LETTER: County residents deserve say on wind farm

In The Daily Republic article dated Dec. 31, Jeff Bathke, the Davison County zoning administrator, was interviewed about the zoning issues surrounding the proposed Juhl wind project west of Mitchell.

In the article, Bathke confirmed that the Davison County Commissioners have been working on updating the zoning ordinances prior to the Juhl application. Bathke explained the process for developing the wind ordinances, wherein his recommendations would first be presented to the commissioners for their input and changes, then to the public for input and changes. Finally, the commissioners would vote to include the resultant items in the revised Davison County zoning ordinance, which would apply to all future wind conversion projects.

But wait! What about Juhl’s permit that is still on the table? Its permit contains no conditions or safeguards. Bathke’s reported view in the article was, “If Bathke’s recommendations are approved in early 2016, Juhl Energy’s proposal would already meet the new guidelines.”

That sounds like the Juhl proposal is a done deal and the county should, in good faith, approve its permit with no conditions because they are voluntarily agreeing to comply with a set of standards that they wrote and that he assumes will, in the future, be in compliance anyway.

Bathke’s assumptions that the people of Davison County even want wind energy conversion projects and that his already formed recommendations would weather the process he laid out for creating them are, well, presumptuous.

Shouldn’t the process he outlined for drafting these recommendations be followed prior to the approval or denial of Juhl’s permit? Wouldn’t it be prudent of the Board of Adjustment in the upcoming Feb. 9 meeting to simply deny the permit on grounds that it is not in the best interest of the citizens of Davison County because it lacks any conditions or safeguards?

Concerning industrial wind conversion projects, there are so many controversial issues related to them, let’s first find out what the people of Davison County want and how they want to do it and then act on their behalf for the safety and protection of everyone.

Jerry Scott

Mitchell

LETTER: County residents deserve say on wind farm

Green energy projects addressed in Herkimer County.

Several green energy projects are moving along in Herkimer County.

At Wednesday’s meeting of the county Industrial Development Agency, the statuses of a few projects currently underway were discussed.

* A hydropower project with ECOsponsible, a nonprofit organization based in Buffalo, was given the OK to move forward by the IDA last month. Following a public hearing in the town of Herkimer Wednesday, the project now is able to continue.

The project entails replacing four old underwater turbines in the West Canada Creek with three new ones. Because part of the project lies within the town of Herkimer, and benefits from the project are estimated around $100,000, a public hearing needed to take place.

* A second project involving solar power also is moving along.

The project with SolarCity, which entails installing two solar arrays on 10 acres of county owned land on Herkimer County Community College’s campus, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The company soon will meet with the IDA to discuss the structure of the agreement, such as its exemption from county real property taxes for a 20-year period.

In other news:

* The IDA is considering whether to be a sponsor of the B2B program for 2016 for the third year in a row. The cost is $2,500 and a decision was deferred to the next meeting so the IDA can examine the budget beforehand.

* The IDA also is considering whether to buy an ad for the 2016 Boilermaker at a cost of about $950. A decision was deferred to the next meeting to examine the budget.

The next meeting of the IDA will be at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Follow @OD_Landcastle on Twitter or call her at 792-5015.

Green energy projects addressed in Herkimer County.

Lake County rallies around green initiatives

From a renewable energy program at Baxter International in Deerfield that saves hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to plans for a butterfly garden at Grayslake North High School, large and small environmental successes were shared earlier this week at College of Lake County’s fifth annual green conference.

Held Wednesday at CLC’s Grayslake campus, the conference brought together local businesses, educators and the public to celebrate the county’s environmental achievements as well as to gain ideas and inspiration on promoting sustainability.

Libertyville resident Dave Wilms, an energy and sustainability consultant and former high school science teacher, defined sustainability as, “Enough for all, forever.”

The phrase inspired conference attendees including registered nurse Elsa Jenels, who serves as the green liaison for the Lake County Health Department’s North Chicago medical building.

“It just keeps getting put on the back burner,” she said of creating a sustainability plan where she works.

“There is so much waste in the medical field and there are so many avenues we can look at to use things more efficiently,” Jenels explained. “I feel we all have a responsibility as a citizen of the planet to lessen our footprint. It all ties together — health and the environment.”

