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Wind energy moratorium hot topic at county supervisors meeting

Local coalition requests halt to further wind energy expansion

A packed room of mostly Tama County residents listens as leaders with the group Tama County Against Turbines – including Richard Arp (far right) – speak to the Tama County Board of Supervisors during the board’s regular meeting on Monday, April 25, in Toledo. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

In the span of less than seven days, the citizen-led group Tama County Against Turbines has managed to do something most politicians nowadays can only dream about – draw the grassroots to a local cause and pack meeting halls in the process.

On two separate occasions – first on Tuesday, April 19, at a town hall forum held in Dysart and then again on Monday, April 25, during a regular meeting of the Tama County Board of Supervisors held in Toledo – the group filled both the parking spots outside the meeting venues and the chairs inside in regards to further wind energy expansion in the county.

The group initially formed a little over a month ago in opposition to Apex Clean Energy’s Winding Stairs Wind project currently in development on the northern and eastern side of the county in areas near and/or surrounding the communities of Elberon, Clutier, Dysart, Traer, and Buckingham.

Should Apex’s Winding Stairs Wind project come to fruition, it would make the third wind farm in Tama County including the Vienna Wind Farm project near Gladbrook which was built in 2012 and phase one of the Salt Creek Wind project in the central portion of the county which has yet to break ground.

Despite what might seem like ‘fertile ground’ for such projects in an agricultural county which, according to the board of supervisors, added wind energy conversion to its ordinance in 2010, the local groundswell against the further permitting of wind energy projects has been swift since Apex opened a Dysart office in the fall of 2021.

Tama County Against Turbines chair/spokesperson, rural Dysart farmer Jon Winkelpleck speaks to the Tama County Board of Supervisors during the board’s regular meeting on Monday, April 25, in regards to his coalition’s request for a moratorium on the approval of any further conditional use permits for wind energy conversion in the county. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Close to 200 people from across the county & beyond attended the April 19 town hall held at Union Middle School to hear Tama County Against Turbines leaders – including chair/spokesperson, farmer Jon Winkelpleck of rural Dysart – provide details on the group’s own documentation of Apex’s progress, as well as their plans to formally ask the board of supervisors to implement a moratorium on future wind energy development.

And this past Monday the group did just that during a 9:45 a.m. discussion item titled ‘Citizens of Tama County – discuss Turbines.’

In the hall outside the meeting which was held in the supervisors’ room in the Tama County Administration Building in Toledo, over 100 people queued ahead of the discussion start time alongside several leaders of the citizen group including both Winkelpleck and Tama County farmer Richard Arp of Dysart.

Taking their places at the front table located mere feet from the three supervisors including District 1 supervisor and board chairman Larry Vest, District 2 supervisor Bill Faircloth, and District 3 supervisor Dan Anderson, the group was given the green light to begin speaking a few minutes after 9:30 a.m.

Taking turns reading from a script, the two men summarized much of what their group presented to the public at the April 19 town hall including what they view as the hazardous effects industrial wind turbines can have on the health of both people and wildlife, as well as on the land itself.

Chris Behrens, rural Clutier resident and one of the leaders with the group Tama County Against Turbines, speaks from behind a podium on the Union Middle School auditorium stage in Dysart during an April 19 town hall organized by his group. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

“When we met with you informally [on April 12], we invited you to attend the public information session in Dysart [on] April 19 to help citizens understand what it’s like to live around industrial wind turbine projects,” Arp said. “Hundreds of Tama County taxpayers, elected officials [including Republican state Rep. Dean Fisher of Montour], and candidates for public office attended [the April 19 town hall].”

“It is a shame that none of you were there,” Winkelpleck said, picking up where Arp left off. “We found that concerning because we saw you at the Apex wind developer-hosted meeting in Traer in March.”

For more than twenty minutes the two spoke mostly without interruption – Arp in his reassuring, steady voice and Winkelpleck in his rousing, room-filling manner – to the supervisors as they fleshed out the reasoning behind their request for an immediate moratorium on further wind development projects in Tama County.

The two cited the changes in wind turbine size – including height and speed – as well as the noise emitted by the turbines as part of their reasoning.

“[Tama County’s] one-thousand-foot [wind turbine] setback ordinance hasn’t changed for years,” Arp said. “Tama County regulations allow industrial wind turbines to come dangerously close to homes, people, and animals, without respecting the property lines of non-participating [landowners] … So many citizens say it’s just not right for those who sign easements for wind turbines to be placed on their property to permanently infringe on and negatively impact the quality of life and property rights of other non-participating landowners. Our coalition agrees.”

Tama County Against Turbines chair Jon Winkelpleck speaks during a town hall organized by his group and held in the Union Middle School auditorium on Tuesday, April 19, while silhouetted against a slide that was part of the presentation. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

In their remarks, Arp and Winkelpleck also referenced both nearby Grundy County’s 2021 decision to enact a temporary moratorium on wind energy projects and Benton County’s stringent land use ordinance as examples for the supervisors to reference as they work toward a decision.

