End of the Trail for New Era Wind Farm

Citizens hope that the New Era industrial wind project ‘s upcoming Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC)hearing will be its last. MPUC staff briefing papers for the June 20, 2013 hearing provide two pages of options for Commissioner’s to bring to a close the most contested project in Minnesota history. Staff detailed the previous months’ power purchase contract default letters between Xcel, current project owner Peter J. Mastic, and the project’s legal counsel at Fredrickson and Byron. MPUC staff also point to their thorough February 2013 briefing papers.  Commission staff and citizens teed up this former T. Boone Pickens' project to be put out of its misery by Commissioners. The February hearing ended in citizen disgust as MPUC Commissions acted on advice of their legal counsel by sitting on their hands waiting, again, for someone else to end this mess.

All vital signs have pointed to the death of New Era/ AWA Goodhue since T. Boone Pickens’ Mesa Power sold the troubled project to Peter Mastic. Mastic, former CEO of the projects former development company, National Wind, bought the project  in October 2012. Xcel’s June 2013 update brings no hope of this project continuing. The contracts are in default. All timelines for remedy have long expired. In addition to not responding to citizens phone calls and letters, Xcel and the MPUC say Mr. Mastic has been Unresponsive to them as well. Xcel’s attorneys told Fredrickson and Byron’s Dan Yarano that New Era can voluntarily withdraw from the contracts “immediately”, or Xcel will begin proceedings in District Court. Evidently, "immediately" illicited no response.

"As we stated in our response...May 24, 2013, [Xcel] would commence a declaratory judgment action in Minnesota District Court in the event we were unable to work out a voluntary termination of the PPAs. We filed this Declaratory Judgment with the Fourth District Judicial Court on June 14, 2013.... The purpose for this action will be to resolve any questions over whether the magnitude and quality of New Era’s defaults are sufficient to justify termination for default." Xcel; June 17, 2013

 

After three pages of whining, Mr. Mastics April letter finally states, indirectly, that he is no longer pursuing a project in Goodhue County, Minnesota. Mr. Mastic implies that he has been attempting to sell his Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to projects in Minnesota “communities more welcoming”.

"New Era has no confidence that due process for this project will ever end, nor that an ABPP will ever be approved, however comprehensively and carefully drafted."

"New Era made a series of proposals to [Xcel], backed by three different project owners.... Each of these projects is sited in a community that is far more receptive to wind energy than is Goodhue." Peter Mastic 4/17/2013

The Coalition for Sensible Siting congratulates citizens on the death of industrial wind fanatasies in Goodhue County. Citizens shined the light of truth on this project through relentless, five year engagement in an often hideous always iased process. Communities "more receptive to wind energy" generally means communities uneducated or un-engaged. We have yet to find a fully informed community that welcomes Big Wind.

"[New Era] has (i) failed to advance construction of the Goodhue Project in the timeframes required by the Agreements (even as extended by claimed periods of force majeure) and [New Era] has provided NSP with no plan to advance construction of the Goodhue Project as required by the PPAs; (ii) failed to establish a Security Fund to protect NSP in the event of Project delays or breaches of contract, in breach of...the Agreements; (iii) failed to pay liquidated Delay Damages in the contractual amounts and timeframes, in breach...of the Agreements as amended; and (iv) allowed for a change of control of the Goodhue Project without prior written approval by NSP, in breach of...the Agreements. Defendant has failed to cure these material breaches of the Agreements." Xcel; June 14, 2013

Read More...

Bald Eagle Annual Deaths As High As 14

United States Fish and Wildlife Service predicts that between 8 and 14 American bald eagles could be killed annually if New Era Wind Farm is built as currently designed. The outcome of USFWS's eagle mortality models are dramatically higher than one eagle every-other-year as predicted by New Era's consultant Westwood Professional Services. 
 
In November 2012, New Era was the first wind facility in the nation to apply to the USFWS for an "Incidental Take Permit" to be allowed to kill bald eagles with their wind turbines without the danger of federal prosecution. Bald eagles are protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Without an ITP, killing an eagle is against federal law. The ITP process for New Era is not yet completed.

The eagle mortality rates were one part of extensive analysis and comments that USFWS provided in response to New Era's updated Avian and Bat Protection Plan (ABPP) required by the State of Minnesota. Overall, the USFWS found a number of problems with the ABPP methodology and conclusions. The 2010 avian study reported zero nests and no eagles flying in the wind project area; USFWS estimates the area bald eagle population at well over 400. Problems identified by USFWS included a warning about killing golden eagles, which also fly through the area. The Service made it clear that there is no possibility of obtaining an ITP for golden eagles in this area of the country, so that killing one would be a federally prosecutable offense.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources provided comments on the same ABPP. The DNR raised concerns about Northern Harriers, Henslow Sparrow, bats and other wildlife potentially impacted by the project and the lack of data provided by New Era. Northern Harriers are listed as a bird of national concern by the USFWS and a Species of Greatest Conservation Need by DNR.