Jenels said she learned at the conference “it’s possible to have a waste-free event. I’d like to see if that’s cost-effective where I work.” Plates and cups were made of biodegradable products that were recycled at the event, plus lunch included locally-grown greens.

At the conference, Ronald Meissen, senior director of sustainability at Baxter, showed how the company has saved $41 million due to its environmental efforts. One of the company’s priorities among 16 other goals is to reduce its carbon footprint, he said. Carbon emissions are linked to global climate change, and come from sources such energy-production plants and vehicle emissions.

Baxter is working to decrease its fossil fuel usage by 22 percent this year, he said. The company has switched to low carbon fuels in Ireland and other places in the world where it has plants, he added. In addition, in India, instead of using oil for energy production, it uses bio mass, which saves $350,000 a year, he said.

Baxter is a company network member of Boston-based Ceres, a nonprofit that helps investors and businesses build a sustainable global economy.

Ceres’ senior manager John Weiss, who was the green conference’s keynote speaker, said committing to a sustainable business model requires sacrifice, but has become part of the culture of many major corporations.

Businesses understand they need to make changes to stall global climate change, which could negatively affect their bottom line as well as people’s health, he said.

CLC President Jerry Weber told the audience that nearly three-quarters of people surveyed say they believe global warming is happening and it can be slowed, but aren’t sure people are willing to make the sacrifice to do what it takes.

“And that was from an oil and gas industry survey,” he said.

CLC has created a major sustainability plan, which includes adding solar energy, building a geothermal field that will provide much of the heating and cooling needs of the Grayslake campus, designing buildings that are certified as being made with sustainable products, among many others.

“We have an ongoing commitment to decrease our energy consumption. We look at the campus as a living laboratory,” Weber said.

Conference participant Erika Koesling, an environmental science teacher at Lake Forest High School, said she was excited to learn that ComEd will provide jobs for her students when they enter the work force.

“I like knowing ComEd needs more power engineers. It’s eye-opening. I can tell the kids about it and it gives them a purpose while learning in the classroom,” she said.

Nicole Riggs of North Chicago-based AbbVie, Inc., which also presented its environmental initiatives at the event, talked to ComEd about its free program to help customers reduce energy consumption and costs.

“We have an annual event at AbbVie to educate people about environmental impact, and I’d like to have ComEd come to it,” Riggs said.

ComEd is working on what’s called a smart grid, which allows customers to program when to reduce energy consumption, said Joseph E. Svachula, vice president of smart grid and technology at ComEd.

“We used to encourage customers for more usage. But now, it’s less usage. We’ve got to earn the public’s trust,” he said.

Tracey Landry, a curriculum director at Grayslake High School District 127, who also spoke at the event, said the district is taking baby steps, from using new carpets made of recycled materials, having an energy audit, and using nontoxic paints.

“We also have ‘turn it off’ days in our school to remind kids to turn off the lights when not needed, refillable water stations, so kids won’t buy plastic bottles of water. We’ve planted trees and are planning a community garden,” Landry said.

A recent $5,000 grant allowed students to create an outdoor classroom, which includes a butterfly garden, she said.

Weiss encouraged attendees to “keep the conversation going,” and that small steps are as important as big ones.

DeVore is a freelancer

Copyright © 2015, Lake County News-Sun

Lake County rallies around green initiatives

Westar moves ahead with Pratt County wind project

Westar Energy Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to expand its use of wind-powered energy.

The company said in a news release that the addition will grow Westar’s renewable energy commitment to nearly 1,300 megawatts.

Westar will purchase energy from a 200-megawatt wind farm to be constructed on its behalf in Pratt County by an affiliate of NextEra Energy Resources.

“Kansas wind provides the best economic fit to make renewable energy available and affordable for all our customers,” Mark Ruelle, Westar Energy president and chief executive officer said in a statement. “Westar is the state’s largest supporter of renewables, and we are excited to add more clean Kansas wind energy to our energy supply.”

The Ninnescah wind farm in Pratt County will be built beginning late this year or early 2016 and will begin providing energy by the end of 2016.

Westar said the project is expected to bring to nearby communities about $300 million in capital investment and about 200 temporary, construction jobs.

Westar moves ahead with Pratt County wind project

Clark County issues dust advisory

Don’t let the sun trick you into thinking Tuesday’s weather will be pleasant.

The Clark County Department of Air Quality has sent out a dust advisory.

Winds are expected to blow between 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 47 mph, the National Weather Service said. Windy conditions should last until the evening.

Children and people with respiratory diseases should stay indoors, the county said. Drivers should also drive slowly on unpaved roads. Residents should shut windows and change dirty air filters.

The high should reach 75, according to the Weather Service. Winds could make it feel cooler.

Clark County’s Department of Air Quality sent a notice to valley dust control permit holders, contractors and stationary sources Monday. The asked businesses to inspect their sites and stabilize loose soil.

Contact Ricardo Torres at @rickytwrites

Clark County issues dust advisory

Wind farm blows into Randolph County

Wind turbines are changing the skyline in southern Randolph County. At least 100 of the turbines are planned.(Photo: Seth Slabaugh/The (Muncie) Star Press)

MODOC, Ind. – The winds that freely whip across Randolph County soon will be harnessed to generate pollution-free electricity.

EDP Renewables North America is building the 200-megawatt Headwaters Wind Farm, which will place 100 wind turbines across southeastern Randolph County. EDP Renewables also operates Meadow Lake Wind Farm in White County and nearly 30 other wind farms across the country.

The $400 million project, which will power about 51,000 homes, is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Randolph County farmer Tony Kritsch will have three towers on three different farms. Kritsch said he investigated the wind farms that have sprouted in Indiana counties near Lafayette before deciding to be part of the Headwaters project.

“They keep saying they are going to take away coal-fired plants. Wind energy is non-polluting,” Kritsch said. “Whether it’s profitable or not remains to be seen. We’re on the northern end of the work, so they’re working their way towards us.”

Wind farms have been controversial in some rural areas, and there is opposition to them in Randolph County, said Jerry Warren, president of the Randolph Farm Bureau Inc. The noise of earlier wind turbines was an issue, but current ones make only a light hum, Kirtsch said.

“Most of the people here are enthusiastic about it, but you always have naysayers,” Warren said. “It’s bringing a lot of income here. We’ve lagged behind in economic development, and our unemployment has been high. There’s money to owners for the wind, money for the size of the windmills and electric lines. It’s putting money into our county. It’s cool to see them going up.”

Kritsch said about one-half acre is lost to each turbine. Each turbine has a lane for access and the lanes are built so they’re easy to cross with farm equipment, he said.

Lease payments to land owners will range from $8,000 to $12,000 per year, The (Muncie) Star Press reported.

EDP has agreed to pay $10 million in lieu of property taxes to Randolph County government for community development over the next decade, after which the company will pay property taxes for the rest of the project’s life.

Randolph County farmers met with four wind farm companies before selecting EDP, former Randolph Farm Bureau Inc. president Tom Chalfant said.

“Farmers had a choice whether to participate in this,” Chalfant said. “No one had to be involved if they didn’t want to. The county gave an abatement, and the tax base will increase after the 10-year abatement ends. The roads are kind of a mess now, but the county will get 26 miles of new pavement when the project is done.”

Payments to land owners vary among farms, based on their situation, with those with longer lanes receiving higher amounts, Kritsch said. There are even payments to neighbors who might be affected by the turbines.

A portable cement plant at U.S. 27 and U.S. 36 quickly supplies concrete for the project, Warren said. It takes 600 yards of concrete to create one base, he said.

A windmill maintenance office in Winchester will take care of the towers after construction is completed, Warren said.

The project is expected to create more than 250 jobs at the peak of construction and 14 full-time, permanent jobs in Randolph County.

The technology used now to harness the wind has advanced, with the blades moved to the top of the turbine, capturing the most wind, said Adam Renz, a spokesman for EDP Renewables.

“The turbines are now being placed specifically to use less land,” Renz said. “Indiana has some of the best wind resources in the country, and it has open land.”

Wind energy generated here is expected to prevent the annual emission of 332,000 tons of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, according to EDP Renewables. Its annual environmental impact is estimated to be the equivalent to taking about 183,000 cars off the road, according to EDP.

