A New Era Dawns in Goodhue Minnesota

A collective cheer shook the cold, wet countryside of Goodhue County. In a last minute tantrum filed late this afternoon, Peter Mastic revealed the New Era Wind Farm is no longer seeking to force industrial wind turbines into the rolling farm country of South East Minnesota. The former T. Boone Pickens project is the most contentious in State history, and has become nationally known as a problematic renewable energy project. The project became more divisive after filing the country's first wind project application to obtain an Incidental Take Permit (ITP), in order to slaughter bald eagles without the threat of federal prosecution.  

 

Never popular with the local citizens, the limited early support dwindled to a handful of families. Many local citizens have battled the proposed project for five years. Peter Mastic bought the troubled project from Picken's Mesa Power last October after heading National Wind, the proposed project's first owner and former developer.

After a three-and-a-half-page rant, Mastic finally admits, "New Era has no confidence that due process for this project will ever end, nor that an [Avian and Bat Protection Plan] will ever be approved...".

"...In an effort to reach a more practical solution that would...allow New Era to recover at least a portion of its investment, New Era initiated discussions [in December 2012] with [Xcel Energy] to assign its power contracts to a third-party wind project developer and site. ...New Era made a series of proposals... 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."

 

"[Xcel] chose to reject all of these proposals. ...In its April 12, 2013 letter to New Era, [Xcel] stated that New Era would have 30 days from that date to effect a cure of the power contract defaults....for the remainder of the 30-day period specified by [Xcel], New Era will continue to attempt to complete the assignment and the cure of any and all defaults under the power contracts."

 

This is the first time citizens have successfully turned back an industrial wind project in Minnesota - a state with one of the strongest mandates in the nation for Big Wind. Given the extraordinary regulatory favoritism and financial largess, the demise of Goodhue Wind/ AWA Goodhue/ New Era is miraculous. Relentless participation by the remarkable people of Goodhue County paid off. Congratulations.

 

The Coalition for Sensible Siting has been a voice for citizens in this battle to prevent industrial wind devastation in a vibrant rural community with a remarkably diverse and healthy ecosystem.

 

 

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A Hunting License for Bald Eagles?

Senator Lamar Alexander explained why the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) for industrial wind is like "Going to War in Sailboats". In today's address at the Heritage Foundation, Senator Alexander mentions the AWA Goodhue project's application for an Incidental Take Permit (at 19:50) comparing it to a hunting license for bald eagles. He also mentions that oil companies have been fined for killing birds, but wind turbine owners have not.

Senator Alexander hits on three main themes:

1. There is no money.
2. Wind is unreliable.
3. Environmental damage.

“We hear a lot of talk about federal subsidies for Big Oil. I would like to talk about federal subsidies for Big Wind – $14 billion between 2009 and 2013, according to the Joint Tax Committee. And what do we get for these billions in subsidies? A puny amount of unreliable electricity that arrives disproportionately at night when we don’t need it. Americans are finding out that these are not your grandma's windmills. These gigantic turbines – which look so pleasant on the television ads paid for by the people getting all the tax breaks – are three times as high as football stadiums, taller than the Statue of Liberty, with blades as wide as a football field; you can see the blinking lights for 20 miles, and on top of that, these giant turbines have become the Cuisinart in the sky for birds. It’s time to end Big Wind’s big loophole.”
– Lamar Alexander

The Coalition for Sensible Siting agrees. Citizens have been oppressed long enough by tax and rate money being squandered through Big Wind. The eagles of Goodhue County should not be sacrificed on the alter of Green Greed.



Adult Bald Eagle photo by Kristi Rosenquist March 6, 2012



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