ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Following presentations from Invenergy and attorney Alan Anderson, landowners addressed some of their concerns about potential wind energy projects at Monday’s special meeting of the Seward County Commission.
County resident Steve Merz said one of his concerns was the concrete blocks on which turbines are built affecting the percolation of rainwater farmers rely on for their crops.
“It’s going to create a dam, and that’s not going to be good for the land up above it,” he said. “That land will suffer.”
Likewise, Merz was concerned about the effects the project would have on wildlife.
“I’m really concerned about our ducks and geese,” he said. “That’s in a major flyway during the spring and again during the fall. We have a few prairie chickens around. We have pheasants. We have deer. I see this as being very disruptive to the wildlife population.”
Invenergy Renewable Development Manager Jana Matthews said her company would not have acquired the project if they did not think it was environmentally responsible.
“We have been developing this project since 2019 doing extensive engineering and environmental studies to combat those concerns,” she said.
Earlier in the meeting, concerns were raised about the effects of wind energy on crop dusting, and though attorney Alan Anderson said dusters could contact Invenergy to have turbines temporarily shut off, county resident Fred Bloom said with wind conditions such as those seen in the area in the past two weeks, there is not enough time to make that call.
“We’ve got pilots who won’t fly who are up around Gray County who say there’s now no way they’ll fly when there’s no time to do that,” Bloom said.
Bloom said even for ground spraying, when turbines are close by, they can create a drift.
“Anytime you get wind circulating, it’s going to move that chemical a lot further than what it should,” he said.
Commissioner Presephoni Fuller said uncertainty and speculation can cause sometimes create extra caution from people.
“How can you give them peace of mind that this is not like a bait and switch?” she said. “We want things that are going to make sense for our community.”
Matthews said Invenergy is one of the few developers that owns and operates projects.
“We go into citing these projects as if we are going to own and operate them and maintain them for decades to come,” she said. “We come into these projects understanding is our responsibility for the next decades. We try to build relationships within the community.”
Matthews said Invenergy has more than 200 operational projects across America, and the company has even extended into international offices because of its success. She added the company has a successful reputation.
“We come into these in good faith, working with the community, coming to meetings, hearing your concerns and being able to address those,” she said.
Bloom had some concerns about power lines, which are fed by underground wires.
“You go to the power station or the collection station,” he said. “If you look at the ones up by Spearville, there’s probably eight or 10 lines going every direction there to hit different power lines, and that’s a big concern to me. They can place those anywhere they want. It says it in their contract.”
Commission Chairman Scott Carr said energy companies do have to rebuild both dirt and paved roads.
“If they tear them up, if they add curves to it, you have to decommission those when they leave,” he said.
Matthews said construction is only done on land with existing leases.
“We wouldn’t build anything on anyone’s land that is not under lease with us,” she said. “Those landowners have gone through site plan reviews with us to show them the exact locations of everything we are trying to put on their parcel so they’re aware of where everything is going. We have those conversations with the landowners who are going to be affected.”
County resident Barbara Benton had concerns about disposal of blades no longer in use.
“What’s your nearest recycling place?” she said. “Where do you take the blades if you’re doing that?”
In today’s world, Matthews said blades are up to 80 percent recyclable.
“That is ongoing research that has improved a lot over the last 10 to 15 years,” she said. “That used to not be the case, but there’s a lot of research going into this. Woodward, Okla., is a huge hub for where a lot of this research and manufacturing is going on because Oklahoma has a lot of wind. They’re very invested in that. If we can recycle these blades, repurpose all of that material, that’s good for everyone.”
Anderson said material from former projects could be used for decking fences or concrete aggregate.
County resident Jim Floyd said flying downwind from towers creates a bad mess for air quality.
“They’re all sitting around trying to figure out how much more they’re going to have to charge to do any work anywhere near the towers because they disturbed the air quite a ways downwind,” he said. “In the long run, our grandchildren will deeply regret any decision to put large farms of these.”
Principal Engineer Tanner Yost of Kirkham Michael, the county’s road consultant firm, said the discussion at Monday’s meeting came with many good points.
“We’ve worked with some of the other counties on these projects,” he said. “One county, Kingman County, made the agreements for the life of the project. If there are any reconstructions, repowers or even decommissioning, it is still within the agreements. Other than that, we’re looking forward to getting our contract in place and reviewing these agreements.”