Wind patterns near ground level are inconsistent and unsuitable for wind power, but the prevailing winds, which are higher, are much stronger, especially in the flat and less-forested northern half of the state, according to a Purdue University study on wind power in Indiana.

Indiana also is geographically situated to provide wind energy to many Eastern states, which are mandating renewable energy sources, the study said.

The turbines work by capturing the kinetic energy of the wind and converting it into electricity. The electricity is delivered to the grid through an interconnection with a 345-kilovolt transmission line owned and operated by AEP.

The power generated at Headwaters Wind Farm will be distributed by Indiana Michigan Power.

Headwaters likely won’t be the last wind farm in Randolph County. Discussions are underway about another wind farm near Indiana 32, and land owners there have been contacted about it, Warren said.

Connersville benefit

The Randolph County wind farm project already has benefited the city of Connersville.

EDP Renewables needed a place to load and unload its large turbine equipment, Mayor Leonard Urban said. Connersville’s short-line railroad, which operates within the city, transports the turbine blades that arrive by rail to the city’s airport on the north side of town. The company paid Connersville about $33,000 to use the rail line and to store materials at the airport until they’re needed on site, Urban said.

“It was a shot in the arm for the city of Connersville,” Urban said. “The money that was generated was used to repair the short-line tracks from Ninth Street north. It has helped us keep that short line in service.”

The tower blades are so big that two rail cars are needed to transport them to the airport, where they are off-loaded onto the trucks which carry them to Randolph County.

Greens Fork resident Bill Stout said about five police cars accompany the transports.

“We’ve seen them go by,” Stout said. “It’s a big project.”

Read or Share this story: http://pinews.co/1rRILl6

Wind farm blows into Randolph County

Incumbent, radio chief, advocate vie for Vermilion County Board

HOOPESTON — A local radio station manager and an advocate of tighter restrictions on local wind farms are challenging one of the newer Vermilion County Board members in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

For the last few years, Darrell Cambron of rural Rankin has attended most monthly meetings of the Vermilion County Board, lobbying for wind farm ordinance changes. On Tuesday, Cambron faces incumbent Todd Johnson of Rossville and a Hoopeston alderman, Larry Baughn, in the Republican primary for District 1.

Two of the three will move on to the general election in November. There are two seats open in District 1, which includes Hoopeston, Rossville, Rankin and Henning.

Johnson, who has been a board member since 2010, is seeking his third term. The other District 1 incumbent, Chris Leigh, R-Hoopeston, decided not to run again.

Cambron said he is not a one-issue candidate and has been involved in various issues in the county through the years. He has asked the county board to increase the distance a wind turbine must be from a house or other primary structures.

“I have a strong interest in all the issues that face District 1,” said Cambron, who was involved in stopping a large factory farm from locating near Rankin, as well as a medical waste incinerator. Cambron, a Vermilion County native, said people in the community have always approached him for help on issues. He said that makes him a strong candidate for the county board.

Baughn said he’s open-minded about wind farm development and is not on one side of the fence or the other. Johnson said he supports wind energy, but he does not believe the county’s wind ordinance should be etched in stone.

Baughn, who was elected last year to the Hoopeston City Council, said he has always had an interest in politics and has watched local issues closely. He believes it’s time for younger people to step up to serve.

“I’m not running on any certain agenda by any means, just to listen and serve all the people,” said Baughn, adding that he works and raises his family in the county, so he’s vested in the area and wants to make it a better place. “Let’s just try to move Vermilion County in a positive direction.”

Johnson said that after three years on the county board, he’s through the initial learning curve. He believes the biggest issue the county must address is infrastructure. He said the county enjoyed a six-year period without a property tax increase, but that came with some costs, like a leaky roof on the Vermilion County Courthouse that caused damage inside the building.

That building is undergoing repairs now, but Johnson said it’s his responsibility as a board member to leave the county in a better place for the next generation. He said his youth and energy are strengths, and he wants to work with members of both parties. Johnson said he knows the everyday challenges of raising a family and making ends meet.

Baughn said most people he talks to in District 1 are concerned about tax increases. He said the county needs to maintain its reserves so it doesn’t need to raise rates.

Cambron said the economy has always been crucial for Vermilion County, and the county government must show fiscal responsibility and hold the line on tax increases. He said the board should discuss a zoning system for the county.

