special use permit application is reviewed an acted upon by the County Board in 3 months, not just going through to the first level.” said Tom Swierczewski.

The RPC will take up the Tradewind application in November but Tradewind is maintaining their request for a substitute zoning administrator. Swierczewski called out Land Use Committee Chair Terry Ferguson, for not having control of his staff and playing politics.

“We decided at the last minute not attend the County Board meeting because an RPC meeting date had been set, but we’re still asking for a substitute zoning administrator. We’re asking that after November 19 that the Zoning Board of Appeals dates be set so we can get through this process. We simply want to be treated like every other applicant. At this point, from our perspective, if the zoning administrator isn’t the problem at the county, perhaps it’s the Land Use Committee chairman Terry Ferguson. From our perspective, it seems like either Terry’s playing politics or he doesn’t have control of his staff, and neither one of those is good.” said Tom Swierczewski.

Last Friday morning on the WHOW morning show following the County Board meeting, DeWitt County Board Chair David Newberg did not elaborate much on the situation but did indicate they felt they had the issue resolved before the meeting.

“First of all, for the Board to act on any item, it has to be on the agenda, as it was listed for discussion and possible action. If it’s not on the agenda that way, no action can be taken. Obviously, the agenda has to be posted 48 hours minimum prior to the meeting. We had some issues we didn’t think we resolved, I had them placed on the agenda this way. We got those issues resolved, so I wanted to make it very clear at the beginning of the meeting that I was pulling that from the agenda, because we did have a resolution.” said Dave Newberg

Also found online: https://dewittdailynews.com/local-news/471410?fbclid=IwAR042y5jVjiwb1l4cFF898eY6f5cieYOqDErp220x6EPLnqIFNe4X0dzXpg