By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Even as proposed wind energy projects grow in the state, so does resistance to the developments.

“The big issue is, we’re having a problem with local governments and zoning ordinances,” said Jennifer Alvarado, executive director of Great Lakes Renewable Energy Assoc. (GLREA). “They’re not enabling projects very easily. That’s our main focus right now. There’s a lot of misinformation about wind.
“Michigan has a lot of farmland that is ideal for wind farming, but there’s an anti-wind movement that’s grown up pretty much everywhere. Some ordinances are becoming more restrictive. I think people are still trying to understand this and what could happen. We’re finding a lot of this can be worked through, but it’s a challenge.”

New wind energy projects, which involve the erection of large turbines, have been built or proposed in the Thumb area of Michigan as well as several counties along the Lake Michigan shoreline. These include Tuscola, Bay, Sanilac and Huron counties in the Thumb region, and Benzie, Manistee, Mason, Allegan and Oceana counties on the western side of the state.

At least one project has been proposed in Gratiot County in the center of the state, and at least one in Lenawee County in southeastern lower Michigan, near the Ohio border. Significant resistance has built up in all these counties except Gratiot, according to Alvarado.

There are currently two developments completed in Huron County, Michigan Wind 1 in Ubly and Harvest Wind in Elkton. Also, just last year a group of 70 farmers, owning about 15,000 acres of land, signed a wind energy agreement with a company for a wind park in nearby Tuscola County.

Valerie McCallum, the clerk for Lake Township in Huron County, is against wind energy developments. “I’m opposed to it as an official because I don’t think it’s beneficial to our community,” she said.

She said companies and zoning officials are siting developments too close to people’s homes and property, including proposals for 1,300- and 1,500-foot setbacks. She pointed out the setbacks are from people’s homes, not property lines. This means a wind turbine park could be across the street from a non-participating person’s property, if the person’s house is set back far enough.
“Way too close,” McCallum opined.

She also said wind turbines, which are sometimes 500 feet tall, lower property values. “If you were looking at a home in a rural setting, would you want to buy a home with a wind turbine nearby? People aren’t going to buy your home if there’s a wind turbine nearby,” she said.

Alvarado rejects these arguments, saying the wind industry is bringing jobs and prosperity to rural communities and the state as a whole. She points to a report by the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) that says there are now 120 companies that have facilities or are headquartered in Michigan because of wind energy. It’s called The Wind Energy and Solar Supply Chain in Michigan.

“Michigan is home to nearly 200 solar and wind supply chain companies (more than 50 of which supply both industries) with more than 4,000 jobs tied to the wind industry and 6,300 to the solar industry,” the report reads. “Clean tech is the state’s fastest growing sector, with $10 billion in announced clean energy development investments in the pipeline.”

In a controversy over a proposed wind energy development, the dividing line is often, if not always, between the haves and the have-nots – those who will have at least one turbine on their property, and those who won’t. Participants with a turbine will be paid by the company for use of their property, while those who won’t have one won’t be paid.

Clay Kelterborn, a former supervisor for Lake Township, said he was approached by a company wanting to place turbines on his property, but he turned them down. Kelterborn is a farmer with 500 acres of land.

“I felt it was in my best interests not to sign a lease because I was sitting on the board at the time,” he said. He left the board in November 2009. “The issues I saw front and center is a real erosion in the community. People were unwilling to listen to their neighbors’ concerns.

“The company didn’t come to the township first to talk about these issues. Instead, they approached farmers to try and get them to sign leases. The problems it created were just paramount. It was just really divisive in the community. Everyone wants to do good for the environment. There’s nothing wrong with that, but is the perception real? Have the questions that need to be asked really been asked?”

Kevon Martis, a former planning commissioner for Riga Township in Lenawee County, doesn’t think so. Martis said he was forced out of his position by the township supervisor because he’s been vocal in opposing a wind development there. Vestis, a Danish firm, is proposing a wind park with up to 250 wind turbines.

“It was obvious to everybody why” he wasn’t reappointed, Martis said. “There are a lot of real and not imaginary problems with living near industrial-sized wind turbines.”

Recall efforts are under way against officials in Riga and nearby Ogden townships over potential conflicts of interest. Some officials are being accused of having a conflict because they have signed wind lease agreements and are in a position to vote, as elected officials, on a wind energy development.
To view the ELPC report on the renewable energy sector in Michigan, go to http://elpc.org and click on “Publications.” To view a Michigan-based website opposed to wind energy developments, go to http://iiccusa.org