“I feel I do have a pulse on what a lot of people do go through,” he said.

Baughn said infrastructure and public safety are also important issues in the county.

MEET THE CANDIDATES

Larry Baughn

Address: 715 N. Market St., Hoopeston.
Age: 32.
Occupation: Station manager, WHPO radio in Hoopeston.
Political experience: Hoopeston alderman since spring 2013.
Education: Attended Danville Area Community College.

Todd Johnson

Address: 15749 East Attica Road, Rossville.
Age: 32.
Occupation: Frontier Communications.
Political experience: County board member since 2010.
Education: Two years at Danville Area Community College.

Darrell Cambron

Address: Rural Rankin.
Age: 59.
Occupation: Quality control manager at Conair Corp.
Political experience: Republican precinct committeeman.
Education: Parkland College graduate.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Incumbent, radio chief, advocate vie for Vermilion County Board

Wind energy boom blows into Northwest Iowa county

PRIMGHAR, Iowa | During the summer, O’Brien County farmer Daryl Haack routinely sprays his ditches for weeds. It’s often a challenge to find days calm enough to keep the herbicide from drifting into neighboring fields.

“It seems like the wind always blows around here,” Haack said.

Lately, the vast wind resource has turned the rural Northwest Iowa county into a hotbed of economic activity. A bevy of companies are moving ahead with large-scale projects that would harness and export the renewable energy to more populated regions.

The undertakings are projected to spur hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and create thousands of temporary construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs, as well as fill local tax coffers and grow communities that have seen an exodus in population in recent decades.

“It’s an economic boom for the county the likes of which we’ve never seen before,” said Rodd Holtkamp, a Primghar banker and member of the county economic development board. “It should eventually put more people in our grocery stores, more people in our churches, more people in our schools.”

500 MEGAWATTS OF WIND POWER

There currently are no commercial wind turbines in O’Brien County, but that’s about to change in a big way.

MidAmerican Energy Co. broke ground in November on a 500 megawatt wind farm, the largest single site in Iowa history. It calls for 218 wind turbines spread out over 70,000 acres near the O’Brien County seat of Primghar.

Dubbed the Highland Wind Energy project, it’s part of a $1.9 billion expansion of Iowa’s wind generating capacity that the Des Moines utility announced last year.

The foundation work for the Highland turbines started last fall and should be done by the end of the year, with the turbines and the more than 650 blades set to go up by the end of 2015, MidAmerican spokeswoman Tina Potthoff said.

MidAmerican, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, also is scheduled to begin work late this year on a high-voltage overhead transmission line that will start in northern O’Brien County, near Sanborn, and head east along the Highway 18 corridor into neighboring Clay County. The line is among several so-called “multi-value projects,” or MVPs, designed to alleviate congestion on the region’s electric grid and provide a better route for sending Iowa and Minnesota wind power to the east.

Potthoff said the MVP 3 line will serve as a secondary line for the O’Brien County wind farm, which initially will connect to an existing line running diagonally through the county. Construction of a substation for the MVP line is scheduled to begin this year.

Another major high-voltage transmission line, called the Rock Island Clean Line, also is slated to start in O’Brien, just southeast of Sanborn. The 500-mile line will export 3,500 megawatts of wind-generated electricity — three times more energy than the Hoover Dam — from Northwest Iowa and bordering states to power-hungry customers in metro Chicago and other large cities to the east.

The developer, Houston-based Clean Line Energy, is awaiting approval from regulators in Iowa and Illinois before going ahead with the direct current line. The company estimates the line to be in service in 2017 following about two years of construction that would begin as early as next year in O’Brien.

Clean Line projects the $2 billion project will create 2,000 construction jobs and 500 permanent jobs, as well as spur development of 1,000 to 2,000 wind turbines within a 100-mile radius of the county.

At least three other companies are looking to develop wind-related projects in O’Brien but are not as far along in the process as Clean Line and MidAmerican, County Economic Development Director Kiana Johnson said.

California-based Eurus Energy has secured easements from landowners between Highways 60 and 59 for a wind farm called Hawkeye Point. The development is still in the planning stages, said Rich Crawford, a consultant working on the project.

