| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Oceana County planners’ study questions proposal for Lake Michigan wind farm
Credit: By Dave Alexander, Muskegon Chronicle, www.mlive.com 1 November 2011 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
HART – Nearly 16 months after the Oceana County Board of Commissioners rejected a proposal for an industrial-scale wind farm on the waters of Lake Michigan, the county’s planning commission released a report that says the entire plan was “not feasible.”
Planning Commission Chairwoman Anne Soles issued a press release Tuesday declaring an in-depth investigation of the Scandia Wind LLC’s proposal for 100-200 offshore wind turbines on the near-shore waters of Lake Michigan off the coast from Ludington to Pentwater found “major flaws.”
The planning commission’s conclusion is that only through local government “vigilance” did the problems of the Scandia plan actual surface. The Oceana County board voted 4-2 Aug. 12, 2010, to reject the Scandia project, as did the Mason County Board of Commissioners earlier that summer.
At issue is whether the construction of proposed concrete wind turbine foundations would generate employment locally for up to 2 million worker hours, as the developer told Oceana County officials. It is technically not feasible for those labor-intensive foundations to be constructed in West Michigan, the planning commission concluded.
Thus, the jobs promised the local community were never really possible, the planners concluded. Even with job creation and local investments from a offshore wind farm, county commissioners in Oceana and Mason concluded the huge wind turbines would, among other things, spoil Lake Michigan views, hurt tourism, devalue lakefront property and ecologically threaten the lake.
“It is not clear whether Scandia just did not do their research or they were not being factual with the commission and the public,” Oceana County Planning Commissioner David Roseman said. “Regardless, it took this local government to make that determination where most others involved overlooked this fundamental flaw.”
The planning commission news release went on to say that Scandia – now involved with Spanish wind developer Gamesa in a land-based wind farm at the Muskegon County Wastewater Management System – still has hopes of reviving its Lake Michigan plans.
The Oceana and Mason county experience shows local control of issues such as offshore wind is important in the face of potential legislation and regulation of offshore wind developments expected from state government, the planning commissioners conclude.
Scandia officials were not immediately available for comment.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=14970 ]