Goodhue County is located within the broad corridor of the Mississippi River Flyway. This is the largest migration route in North America. Millions of birds pass through and stop over this area on their annual spring and fall travels. The New Era ABPP shows a failure to perform avian migration field studies despite the project's advanced stage in the State permitting process.  Bats are also high on the list of concerns expressed by USFWS and the MN DNR. Bats are a keystone species known to die in large numbers at wind facilities

Few wildlife impact studies have been done before, or after, the construction of industrial wind facilities in the United States. However, the studies that have been done suggest high mortality of birds and bats. Raptors, such a eagles, are known to be at high risk of being struck and killed by wind turbine blades. A study in SW Minnesota showed a 47% reduction in raptor numbers after construction of wind turbines. It is not clear how many died, and how many abandoned the area as no-longer-suitable habitat. Bats die both from blade strikes and barotrauma.

New Era Wind Farm is a 78 MW industrial facility proposed for central Goodhue County in southeastern Minnesota. The project became nationally infamous under its previous owner, Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens. During Pickens' ownership the project was called AWA Goodhue and was wholely owned by his Dallas based Mesa Power. The lack of local public support and the high number of educated and concerned citizens has made this the most controversial wind project in Minnesota history. Peter Mastic, formerly the developer, purchased the wind project from Pickens last fall and changed the name to "New Era Wind Farm."

The previous ABPP for this project was rejected by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission at a hearing on February 23, 2012. It is unclear when the MPUC may hold a hearing on the updated ABPP. Due to Minnesota State laws promoting industrial wind, this project is not required to produce an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as required of other industries.

The Coalition for Sensible Siting is proud of the extensive and important feedback citizens provided on the ABPP. The USFWS and the MN DNR provided excellent and thorough review and comment on the ABPP. Many concerns raised by citizens (below) where confirmed by USFWS and MN DNR.

The updated New Era Wind Farm Avian and Bat Protection Plan (4 parts):

ABPP
Appendices A-P
Exhibits 1-9
Exhibits 10-19

Citizen Comments on the ABPP:

No migration studies in the Mississippi Flyway - Mary Jo O'Rielly
Bald Eagle nest missing from ABPP - Doug Sommers
Failure to study owls - Kelly Norman
Failure to study raptors - Kristi Rosenquist
Eagles, Owls and site control - Rick Conrad
Turbines closer than 2 miles from Bald Eagle nests - Ann Buck
Northern Harriers at risk - Bill O'Reilly
Telling residents how to farm and hunt is nonsense - Joe Hernke
Turbines near conservation lands - Jon Stussy
New Era lacks site control - Rochelle Nygaard
New nest and important eagle use area - Connie Ludwig
Misleading data and failure to perform required surveys - Barb Stussy
Misrepresenting Important Eagle Use Areas - Bob Rosenquist
Waterfowl migration missing - Scott Logan
Turbines located on forest edges - Marilyn Jonas
Raptor nests and territories missing from maps - Scott Logan
Misrepresents eagles and fails to study other species - Mary Hartman
Assessment of turbine distance misleading - Kristi Rosenquist
Obligating local government and citizens without due process - Paul Reese
Request the MPUC perform a site visit - Marie McNamara
60 minute point counts lasted only 45 minutes - Scott Logan
Northern Harrier and other hawk data missing - Erin Logan
Failure to perform required field surveys - Sue Hinrichs
Failure to avoid CRP and other conservation lands - Tom Gale
Performing bat surveys with broken towers - Mary Hartman
Eagle point counts from poor vantage point - Scott Husbyn
Bat mortality at 7800 annually? - Mary Hartman

Read More...

"New Era" for T. Boone Pickens' Wind Project

New Era Wind Farm

After three years, T. Boone Pickens has officially taken his lost a** home to Texas.  The Coalition for Sensible Siting congratulates rural Minnesota residents on this major victory. When Pickens' Mesa Power/ American Wind Alliance purchased the proposed AWA Goodhue Project from National Wind in December 2009, it looked like a sure bet:
1. Minnesota has one of the strongest wind mandates in the nation.

2. Wind is exempt from MN laws regulating electrical producers and agricultural land use.

3. MN State turbine siting "standards" written by Enron Wind in the early 1990s.

4. Xcel agreed to purchase the electricity at the highest rate ever paid for MN wind power.

5. Transmission space available.

6. Developer's attorney helped draft MN's Renewable Energy Standard when employed by the MN Department of Commerce.

7. Direct access lobbying then Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty for support.

8. Goodhue County had no land use ordinance for large wind energy projects.

9. Dept. of Commerce staff cheerleading the project at the Public Utilities Commission.

10. Outdated studies of Bald Eagles nesting in Goodhue County.

11. Federal Section 1603 up front cash-for-turbines incentive of about $50 million.

Despite Minnesota supplying a vehicle (law), a driver (Commerce) and a six land highway (mandate) to speed wind developers to the federal money, Pickens pulled out. Rural neighbors joined together and stopped one of the wealthiest and most politically connected men in the world.

