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