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Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Residents question turbine plans
Tenaska project manager Monte Ten Kley (right) takes questions from citizens at a wind farm informational meeting at the Reardan Community Hall Tuesday, Feb. 13.
REARDAN - Tenaska and Cordelio Power, the companies looking to build two wind farms in Lincoln County, held community meetings in Reardan and Harrington this week to answer questions about the projects titled Hawk Creek and Lincoln County SW.
Both projects have rather broad potential locations and are almost entirely dependent on which landowners sign on to the lease to have wind turbines built on their property, Tenaska project manager Monte Ten Kley said at the Reardan meeting Tuesday, Feb. 13.
The Hawk Creek project, which was discussed in Reardan, is proposed in the greater Davenport and Reardan area running east to west and could be a 600-megawatt farm.
Lincoln County SW, which was discussed in Harrington, is proposed to run north to south just west of Harrington city limits, through Mohler and down to the Adams County line. It is a projected 350-megawatt farm.
Turbines run between 4.5 and six megawatts, Ten Kley said. The Hawk Creek project could have over 100 turbines if accomplished.
Ten Kley said Tuesday that the boundary could expand based on landowner availability and willingness. Exact windmill locations are dependent on which landowners sign up to lease their land.
He said that nearly 10,000 acres have been leased already. But he declined to share how many landowners or which landowners those include, saying confidentiality agreements are signed with the landowners.
Those non-disclosure agreements prevent Tenaska and Cordelio, from sharing landowner information. Agreements don't prevent the landowners from sharing that they're a part of the farm with their neighbors but do prevent the landowners from discussing some of the agreed terms, Ten Kley said.
Ten Kley said the project is expected to bring in an average of $4 million to $6 million in new construction and property taxes to the county annually. That number will start much higher and depreciate over time, he said.
Construction is still four to six years away. Ten Kley said the company still has two years of environmental studies to conduct before the turbines are put up.
He said Cordelio intends to be the longtime manager of the project and may sell power to local companies but won't hand off management.
Local farmers asked Tuesday how their property taxes would be affected. Ten Kley said the company has an agreement in place pick up the tab of any tax increases directly caused by the wind farm.
Farmers would rent their acreage for 30 years, with a projected rental payment of $1,387,428 for the Hawk Creek project that begins at $34,200 in the first year and increases 2% annually for 160 leased acres with a 4.5 megawatt turbine.
And that number doesn't include pre-construction rent, signing bonuses, construction bonuses and crop damage compensation, which is calculated as price times yield times the amount of damaged acres, according to a term sheet provided at the Reardan meeting.
Farmers will have the option for two 10-year extensions after the 30 years of rent, meeting dicussion indicated.
Ten Kley said the turbines will be about 50 decibels and won't be within 1,200 feet of a residence.
Lincoln County Commissioners Jo Gilchrist, Scott Hutsell and Rob Coffman all said Ten Kley presented the proposed projects to them in months prior to community meetings.
Their largest concern is over possible damage to county roads and are working on a wind/solar ordinance that would require that the company compensate the county for any damage to the roads.
"The county will make sure this happens," Coffman said. "We've done similar things with other contractors who came in and tore up our roads; we made them pay for it."
Coffman said regardless of the Commissioners' personal views on wind turbines, the Commissioners are "private property rights advocates."
"People should be able to do on their private property what they like, as long as its legal," Coffman said.
Environmental studies will include looking into impacts of local endangered species and eagles, Ten Kley said. Reardan residents asked Tuesday that those also include geese, vultures and the many other aviary species that frequent the area due to Audubon Lake.
Residents voiced concerns over compensation if the turbines caused a wildfire, while questions were posed about the impacts of aerial firefighting.
An article from Northwest Public Broadcasting published Monday, Feb. 5 said a wind farm in Horse Heaven, the largest proposed wind farm in Washington, was slashed in half due to concerns about endangered hawks and that aerial firefighting could be too dangerous near the turbines. The Dept. of Natural Resources' Wildland Fire Management Division voiced concerns over a water or flame bucket getting tangled in a turbine blade in that article.
Ten Kley said the company would reimburse for any damages caused by the turbines and assist local firefighting crews, while paying for new equipment if so necessary.
Terry Krupke asked Tuesday if the acres the turbines are placed on would change from agricultural to industrial classifications for tax credits. Ten Kley said they would, and discussions would be ongoing between the landowners and companies to amend any concerns regarding those credit impacts.
The proposed wind farms have been controversial in Lincoln County, with many citizens vocally against the projects. A public Facebook group titled "Save the Lincoln County Skyline" was formed Tuesday and had amassed over 200 members by Wednesday.
Discussion is ongoing for a meeting between landowners sans Tenaska and Cordelio representatives, but that meeting hadn't been set by press time.
One resident asked Ten Kley Tuesday if the farms were a "done deal."
"Nothing is a done deal until you start digging, and putting steel in the ground," Ten Kley responded.
"If we get landowner agreements, I feel confident this will get done."
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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