The most timely and accurate reporting has come from dynamite young reporter Brett Boese of the Rochester Post Bulletin. Most recently, Boese broke the sale of National Wind to Trishe nearly a week ahead of larger Statewide papers. He broke the change of AWA Goodhue to New Era ahead of the pack as well.

In an October 12, 2012 press release, Peter Mastic announced that his newest corporate creation, New Era Wind Farm, bought "100% of...AWA Goodhue, LLC from American Wind Alliance, LLC of Dallas Texas." The Minneapolis StarTribune reported that Mastic is the sole owner and only employee of New Era.

Mr. Mastic claims an advisory board of active participants. The vast majority of local residents have consistently been against the project. Initially, about 7 of 8 landowners who were offered money to lease their land for turbines refused to participate. Since then many of the participants have withdrawn, citing breach of contract by the project. With Peter Mastic at the helm, the no-longer-participating landowners were sued. Mr. Mastic also presided over dragging a local farmer into Court using fabricated accusations of harassment. Local sentiment makes it clear that Peter Mastic and all his local supporters should be able to meet comfortably at New Era's new address - P.O. Box 307, Goodhue MN.

Read More...

Minnesota Court of Appeals Rubber Stamps T. Boone's Lost A#@!

Time for the Minnesota Supreme Court? In an opinion rendered today by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, the three judge panel not only supported the June 30, 2011 decision by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, they donned their own cheer-leading skirts, picked up the pom poms and championed T. Boone Pickens' AWA Goodhue project.  The judges were SO enthusiastic they even made up new promotional "facts" never before presented even by the wind developers themselves:


"...modeling studies show that the 10-RD setback would essentially prevent all wind energy projects in Goodhue County—an ideal location for wind development—and, if applied throughout the state, would preclude wind development in the vast majority of Minnesota and thereby drive up the cost of wind power."

Every map ever generated for wind development shows Goodhue County's wind resource to be "fair" at best. "Fair" is not "ideal". 


The question of whether or not the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) decision precludes construction of the AWA Goodhue project, or any other industrial wind project, was not the question before the Court. The question before the Court was whether or not the MPUC had acted properly in accordance with Minnesota law when they trampled Goodhue County's duly adopted land use ordinance. 


The Court also stated that the MPUC has a duty to aid Minnesota's public policy to "promote" industrial wind. "The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's mission is to create and maintain a regulatory environment that ensures safe, reliable and efficient utility services at fair and reasonable rates". Of course, it's impossible for the MPUC to promote industrial wind and fulfill their Mission at the same time.


The only "substantial evidence" cited by the judges in their "unpublished" opionion, are models presented by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and by the Minnesota Department of Commerce on behalf of AWA Goodhue. 

The same models were used to determine there would be no noise problems in other Minnesota industrial wind projects such as Bent Tree and Elm Creek II- where post construction measurement demonstrated that the projects failed to meet the Minnesota Noise Standard for audible industrial noise. This is the same Minnesota Noise Standard that does not measure unique wind turbine noise, but is the only basis for determining turbine setback from a home.

The same models said projects would not interfere with television reception - that model for signal interference was also proved wrong in the Bent Tree project.

The same models showed no electrical current going to ground - even while the Grand Meadow and Nobles wind projects were burning up underground cables.

AWA Goodhue is the same project and involves the same State employees who stated that there are "Zero bald eagles nesting in the proposed project footprint..." Below is a photo taken last week at one of many nests in and near the proposed AWA Goodhue industrial wind project. The photo shows two of 2012's hatch of American Bald Eagles with either "mom" or "dad". Siting Eagle blogger, Kristi Rosenquist, saw and photographed Juvenile Bald Eagles on or near four of the seven nests she looked at last week. "There may have been eaglets on the other three nests, but the leaf canopy is so dense this time of year that some nests are difficult to see from the public roadways."


T. Boone Pickens said "I've lost my a%& in the [wind] business". He owns the AWA Goodhue project. Citizens of Goodhue County and across American stand to loose a lot more if this project ever moves forward. Citizens will need to decide whether to continue the pursuit for justice.  You can help by making a donation to The Coalition for Sensible Siting.

Adult Bald Eagle with two juveniles 6/22/2012

Read More...

Restraining Order in Order to Trespass

Slap suit against a farmer: This appears to be the latest desperate attempt by T. Boone Pickens' controversial AWA Goodhue industrial wind project. Westwood Professional Services' employee Brie Anderson sought a restraining order that would allow her to trespass on land owned by farmer Dan Ryan.