Request for a moratorium

In their request for a moratorium, Winkelpleck stated that the group is not asking the supervisors to halt progress on the previously-approved Salt Creek Wind project but rather refrain from approving any further conditional use permits for wind energy conversion while the moratorium is in place – and until county ordinances can be updated.

Although only 30 minutes was set aside in the agenda for the turbine discussion, the entire sequence of events lasted close to one hour.

After asking the supervisors to go on record with an answer to their request for a moratorium, Vest responded that a moratorium would not be permanent but would be a “temporary thing” while ordinances could be “tweaked.”

Tama County District 1 Supervisor Larry Vest speaks to members of the group Tama County Against Turbines (not pictured) during the Monday, April 25, board meeting held in the Tama County Administration Building in Toledo. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

“But more effective than any ordinance that we could pass – that’s been demonstrated right here today,” Vest further replied, “you just say ‘no, you won’t have them’ and you won’t. That’s the most effective moratorium you could have.”

After a back and forth between Vest, Winkelpleck, and Poweshiek County resident Kathy Harkema who was also sitting at the front table, Tama County Economic Development Executive Director Katherine Ollendieck was asked by supervisor Anderson to speak on the issue.

“Absolutely the landowners get to decide,” Ollendieck said in her opening remarks to the room before later stating, “If the landowners say no, the project is done. … It is the wind developers’ responsibility to build consensus to convince you to say yes, and in this case, it doesn’t appear there’s consensus. I do not think [Apex] is the right fit for our county in any way, shape, or form. But it’s a step that’s required – consensus must be built.”

“Other wind developers in our county have built consensus,” Ollendieck further continued, “I believe it should not be an all or nothing in Tama County. Our local landowners get to decide. … If there’s no consensus [the projects are] dead in the water.”

Ollendieck also stated she was not in favor of a moratorium but would like to see more discussion around the issue.

Tama County Economic Development Executive Director Katherine Ollendieck (standing, far left) speaks to members of the public during the Monday, April 25, Tama County Board of Supervisors meeting held in Toledo while leaders with the group Tama County Against Turbines including Kathy Harkema (standing, right) look on. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

At one point following Ollendieck’s comments, Vest expressed his belief that landowners should have the choice to do with their land what they see fit.

In the final moments of the discussion, the supervisors were asked several times by leaders with Tama County Against Turbines to go on record committing themselves to a moratorium, to which Vest responded at one point with a firm ‘no,’ citing the supervisors’ need to discuss the issue further as a group.

“We got to have an opportunity to talk about it between us first,” Vest said to which several members of the public vocally urged him to enact a moratorium.

As they gathered their things to leave, Vest further told the group after having risen from his chair, “You are the moratorium. You folks are. You’re the ones who said no,” seemingly in reference to any landowner’s ability to say no to signing easements with Apex.

With no clear answer as to what the supervisors’ next steps might be but with the turbine discussion officially closed for the moment, the room mostly emptied and supervisors moved on to the next agenda item.

In a conversation with the Telegraph following the meeting, Tama County Zoning Commission member Russ Pederson of rural Garwin – who was in attendance at the supervisors’ meeting during the turbine discussion – stated he was in favor of a possible temporary moratorium in order to reexamine the wind energy conversion ordinance as it relates to the setback requirement.

During other post-meeting conversations with the Telegraph, frustration was expressed by several members of Tama County Against Turbines in regards to the morning’s results, however, optimism was also expressed – particularly as it relates to further attention being cultivated around the issue throughout the county.

One member of the coalition – who asked to remain anonymous due to the nature of their job – summed up their feelings to the Telegraph in one sentence: “I don’t think they can ignore us anymore.”

The next regular meeting of the Tama County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for Monday, May 2, in Toledo at the Tama County Administration Building, beginning with a work session at 8:30 a.m. The Telegraph will continue to cover this story as further developments arise.

The Tama County Board of Supervisors including (l-r) Larry Vest, Bill Faircloth, and Dan Anderson pictured during the wind turbine discussion that took place on Monday, April 25, as part of their board’s regular meeting in Toledo. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

A Tama County Against Turbines town hall attendee signs the group's petition on April 19 in Dysart while coalition member Barb Kopriva (left) chats with another individual. -Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Tama County residents – from farmers to landowners, to those residing on small acreages or living in town – listen during the Tama County Against Turbines town hall held in Dysart on April 19. Close to 200 people from across the county & beyond attended the meeting. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

A man chats in the middle school lunchroom following the Tama County Against Turbines town hall while holding yard signs with the words 'SAY NO' followed by an image of a turbine with a red line through it. -Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker