Landowner Dick Huddle is neutral on the wind turbine issue, but he knows people who live in his county have their doubts.
Concerns about health and economic risks were heard Tuesday at a Madison County Commissioner’s meeting, which was attended by more than two dozen residents.
The county imposed a four-month moratorium on zoning regulations for wind farms in the area earlier this month, and this meeting set that moratorium in stone.
“The county attorney was hoping to end that moratorium today, and we successfully ordered that attempt off,” Huddle said.
Joe Smith, Madison County Attorney, said some oppose wind turbines on county land with the hopes of getting rid of them entirely. The issue has split Madison County residents.
“The wind turbine companies have been getting leases with the farmers, building some things, getting permits, those type of things,” Smith said. “There's actually three sides to it. We have the commercial wind turbine companies, which have invested a lot of money, we have the opposition group, which includes Madison County residents and quite a few farmers that have entered into leases based on the present zoning. That is, leases with the wind tower people, where they get paid a certain amount per year or per turbine when they get built.”
That amount rounds out to about $20,000 per year, Smith said, but all agreements are between landowners and the wind turbine companies.
Farmer Doug Nelson of Wayne is opposed to wind turbines. He doesn’t trust the agreements made with the companies, and said other landowners shouldn’t, either.
“I wouldn't sign one of those leases for anything," he said. "You have lost the possession of your farm for wind energy purposes, and that is a very vague definition. The lease is renewable by the lessee. This thing could be 40-50 years, and I've seen some of them renewable as much as 90 years.”
Most in the county are citing health concerns, but the county commissioner board said they must see updated evidence of these concerns before making any changes to the zoning regulations.