In short, the outcome of the recent hearing in Hennepin County Court is:
1. Dismissed with "extreme prejudice";
2. the judge lecturing Fredrikson & Byron attorney Emily Duke for ten minutes; and,
3. the judge suggesting that AWA Goodhue should pay Dan Ryan's legal fees incurred while attorney Dan Schleck defended Mr. Ryan.

Fabricating charges against Dan Ryan is just the latest in a string of activities aimed at Ryan, other landowners formerly participating in the wind project, and other citizens living in the area of the proposed project.

Westwood contracted with AWA Goodhue to perform avian surveys, among other things, in the proposed industrial wind project  area located in Southeast Minnesota's Goodhue County. Ms. Anderson is only one of three known to have trespassed on Ryan's land while pretending it was "necessary" in order to gather data on Bald and Golden Eagle activity. Sharon "The Bird Chick" trespassed and was asked not to by Ryan. Ron Peterson, also of Westwood, was believed to be riding in the helicopter when it repeatedly buzzed Ryan's cattle yard and nearly touched down in a field across from Ryan's house. The Goodhue County Sheriff's office received 16 citizen complaints about the December 2011 flight and complaints about the other helicopter flights carried out by AWA Goodhue this past winter.

"This looks like a slap suit to hassle an honest farmer trying to keep profiteers off his property" said Minneapolis Star Tribune's Jon Tevlon in his coverage of the outcome of the recent hearing in Hennepin County Court. 

At the February 23, 2012 Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) hearing where Commissioners rejected the AWA Goodhue Avian and Bat Protection Plan (ABPP), organic dairy farmer Paul Reese posed the question as to whether Westwood was ignorant or incompetent. Westwood originally reported "zero bald eagles nesting" in the project area and stated that they observed no eagles flying through the area. After citizens engaged the Minnesota DNR and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to come on a bald eagle nesting tour in April 2011, the MPUC decided to require further study and the ABPP. It turns out that Dan Ryan's property is an 'important eagle use area' for fall migration.

In the last year, USFWS has confirmed ten active eagle nests in the AWA Goodhue industrial wind project area. Citizens have repeatedly stated and shown pictures demonstrating that the nests and eagles can be seen from public roadways. There is no need to trespass or harass citizens with a helicopter to find eagles in Goodhue County.

Learn more about industrial wind at the Coalition for Sensible Siting.

Read More...

MN Public Utilities Commission Rejects Wind Plan



Three juvenile bald eagles soaring.



America’s symbol of freedom combined with relentless citizen participation proved to be a potent force at the MN Public Utilities Commission (MPUC).  T. Boone Pickens’ industrial wind project needs MPUC approval of an “Avian and Bat Protection Plan” (ABPP) before starting construction.  Commissioners rejected the Plan at Thursday’s hearing, instructing the wind developer to come back in a year if they have completed the work that the Commissioners ordered last summer.

 Eight citizens testified to the truth.  Armed with photos and maps and soaring on the support of people across the country, citizens told the Commissioners what has happened since they ordered the ABPP eight months ago. Was the American Bald Eagle winging us on our way?  Citizens driving to St. Paul reported eagles soaring over their cars and an eagle watching from a nest subjected to helicopter hazing that the ABPP said is “inactive”.  Another citizen reported four eagles perched next to her house as she watched the MPUC live webcast.   



Spreading "eagle bait" in Goodhue County.



Commissioners did not disguise their disappointment with AWA Goodhue or State staff.  Chairman Dr. David Boyd stated the ABPP “was not what I envisioned”.  Commissioner Betsy Wergin said that things only appeared to be getting worse since she voted against issuing the project’s site permit last June.  The third Commissioner in attendance, J. Dennis O’Brien, called the Incidental Take Permit a “license to kill” and re-affirmed his apparent disgust with Energy Facilities Permitting staff from the MN Department of Commerce for their ongoing undisguised advocacy on behalf of AWA Goodhue, LLC. 



O’Brien’s choice of words differed, but he essentially expressed what citizens and the Coalition for Sensible Siting attorney, Dan Schleck, have long said:  EFP staff are MN tax-payer funded cheerleaders for the wind industry.

Minneapolis/ St. Paul’s channels 4 and 5 led with the story that evening. Rochester Post Bulletin, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press featured the outcome on their front pages.  Conservationists, legislators, electric utility staff, wildlife agency personnel and industrial wind fighters across the county have expressed their agreement with this historic decision.

February 23, 2012 MPUC hearing webcast: AWA Goodhue ABPP deliberations begin at 4:56; citizen testimony begins at 5:40.

(above is update from 2/25/2012; below from 2/23/2012)

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission today rejected AWA Goodhue's  Avian and Bat Protection Plan.  The Plan was a condition of the industrial wind project's site permit.  Citizens provided key testimony about the wildlife in their area.  Photos and testimony supported existing public record that the Plan was inaccurate and misleading.  The Commissioners had clearly done their homework and asked tough but fair questions of the wind developer.  They were not swayed by representatives of this T. Boone Pickens owned project.  The truth won out.  Goodhue County Minnesota is in the Mississippi migratory flyway.  AWA Goodhue failed to perform pre-construction surveys required.  The Commissioners did not accept it. 