Chicago-based Invenergy LLC, which developed the Highland Wind project and then sold it to MidAmerican last year, is working on a second project at a yet-to-be announced site in O’Brien County, Johnson said.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric power utility, in a joint venture with American Transmission Co., is developing transmission lines to move wind-generated power more easily. One route is slated to run through far eastern O’Brien, with construction starting as early as 2016, Johnson said.

THOUSANDS OF WORKERS MAY BE NEEDED

More than a decade ago, wind energy developers started scouting potential sites in O’Brien, which lies on the southern tip of the Buffalo Ridge, an ancient glacial formation stretching into southwest Minnesota that’s known for its consistent strong winds. But the early initiatives stalled because of the bottleneck in the region’s electric grid, Johnson said.

“That was the holdup all these years. There was nowhere to go if they did build it,” she said.

Under the current schedules, construction on the Rock Island Clean Line and the MidAmerican line and wind farm would overlap beginning in 2015. At the peak, hundreds, if not thousands, of construction workers could be on site.

Skilled laborers from around the country are expected to flock to the rural county of around 14,000 to fill the temporary jobs.

“We are trying to prepare, but we really don’t know what all to expect,” Johnson said. “Housing will definitely be an issue for everybody. It will greatly impact all of Northwest Iowa, not just O’Brien County.”

With the Highland project underway, the few hotels in the county already are starting to fill up. Some local residents are renting rooms in their homes to out-of-town workers. Others laborers are commuting daily to O’Brien County from larger cities such as Sioux City and Sioux Falls.

The workers are expected to spend money on everything from lodging and meals to fuel and clothing, giving local merchants a healthy boost in sales.

“The trickle-down of those dollars going through the community time and time again is just going to be amazing,” said Holtkamp, executive vice president at Primghar Savings Bank.

The economic benefits would extend well beyond O’Brien. Clean Lean, for example, recently agreed to buy $200 million worth of utility poles from Sabre Industries, contributing to job growth at Sabre’s factory in Sioux City.

When up and running, the wind farms and transmission lines are projected to create hundreds of permanent jobs in the region, mostly in sectors that would support and service the new wind farms, such as makers of towers, blades and other turbine components.

Clean Line anticipates hiring a handful of full-time workers to maintain a  station that would convert the wind power from AC to DC before sending it on the transmission line. The convertor station would be built at a cost of $250 million to $300 million, said Beth Conley, manager of the Rock Island Clean Line.

SOME OPPOSE PLANS

The slew of wind-related infrastructure also would generate millions of dollars in additional property taxes for local governments, as well as produce a new cash crop for local farmers like Haack, who has granted MidAmerican easements for two wind turbines on one of his farms.

Haack said he would collect annual payments of around $9,000 for each turbine and a service road.

The Rock Island Clean Line is offering to compensate owners for the value of their land, plus an additional structure payment, based on the number and type of poles or towers. Owners have a choice of a one-time payment or an annual upfront payment. For two poles and a half-mile-long, 145-foot-wide right of way, an owner would collect a one-time payment of about $100,000, Conley said. 

Farmers retain ownership and the right to till the land under both the lines and turbines.

Haack heads a newly formed landowners association that backs all the wind projects and offers legal assistance to guide dues-paying members through the negotiations with developers looking to build in the county.

A smaller vocal group of landowners is opposed to the Rock Island Clean Line. Critics fear Iowa’s eminent domain law for utilities would allow Clean Line to force a sale and easement even if the landowners aren’t willing to sell.

But fifth-generation O’Brien County farmer Jay Hofland said he strongly supports the transmission line, which would pass less than a half-mile from his rural home. Hofland said the lofty job prospects helped convince him to option farmland for the Clean Line convertor station near Sanborn.

“We do not do a very good job of keeping our young people around here, Hofland said. “I’m hoping that through this economic development my sons or some other young people in the community can stick around and gain from these jobs.”

Hofland said the county has the potential to generate far more wind power than its own residents would ever use.

“As a farmer, I sell hogs, cattle and corn and soybeans,” he said. “We export all of those things. I’m strongly behind exporting some wind energy out of this area. It’s another energy stream and it’s a good opportunity.”

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Wind energy boom blows into Northwest Iowa county