Wind opponents launch war on farmers
From a story by Susan Squires in the Appleton Post-Crescent:
Giant windmills won’t appear in Calumet County for years — if ever. Just the same, their phantom silhouettes are a very real part of the county’s landscape.
“It’s like the Revolution and Civil War put together,” says Calumet County Supv. Don Schwobe, who has held one elected office or another in county or town government for 40 years.
Two out-of-state developers are scouting sites for three wind projects in Calumet County, where breezes clock 13 to 14 mph at 110 feet. The 100 or so 400-foot turbines would be the largest erected to date in Wisconsin, and the still unbuilt windmills have set off a battle over property rights — mostly between farmers and residential property owners.
“It’s just mean. Mean,” Schwobe said. “Back and forth between those who want towers and those who don’t. It’s a shame. Families against each other. Neighbors against each other.”
The conflict began about a year ago with a county wind energy ordinance some property owners thought too lax. It escalated over the summer when organized opposition began running full-page ads in the local weekly newspaper, listing the names of property owners who might lease land to wind developers. Then came the “Good neighbors don’t host 400-foot wind turbines” yard signs.
“When those signs went up, that was like punching us in the face,” Brothertown farmer Dan Lisowe said. . . .
Wisconsin utilities operate 55 industrial-sized turbines at five different sites in the state, according to the state Department of Administration’s Division of Energy.
Renew Wisconsin, a pro-wind, nonprofit organization, said another 19 are in the development or negotiation stage. Virtually all have faced opposition, but the battle in Calumet County has been among the most hostile Michael Vickerman, Renew Wisconsin’s executive director, has witnessed.
“The thing that really disturbs me is the lack of respect shown to the farmers in their community,” Vickerman said. “This is thinly disguised class warfare, and it’s aimed at farmers who’ve worked the land for decades and decades.”
Zimmeran is a either an idiot or doesn’t understand the situation well. “thinly disguised class warfare”. This is not about a dispute between some social classes that Zimmeran tries to come up with. It’s about people hungry for more money vs people who want to keep the current quality of living in Calumet County. Simple as that.
Ted Sesing
November 4, 2007
I guess it’s Vickerman who is the bozo.
My neighbor farmer, who is also my Calumet County Board rep, wanted to put these 400 foot spinners all around my home without telling me about it. Yah, it’s his land and he can do with it what he wants. But when he wants to destroy the landscape I look at everday then I believe he is showing disrespect for the neighbors. Plus the noise and all other potential problems. I don’t give a damn if they think were disrespecting them back.
It makes me laugh how all these wind supporters have popped out of the weeds when they found out there was money in it for them. They don’t support wind energy because it’s clean energy. They support it because of the money they can make from it.
There is no reason the wind farms proposed for Calumet County can not be put in another area that is no so populated with homes. Other wind farms have been put in areas with less wind than Calumet County.
Ted Sesing
November 5, 2007
Oh yah, one more thing. I grew up on a farm in northeastern Fond Du Lac County where the Blu Sky Green Project is currently being built by WE Energies. I am now part owner of that farm which we rent out. We told WE Energies “no” 3 years ago when they asked to put turbines on our land.
Ted Sesing
November 5, 2007
Mr. Sesing, thank you for your comments. They create an opportunity to exchange ideas.
I’m curious about your thoughts on making money and the profit motive in our economy.
You and many wind opponents make comments very similar to the one you made: [Wind supporters] “support it because of the money they can make from it.”
You say that you grew up on the farm. Did your family make money from farming? Did your family pursue farming “because of the money they could make from it?” Should we prohibit people from farming if they make money from it? Of course not, But you seem to imply that we shouldn’t let farmers and wind developers make money from generating electricity from wind.
And, farming certainly must impact the area’s quality of life with manure smells and loud machinery.
Speaking of making money, the people who support the anti-wind activities made enough money in some activity – enough money to buy full page newspaper advertisements and hire an expensive attorney, who makes money from wind . Is all of this okay? Or, would you want to stop anti-wind backers from making money and ask your attorneys to work for free?
I just don’t understand why it’s suddenly immoral for farmers to make money renting out their land, as you rent your land, and for wind generation developers to make money like every other utility in the state.
And one final point, wind turbines cannot just be “put in another area.” The area requires wind.
Ed Blume
November 5, 2007
First of all your part about the attorneys making money from wind power is so twisted and spun that I’m not even going to respond to it. You should be a politician if your going to spin things like that.
When WE Energies came to us about wind turbines I immediately knew I didn’t want them on our farm. My brothers were thinking about so I told them to go talk to the neighbors. The neighbors told us they didn’t want them around either. When our farm neigbors moved into the area they expected the normal farm machinery noises and occasional smells. They didn’t expect 400 foot spinning towers to surround their home. We didn’t decide to take the money and screw the nieghbors.
If wind power companies can find areas in the state where the people are agreeable to a wind farm then I don’t have problem with it. But that’s not the case here in Calumet County.
And one other point about the location of these wind farms. The Montfort farm has gotten a lot of attention here in Calumet County. Apparently that farm is doing all fine and well when it comes to producing electrical power. Yet when I look at a wind map of Wisconsin the Montfort farm is not located in a high wind area. If the Montfort farm can located be where it is, then other wind farms can be located in areas with similar wind speeds. The turbines will just be less efficient.
Ted Sesing
November 9, 2007
Once again, Mr. Sesing, thank you for posting.
Yes, the opposition to wind projects presents many ironies. Anti-wind attorneys making
money from the wind industry stands as only one of them.
From your comment, it appears that you don’t have any hard and fast opposition to wind-generated electricity. You don’t wind turbines them if people are “agreeable” with them.
In a second irony, you want the lights to come on when you flip the switch, I presume, but you don’t want to see where the electricity is being generated.
Each and every day I look at the smokestacks on MG&E’s generation plant on Madison’s isthmus. I pass within 100 feet of the generation plant as I come and go to work. I wish that the smokestacks weren’t there, but I too like the lights to come on, so I’m not complaining about the way they look. I do complain about the pollution coming from those smokestacks. I’d be delighted if the plant were replaced with wind turbines, which burn nothing to generate electricity. [In truthfulness to MG&E, the company will phase out the coal and replace it with cleaner burning natural gas in the next few years.]
Ed Blume
November 12, 2007