Citizens are thankful for the thoughtful deliberation of the Commissioners.  Citizens also thank MN DNR staff for their tireless efforts to document and disseminate the truth. The DNR staff was truly dedicated.  The citizens who testified were supported by friends and neighbors around the State.  It was a great day.

Here are stories on today's historic hearing:

Minneapolis based CBS news.

MN KSTP Channel 5.

Star Tribune

St. Paul Pioneer Press


Rochester Post Bulletin (login required for full story)

Commission Denies Approval of Bird and Bat Protection Plan for Goodhue Wind Project

Read More...

C-BED: Community Benefit or Den of Iniquity?

Minnesota first passed Community Based Energy Development law in 1995.  The idea was to “optimize local economic development in the communities in which [Minnesotans] live and work.” The idea of C-BED is to “foster, promote, and secure the local economic development benefits attached to renewable energy production facilities that are owned by ordinary members of local communities.”

The idea sounded good on paper: keep more of the tax and rate money being spent on industrial wind turbines in the state and make it easier for Minnesota owned projects to secure financing.  Unfortunately, anytime government picks winners, there are unintended consequences.  Big multinational and out-of-state investors saw that simply by registering a shell corporation in Minnesota, they could be considered a “local entity”.  Along with a few other "low-bar" requirements, this offers favored treatment by utilities that are mandated by law to give preference to C-BED projects. C-BED status allows the project to secure even higher electrical rates in their state regulated power purchase agreement than other already pricey wind rates.

The Minneapolis StarTribune recently ran a pair of opinion pieces on C-BED.  “The bounties of renewable energy need to stay at home”, December 29, 2011, featured state elected officials explaining the intent of the C-BED legislation.  Representatives Steve Drazkowski and Tim Kelly joined Senator John Howe in their observations that wind companies usage of C-BED appears to have strayed from legislative intent.  They called for an investigation into C-BED.

January 17, 2012’s paper carried Fredrikson and Byron lawyer Dan Yarano’s explanation of C-BED. “Evaluate wind projects factually”, does not further citizen understanding. Yarano’s explanation of C-BED is best understood in the context of that infamous Bill Clinton quote, “It depends what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

He is correct about the 2005 passage and the stated legislative and gubernatorial intent; he forgot to mention that C-BED law has been modified almost every year since then largely through lobbying efforts by his firm.

T. Boone Pickens’ AWA Goodhue wind project meets the requirement of no single qualifying owner with more than 15% because, apparently, there are zero qualifying owners. T. Boone Pickens’ Mesa Power bought the project in December 2009 and is the sole owner.

The requirement that 51% of net revenues from a power contract flow to Minnesotans can only possibly be met if expenditures are counted as revenue and if one counts expenditures made prior to power production as being “from a power contract”. Even then it appears doubtful AWA Goodhue can meet the 51% mark unless we count T. Boone Pickens’ income from a “Minnesota corporation” with no organizers or employees residing in MN. The developer, National Wind, is based in Minneapolis but is 'gone' as soon as construction begins, according to Mesa’s Mark Ward.

Yarano failed to mention the third criteria for C-BED status: County resolution of support. Goodhue County passed a very specific resolution in late 2008. Almost none of the characteristics described in the County resolution exist in the current project.

Yarano’s opinion piece also omitted that the “local ownership” that AWA Goodhue testified they expect after electrical production starts will be 1% by Ventum Energy LLC.  This corporation did not exist when the MN Public Utilities Commission granted the project C-BED status.

“Community support” is not a legal requirement for a C-BED project, but it is implied. C-BED is marketed to the legislature using lovely descriptions of local farmers banding together to bring C-BED to life. AWA Goodhue enjoys support by perhaps 10% of affected land and home owners. Due to relentless participation by citizens of the actual “community”, AWA Goodhue is Minnesota’s most controversial industrial wind project, and one of the most contentious projects in the nation.

Minnesotans should not be satisfied when a tiny percentage of your own tax and electrical rate dollars stay in, or come back to, Minnesota.  This is particularly true when most of the money appears to benefit lawyers, lobbyists and wind developers along with foreign and out-of-state investors.  The federal government expended about $100 billion on renewable energy since 2008. Last year a conservative estimate showed Minnesotans ponied up about $100 million in additional electrical rate costs since enactment of the State’s 2007 renewable energy standard.

Minnesota’s C-BED law may have sounded like a good idea in 2005.  In 2012, C-BED is a clear example of “Government of the lobbyists, by the lawyers, for the benefit of corporations they represent”.

The Coalition for Sensible Siting supports citizens voices in the industrial wind arena.  We support legislators call for C-BED investigation.

"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."  ~  Thomas Jefferson

Read More...

