Print this story |
E-mail story |
This story has 19 comments Add your own |
iPod friendly | Bookmark this
What is this?
City seeks moratorium on wind turbines
Published Monday, February 18, 2008
Because it is uncharted territory, Community Development Director Gordon Hydukovich is requesting a temporary moratorium on wind turbines.
The city attorney will be asked during Tuesday’s Fergus Falls City Council meeting to draft such an ordinance. It is necessary, Hydukovich said, until city code can be written clearly stating where they can be placed. The moratorium was prompted by an individual requesting to place a turbine in a residential area. Another request was submitted by an industrial user in the city.
“It’s much like when cell towers (came into being),” Hydukovich said. “There was no code to go by.”
It is unlikely there ever would be one placed in a residential area,” Hydukovich said.
“If there ever was one allowed in the city, it would probably be in a part of town zoned industrial.”
Things to be considered, Hydukovich said, are safety setbacks — how far away from a residential area should wind turbines be?
“They do make noise,” he said. “And if anything happened, we want to make sure they’re a safe distance away.”
A wind turbine on the grounds of Vinco, Inc. located outside city limits, became operational last summer. It produces electricity equivalent to burning six tons of coal per year, a Vinco representative said during the turbine dedication last August. As the turbine was turned on into a 14 mph wind, it was producing 22 kilowatts of power.
A bill signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty a year ago requires 25 percent of the state's electricity to come from next-generation power sources by 2025. Minnesota ranks ninth in the country as states most viable for wind energy. North Dakota tops the list, with South Dakota in fourth place.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 1:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good going Fergus Falls!!! As the rest of the world starts using clean energy sources we in Fergus Falls place restrictions on progress. That’s why so many people think Fergus Falls is a small thinking backwater.
Don’t worry, maybe we can buy some clean energy from Underwood, along with smart students.
Posted by Newshound (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 2:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
On the contrary; good solid common sense at work here. Make the rules NOW. I see no mention of anyone moving to STOP wind generation. They CAN be obtrusive. They DO make noise.It WOULD be absurd to have one in a small neighborhood.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 2:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
That is exactly what a moratorium does. It stops things. The only people who find them obtrusive are the people who currently sell us electricity. Farmers have used small wind powered electric generators for over 100 years with no problems, and the noise they make is insignificant. BTW I’m not talking about windmills that pump water for a farmers stock tank. Anyway, keep on trucking Fergus you’ll get to the 20th century sooner or later, most likely later.
Posted by ANonnyMoose (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Newshound. This is no different than the City's authority to declare what areas should be for businesses and what areas should be for residences (zoning). There SHOULD be guidelines as to where such structures should be placed. I don't think that's unnecessarily restrictive at all. And a moratorium is, by definition, a TEMPORARY stoppage of an action. It's not permanent, just something put in place until an ordinance can be drawn up. It's not that big a deal.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 3:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sure, just like the arrowhead of Minnesota where a moratorium on cell phone towers has been in place now for seventeen years. Because it “might spoil someone’s wilderness experience”. You can lay dying in a ditch because your cell phone won’t work but at least your view will be unobstructed.
You know, I don’t want a wind turbine, my complaint about this entire issue is that it is so Fergus Fallsie to restrict any sign of progress. To be against any type of change.
Posted by pilsnerurquel (anonymous) on February 18, 2008 at 8:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gee, I wonder if the moratorium had anything to do with the fact that Otter Tail Power's headquarters are in Fergus Falls?
Posted by DogLover (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 12:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Probably Otter Tail Power who requested the memorandium... so it could be changed to only allow "power producing companies" to put up wind generators. Can't just let any citizen put one up. The power companies are mandated to purchase any unused power back form those owners of the generators. That would go against OTP's means of MAKING MONEY! You'll see it happen in FF, but only by the major power companies. Wait and see. Wonder why they didn't put one up at the ethanol plant? What would another 5 million be?
Posted by eripsni (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 7:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Honestly, do you really want a wind turbine in your neighbor's back yard? These things are BIG! I'm all for clean energy, but we can put turbines out in a field somewhere and wire it back to the city. If you really want to own one so bad, there's nothing stopping you from moving outside city limits.
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wind turbines don’t have to be big. I found out last night that there are at least two within the city limits already. They are small (about three feet in diameter) and have been producing free energy for several years. Inferring that wind turbines must be humongous is just a scare tactic used by those against progress.
Next will come the fear of noise and birds flying into them.
Posted by brau0156 (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 11:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I've checked into harnessing the wind for power and like lenny says they do not have to be obtrusive. I don't understand why people who live in some of the most beautiful rural areas( yes I would consider even fergus falls to be a rural environment) are so slow and hesitant about clean energy. If the city wants to put a restriction on diameter of turbines, I would say that is logical, but putting the breaks on it because officials who are supposed to be up on this kinda of thing are not seems ridiculous. Yes officials should be up on this type of thing, after all they asked for the position promising they can lookout for the communities interest. If at the present time they still are clueless about alternative power what have they been doing. No doubt lost in the consumeristic society we are now trying to fix.
Posted by Brandy (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 12:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lenny, you would have been the first one in line at City Hall if one of your next door neighbors had put up one of these wind generators that are now under the moritorium. If you don't like the process, go to a council meeting and talk to the powers that be face to face.
Posted by edrule3 (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 1:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
http://www.pacwind.net/
Posted by lenny (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Brandy, where are you from? Talk to the powers that be? Ha. I knew there were naive posters around but you take the cake. THE FIX IS ALREADY IN, HENCE THE MORITORIUM. Instead of talking nonsense check out edrule3’s link.
Posted by ANonnyMoose (anonymous) on February 19, 2008 at 5:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wait a second, brau0156 -- you criticize the council for NOT being "up on this type of thing", and then turn around and criticize them for trying to learn about it so they CAN be "up on it"? Nobody's an expert on everything. Let's all cut our city leaders a little slack on this issue. Look, I'm a complete novice when it comes to wind generators and turbines. I looked at edrule3's link, and was impressed with the technology. Evidently there's an awful lot out there for consumers to be educated about on the subject. Isn't it only fair -- and RIGHT -- that our city leaders take a little time to educate themselves? What's the big deal? All they want to do is put a temporary halt to citywide installation of these devices until they know A) whether or not they need to be zoned or licensed or whatever, and B) if so, to what extent. Once that process is complete, they'll come up with a course of action -- or no action at all -- that will best suit the needs of city residents. To assume otherwise is to grasp at conspiratorial straws.
Posted by thinkB4Uspeak (anonymous) on February 20, 2008 at 4:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I doubt that OTP requested the moratorium. Look on their web site
http://www.otpco.com/
and you'll see they encourage local energy by participating in the C-BED program.
BTW - If you don't like city zoning move to the country.
Posted by PrairieLover (anonymous) on February 22, 2008 at 8:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Furgus Falls is ahead of the pack. There are so many questions coming up about wind turbines and wind farms that any community that just leaps head first into it is not protecting the health and safety of its residents and certainly not doing much for the environment. Please visit betterplan.squarespace.com and download the supporting documents for the Union Township wind ordinance. No matter what the wind developers tell you, living 1000 feet from a 40 story tall machine with a spinning blade span wider than a 747 is going to have an impact on your life. Visit windaction.org or nationalwindwatch.org and educate yourself. I wish it were the green Santa every one believes it is, but the truth is it's solving one environmental problem with another. Did you know that if there is a massive power failure the turbines stop turning? Did you know they rely on coal and gas powered electrical plants to even function? Did you know that at best they are only 30% efficient?
Posted by edrule3 (anonymous) on February 23, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PrairieLover, watch the videos at this website:
http://www.pacwind.net/
Want scary statistics? Google: 'coal burning plant's impact on health and environment' and check out the nearly 1 million hits.
Think about this: How much imported diesel does it take to run the huge vehicles needed to mine coal in Wyoming? How much more imported fuel is needed to be burned to transport the masses of coal, via diesel locomotives, to the burning plants?
How much does it cost to maintain the power grid. . . you know, the utility poles and ubiquitous array of power lines that crisscross our yards and lanscapes (what an eyesore they are)?
Now imagine every home using the Verticle Axis Wind Turbines featured in Ed Begley's video presentation. Imagine every home with its own satellite dish providing internet service, internet based telephone service, and all your entertaiment needs. Imagine NO POWER LINES or utility poles in your view as you traverse the country. And then imagine how much more disposable income you'll have to spend locally instead of having to pay it out to utility companies. If you combine all of God's green energy gifts; wind, solar, hydro, etc. and utilize them to their fullest, imagine the world we could all have.
Posted by PrairieLover (anonymous) on February 26, 2008 at 4 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Furgus Falls is ahead of the pack. There are so many questions coming up about wind turbines and wind farms that any community that just leaps head first into it is not protecting the health and safety of its residents and certainly not doing much for the environment. Please visit betterplan.squarespace.com and download the supporting documents for the Union Township wind ordinance. No matter what the wind developers tell you, living 1000 feet from a 40 story tall machine with a spinning blade span wider than a 747 is going to have an impact on your life. Visit windaction.org or nationalwindwatch.org and educate yourself. I wish it were the green Santa every one believes it is, but the truth is it's solving one environmental problem with another. Did you know that if there is a massive power failure the turbines stop turning? Did you know they rely on coal and gas powered electrical plants to even function? Did you know that at best they are only 30% efficient?
Posted by edrule3 (anonymous) on February 27, 2008 at 4:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PrairieLover, watch the videos at this website:
http://www.pacwind.net/
Want scary statistics? Google: 'coal burning plant's impact on health and environment' and check out the nearly 1 million hits.
Think about this: How much imported diesel does it take to run the huge vehicles needed to mine coal in Wyoming? How much more imported fuel is needed to be burned to transport the masses of coal, via diesel locomotives, to the burning plants?
How much does it cost to maintain the power grid. . . you know, the utility poles and ubiquitous array of power lines that crisscross our yards and lanscapes (what an eyesore they are)?
Now imagine every home using the Verticle Axis Wind Turbines featured in Ed Begley's video presentation. Imagine every home with its own satellite dish providing internet service, internet based telephone service, and all your entertaiment needs. Imagine NO POWER LINES or utility poles in your view as you traverse the country. And then imagine how much more disposable income you'll have to spend locally instead of having to pay it out to utility companies. If you combine all of God's green energy gifts; wind, solar, hydro, etc. and utilize them to their fullest, imagine the world we could all have.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)