County Commissioners hear more about the proposed wind farm | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The Pantego Wind Farm continues to attract attention by the Beaufort County Commissioners, if for no other reason than several members of the public are intent on being sure the Commissioners understand the issues and the company is putting for a valiant effort to "sell" the project. Both sides played before the Commission at the regular December meeting.

    Two residents spoke in opposition to the project's location and a spokesperson from Invenergy, the company working to build the project also spoke. The board took no action. In a brief interview following the meeting County Manager Randall Woodruff said he expects more discussions in the future.

    We have previously posted a report on the public hearing the N. C. Utilities Commission held in Washington on November 17. You can review that article by clicking here.

    One of the speakers Monday night, Larry Hodges, appealed to the Commissioners to consider adopting a "Wind Turbine Ordinance." Woodruff told us that he does not know whether the board will opt to do that, but suggested that it is something that may get further attention. Woodruff acknowledged that when he was manager in Camden County that they adopted such an ordinance there and suggested the Camden board seemed to be satisfied with the approach they took. "Whether our board will proceed that way is something we'll just have to wait and see about," he said.

    The application before the Utilities Commission is currently pending. You can access the Commission's docket file by clicking here.

    The videos below contain the three presentations referenced above. The first is Ms. Doris Morris:



    The next video includes Mr. Hodges' presentation:



    The third clip is the presentation by April Montgomery, the Invenergy representative:



    An interesting side note to all this is that the Beaufort County Economic Development Commission (EDC), which includes Commissioners McRoy and Klemm, has already taken a position in support of this project, even before the public hearing on November 17. At that hearing before a panel of the Utilities Commission, Tom Thompson, the Executive Director of the EDC and the CEO of the Beaufort County Committee of 100, told the Commission that he spoke for both the EDC and the Committee of 100 in support of the project. Whether this put Mr. Thompson and the EDC, as county employee and county agency, at odds with the potential action by the Board of Commissioners remains to be seen.

    Here's Mr. Thompson telling the Utilities Commission the EDC is in favor of the project:



    As with the hospital issue, it does appear that Mr. McRoy and Mr. Klemm have already reached a decision before all the information has been received by the County Commission, unless of course they choose to repudiate the action of the EDC, thus raising the question about whether they can now participate in further action by the Commission in an unbiased manner.

    What is clear is that it is a complex situation and not all of the ramifications of the project have been determined, at least not in the public discussions of the Board of Commissioners.

    As has been previously reported here, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has filed a letter with the Utilities Commission saying they believe the project "...will have detrimental impacts (no pun intended) to tundra swans from the proposed wind farm, ..." and may be a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The letter also challenges the bird study Invenergy is having done as not being adequate. But apparently this potential negative impact did not matter to at least two of our commissioners, the EDC and the Economic Developer before they were involved in deciding that the project should move forward without knowing its impact on wildlife in the area. But then Mr. McRoy has also already taken a position in favor of the sulfur melting operations proposed at Potash before we know the ramifications of what they plan to do.

    Commissioner Stan Deatherage has likewise already staked himself out on the issue before all of the ramifications have been brought out.

    Nonetheless, it may all be moot. Media reports today (12-14-11) indicate that a similar project planned for Perquimans and Pasquotank counties, known as "Atlantic Wind" has been put on hold. The Spanish-based company planning to build that project, Iberdrola Renewables, met with the Pasquotank Board of Commissioners and land owners for the project and acknowledged that they had not been able to reach an agreement with an electric utility to buy their power. Thus, presumably Invenergy would have the same problem. Media reports say that Duke Energy, who would be the most likely buyer, is reluctant to buy the electricity generated by Iberdrola because of its costs. Presumably, Invenergy will have the same problem. The Invenergy spokesperson at the Commissioners' meeting did not elaborate on Invenergy's plans to market their electricity. Of course they may sell their power to an out-of-state utility, but that creates additional ramifications.

    The problem with wind generated electricity is that it costs more than oil, coal or nuclear-generated electricity. Moreover, the variability in the current generated due to fluctuations in wind speeds causes problems for the electrical grid because stable backup generation capacity is required to compensate for variations in wind generated current. So the power generated by wind turbines costs more to begin with but the utility still has to have as much backup generation capacity as it would have to have without wind generated power.

    As we have previously reported, Governor Perdue is attempting to strong-arm Duke and other utilities into buying wind-generated electricity, specifically from Iberdrola. The problem with that is that it will obviously increase the cost of electricity for customers who could otherwise benefit from lower electric rates, including businesses who can benefit from less expensive electricity. Consequently, some contend higher electric rates will cause a loss of jobs.

    But she may succeed after all and force Duke to buy power from Iberdrola and/or Invenergy. If Duke/Progress buys from either, our electric bills will be going up. Forcing utilities to buy higher cost electricity generated from sources such as wind is all part of the plan. Listen to President Obama explain it:



    Will our County Commissioners aid and abet this scheme or will they resist participation? We'll just have to wait and see. Just as we'll have to wait and see if the Beaufort County Commission gets involved in protecting the interests of the citizens of Beaufort County.

    Stay tuned. We'll have more on this.

    Commentary

    We find it extremely disturbing that some of our commissioners once again have jumped over facts and relevant information to come to a conclusion before they have made a conscientious attempt to learn all they need to know before making a decision. It seems it is becoming a habit with some of them.

    We respectfully suggest that the Board conduct a thorough fact-finding operation of this issue and that they then devise a mechanism for informing the public of the facts and ramifications of this project. They should then hold at least one public hearing, but as many as it takes to allow those who have something to offer the decision-making process to do so. Then and only then should they make a decision about what position they will take for the County. If it is necessary and appropriate they should impose a moratorium on the construction of any wind farm anywhere within the county's jurisdiction until all of the pertinent facts and information can be assembled and the public afforded a chance to weigh in on this decision before any commissioners decides his position.

    For once, get this one right.
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