US Fish and Wildlife Service Speaks

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) weighed in on the AWA Goodhue industrial wind project's "Avian and Bat Protection Plan" (ABPP).  Previously dubbed "the New Pickens Plan" by this blog, USFWS and DNR zeroed in an its many shortfalls. Both agencys' comments were posted to the MN Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) website two days ago.  These official agencies validated factual reports from concerned citizens and voiced by the Coalition for Sensible Siting.

The new Pickens Plan was already exposed for its Rapid Response Roadkill Removal and Promiscuous Ice Fishing.

Concerned citizens have posted their own responses to the Avian and Bat Protection Deception Plan and more will be posted at the MPUC electronic dockets soon.  The MPUC announced yesterday that they will decide whether or not to approve AWA Goodhue's Avian and Bat Protection Plan at their February 2, 2011 meeting in St. Paul.  A "yes" decision would put AWA Goodhue one step closer to constructing 50 industrial wind turbines directly in vital Bald Eagle nesting, migrating, roosting and feeding areas of Goodhue County Minnesota.

The Eagle Siting blog says "no".  It is not a plan to protect; it is a plan to move forward no-matter-what the facts are.  The MPUC should say "no" to this ABPP.  Citizens should not allow use of their tax and electrical rate money as a weapon to kill our nation's symbol of freedom.

Go to the Coalition for Sensible Siting to find out how you can help.

Read More...

Permit to Kill Bald Eagles?

While citizens were sleeping, mercenary biologists working for faux environmentalists like T. Boone Pickens (Pickens Plan) have crafted environmental assessments of proposed wind turbine sites. The goal: maximize profits by siting as many turbines as possible by writing deceptive environmental assessments to hide the damage turbines must do to get the job done.   The Coalition for Sensible Siting found this sprint for federal 1603 cash has gutted US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and State protections. Lobbyists waving the “Global Warming” banner swarmed Capitol Hill and begged permission to destroy eagles, bats, passerines, and the lives of countless citizens under the guise of “saving the planet”.   The result?  Debilitating health impacts on thousands of citizens, decimation of golden eagle populations across the country, grave concerns about extinction of bats, and hundreds of thousands of passerines killed annually... and we’re not even to the halfway mark for proposed wind energy installation. 

The AWA Goodhue Avian and Bat Protection Plan prepared for AWA Goodhue of Dallas, TX was recently posted to the Minnesota Public Utility Commission (MPUC) public document docket.  It’s not difficult to see that it is a sham Plan.  Lay it side by side and compare it to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) documentation on how to obtain an Incidental Take Permit for bald and golden eagles.  

(CAUTION: the new Pickens Plan contradicts itself and contradicts the previous avian survey. Reading the Plan is likely to cause you to feel dizzy and confused by the “new” information provided by Pickens’ consultant Westwood.   Please remain seated for the duration of the comparison to avoid injury from dizziness and nausea.) 

AWA Goodhue's lead up to the 'Avian and Bat Protection Plan':

1. Fail to perform studies recommended by USFWS
2. State there are no bald eagles in the "footprint" of the proposed wind project
3. Get proved wrong by local citizens
4. Insist bald eagles are only present due to citizens"baiting" eagles using dead things
5. Try (unsuccessfully) to get farmers in trouble with the MN Board of Animal Health
6. Harass citizens and eagles using a low flying helicoptor

After reading the USFWS material and the AWA Goodhue proposal it quickly becomes evident that the mitigation strategies proposed by Pickens, under the direction of the Certified Wildlife Biologists with Westwood [un?]Professional Services calls for: starving the eagles out of the project footprint by removing habitat that supports their prey, removing all habitat eagles rely upon for roosting, perching and sheltering during harsh Minnesota winters so eagles will leave, harassing the birds with helicopters for behavior modification, and disrupting breeding and nesting habitats by using construction equipment within 1/2 mile of the nest sites.   None of the eagles that have been calling this area home for the past decades will survive this onslaught - which is apparently Pickens’ desired outcome.

Concerned citizens and USFWS officials have had numerous discussions about the USFWS recommendations for siting industrial wind turbines near active bald eagle nests with AWA Goodhue. This developer has routinely insisted that there is no siting recommendation related to active bald eagle nests and has insisted that the 2 mile distance explained by citizens is fantasy.   An email exchange with the USFWS was recently posted to the MPUC docket making it very clear that the Service recommends a two mile setback from active nests.

The Coalition for Sensible Siting is curious to see what excuse the developer will come up with now that they can no longer say, “We didn’t know....”  If AWA Goodhue is not successful in driving the birds from the project area, there seems no doubt Pickens’ wind farm will kill and maim bald eagles as the birds try to forage and hunt in fragmented habitat divided by 7 ton blades with tips spinning between 140 and 200 miles per hour.  

The birds that travel the Mississippi Migratory Flyway depend upon maintenance of these critical habitats to support them as they move from the Arctic Circle to as far away as Patagonia.  The cumulative effects of allowing this level of predation upon the land will be severe as other wind energy developers follow the precedent set by Minnesota’s ill-advised Public Utilities Commission ensuring birds and bats transecting the US are killed by the hundreds of thousands. 

The MPUC determined that T. Boone Pickens’ AWA Goodhue wind project is “Not Needed” to meet Minnesota’s renewable energy mandate.  And yet, the developer’s proposed "mitigation strategies" would lead one to believe that placing 400 foot wind turbines in Goodhue County Minnesota is critical infrastructure and so, while unfortunate, it is necessary to collapse one of the healthiest ecosystems in SE Minnesota. Clearly, such a claim is fantasy to dazzle the MPUC into allowing turbine construction to move forward.

Read More...

Promiscuous Ice Fishing in the New Pickens Plan

Readers could not fail to notice the term "promiscuous ice fishing" in the "Avian and Bat Protection Plan" for T. Boone Pickens' AWA Goodhue wind project. Ice fishing is a passion in Minnesota, but I'd never before heard the term "promiscuous" attached to it. Speculation about the definition and appearance of "promiscuous ice fishing" among Minnesotans has ranged from the hilarious to the unprintable. Yesterday's blog comments by "rural55027" provide a pretty complete range of thought on the subject.


Ice fishing accommodations for humans vary from an upturned bucket for sitting to portable small houses complete with beds, kitchen and satellite television. Given the amount of clothing required to keep the average human comfortably warm while ice fishing, "promiscuous ice fishing" sounds risky.


In fairness to the Pickens Plan, it's not clear whether the consultant thinks the humans or the eagles are fishing.  It's also difficult to discern whether "promiscuous ice fishing" should be considered "natural" or not:

"...driving surveys are being carried out...two times per month from early November 2011 to early

April 2012." "Data being collected during the driving surveys includes:"

"Distribution of observed natural and man-made winter food sources (e.g. road kills, livestock carcass dump sites, unburied garbage, locations where promiscuous ice fishing are allowed and water bodies that stay open allowing access to fish and/or waterfowl)."


Terry Ingram of the Eagle Nature Foundation visited the AWA Goodhue wind project footprint last month to assess the eagle activity.  At the Belle Creek Watershed structure, Mr. Ingram observed and photographed two juvenile bald eagles standing on the ice. Perhaps theses unsupervised young eagles were engaged in "promiscuous ice fishing"?

Yesterday's blog already exposed T. Boone Pickens' concerns that bald eagles are engaging in "risky flight behavior" in an apparent attempt to thwart his wind farm desires. Perhaps the eagles are also engaged in "promiscuous ice fishing".  Who knew Minnesota could be so hot in winter?

Read More...

Pickens Plan - Rapid Response Roadkill Removal

There is a new 'Pickens Plan'.  T. Boone Pickens' AWA Goodhue industrial wind project filed an updated "Avian and Bat Protection Plan" two weeks ago. The Plan includes immediate pick-up of road kill as-well-as central reporting and disposal of carcasses. Wind project Operation and Maintenance staff will be specially trained to identify what AWA Goodhue calls "artificial" bald and golden eagle "baiting" activity. By "artificial", Pickens' Avian and Bat Protection Plan apparently means: cows giving birth out-of-doors; dead deer during deer hunting season; people throwing roadkill off the roadway; and farmers spreading dung in their fields. 

This new Pickens Plan claims that the bald eagles, and other migratory birds, have "problematic flight patterns" and engage in "risky flight behavior". The bird behavior modification plan is to put up "stationary pylons" that birds can't perch on around the "turbine clusters" to create a "barrier effect".  It sounds like some sort of wind turbine Stonehenge.

The Pickens Plan jumble of gems continues: "If fossorial mammals burrow near tower footprints,...burrows will be filled and the surrounding pad covered with gravel at least 2 inches deep..."  I guess Texas badgers, woodchucks and gophers must be feeble compared to their Minnesota cousins if 2 inches of gravel would hinder their digging.

If the carefully crafted Pickens Plan still fails to stop raptors from engaging in risky flight behavior, the Plan is to lure the birds from the proposed wind project area by making habitat somewhere else and convincing the eagles to move there. 

Is the new Pickens Plan a sign of desperation?

AWA Goodhue engaged in activity that citizens find annoying, harassing, and risky.

Bald Eagles engaged in behavior Pickens finds "problematic" and "risky" in the AWA Goodhue footprint.

Read More...

Coalition for Sensible Siting - Forward to 2012

T. Boone Pickens' highly controversial AWA Goodhue industrial wind project proposed in SE Minnesota is featured prominently as a Rochester Post Bulletin "Story of the Year". (login required for full story)  Citizens concerned by poorly sighted wind energy projects observe that reporter Brett Boese has covered the AWA Goodhue project for the last year with award-winning clarity and excellence.

During the last year, the Coalition for Sensible Siting has been contacted with offers of assistance,  encouragement, and requests for help from concerned citizens in Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, Illinois, North Dakota, Wyoming, California, North Carolina, Texas, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska, Washington D.C., and across Minnesota.  We've also heard from concerned citizens in England and Canada. We are thankful for the outpouring of intelligent engagement across the US and around the globe.

Coalition for Sensible Siting has worked to educate citizens and legislators about the effects of federal, state and local industrial wind policy. The citizens and legislators working to bring sanity to industrial wind siting hail from the farthest edges, and every location within, the spectrum of political points of view.

We are encouraged by the continued excellent work of other industrial wind education groups including National Wind Watch; individual citizens including John Droz; the success of citizens working on the Cape Wind project; and our friends in Paynesville Minnesota who start 2012 turbine-free.

For most of the past decade the only voice heard by most legislators, media and the public were industrial wind and environmental lobbyists, owners and investors acting in their own financial self-interest.  The Coalition for Sensible Siting is glad to help bring a voice to broad, experience-based reality of the negative affects wind energy has on humans, animals, the economy and the environment.

Coalition for Sensible Siting looks forward to the adventure of the New Year.

Read More...

Wind Turbine Siting - Year in Review

Concerned citizens across the US have been clamoring for sensible siting of industrial wind turbines. Local government control and protection of private property rights are fundamental principles in a free society. Well-documented problems caused by utility scale wind energy range from low-frequency noise to wide-spread killing of bats and birds. Wind industry promoters deny or obscure any facts that might interfere with the free flow of tax money and publicly regulated electrical rate money.

When Xcel met with citizens of Goodhue County Minnesota this week, they asked if bald eagles were the main concern.  Citizens responded that eagles are not the only important concern, but eagles are proving to be the easiest for citizens to prove and the most difficult for the wind company to deny. 

Below is a December 22, 2011 photo of a nest near me that T. Boone Pickens' AWA Goodhue said:

1. Does not exist. (June 2011)
2. Is a Red Tailed Hawk nest (November 2011)

On the eve of 2012, I'm thankful for citizens across America protecting the US abroad, in our back yards, and in rural farm fields.  I'm also thankful for our symbol of freedom, the American Bald Eagle, shining a bright light on my home turf in Goodhue County.

Happy New Year!

Read More...

State legislators request review of AWA Goodhue

Minnesota State Representatives Steve Drazkowski and Tim Kelly, joined by State Senator John Howe, are asking for a review of AWA Goodhue industrial wind project.  The controversial industrial wind project was granted "Community Based Energy Development" (C-BED) status by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) in April 2010. T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power had already purchased the project four months earlier, in December 2009.

Citizen's have long wondered how a project 100% owned by a Dallas Texas company, with no Minnesota business address and no employees who are residents of Minnesota could possibly have been granted financially favored C-BED status. C-BED allowed Xcel to garner MPUC approval for the highest electrical rate for any wind project in Minnesota in their power purchase agreement with AWA Goodhue.

How high is the electrical rate? Lack of transparency on wind projects funded largely by federal tax payers and local rate payers ensures that the public does not know. Concerned citizens welcome review by the State Auditor and by legislative committees.

Read More...

Xcel's meeting with citizens of Goodhue County

Xcel executives James Alders and Rick Evans generously spent over three hours Wednesday to tour and answer citizens’ questions about Xcel’s relationship with T. Boone Pickens’ AWA Goodhue wind project. The Coalition for Sensible Siting is curious about Xcel's contract to purchase the power generated (PPA) by the proposed industrial wind project.

Xcel’s James Alders confirmed Xcel's belief that AWA Goodhue must re-establish its Community Based Energy Development (C-BED) eligibility before the project can begin construction. Minnesota State Representative Steve Drazkowski stated that he and Representative Tim Kelly, along with State Senator John Howe, have asked the State Auditor’s Office to examine the AWA Goodhue project’s C-BED status. Xcel’s PPA with AWA Goodhue has a very high (possibly the highest) electrical rate compared with other contracts for purchasing wind energy in Minnesota. Lack of transparency under Minnesota law does not allow citizens footing the bill to know exactly how high the rate is.

Citizen Kristi Rosenquist asked whether wind energy rates to consumers would be “cost competitive” with other sources of electricity without large federal tax cash flowing directly to wind companies. Mr. Alders responded, “I doubt it”. The misleading and frequently repeated statement by wind energy lobbyists about wind being “cost competitive” relies on a false pretext: that the federal section 1603 cash grants (and other government supports) and the electrical rate money are not coming from the same tax payers and rate payers. If a pick-pocket takes money by picking one pocket more slowly while picking the other pocket more quickly, this does not result in less money being extracted. Apparently, when industrial wind promoters say “wind is cost competitive”, reality depends upon what the meaning of the word “is” is.

Bill Glahn attended the Xcel meeting at the Belle Creek Township Hall and provided this blog on what he saw.

Read More...