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Here's Why:
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Negative Impact for Downsize Farm
"Life is Looking Up" has been our tagline since we optimistically dubbed out 2.5 acre patch on Parkview Rd. as "Downsize Farm". Like other families who care for children with disabilities, we were concerned about the future of our two sons with Down Syndrome.
Very soon, the meaning of "Life is Looking Up at Downsize Farm" could be much different. Rather than turning our gaze to track the flapping of wings and honking of goose music, we will look up to view a 500-foot wind turbine flickering its shadow and clearing its throat. The proposed and approved industrial wind turbine project will impact the quality of life of every resident in Champaign County. This sense that "Life is good" is a little different for everyone and not so easy to define. So don't mistake quality of life as the same as standard of living. At Downsize Farm, our mission is to "enrich the quality of life of every person in our program." The basic factors we always consider are: Live, Love, Laugh, Learn, and Leave a Legacy. |
Live
People with development disabilities are at much higher risk to be affected by turbine side effects. If we seek to relocate outside of the turbine footprint, we face the prospect of decreased resale value of our property.
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LoveHeartfelt relationships and friendships are a significant factor when thinking about the "good life" and feeling like "I belong". This project has already been divisive across Champaign County and now brings the hatchet here.
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LaughIt is no small matter to enjoy living where you do and thinking about making things even better. It makes work worth it. People come to our program from 5 counties because they really like it here.
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LearnWhen people trust other people, believing they have their best interest at heart, they are also vulnerable and subject to abuse. The lack of transparency in this project and the opposition of others in Champaign County is a warning to everyone even if all the facts are not known or fully understood.
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Leave a Legacy
Downsize Farm was started as an answer to the question, "What will these guys do when they are 20?" It is not a legacy of finances that will buy something. It is a way of life where they can live and work and play with people they know and can trust.
Turbines are Invasive
Each turbine assembly requires dozens of acres of clearance and dominates the typically rural or wild landscape where it is sited. Its extreme height, turning rotor blades, unavoidable noise and vibration, and strobe lighting night and say ensure an intrusiveness far out of proportion to its elusive contribution.
Beware of PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxation)
PILOT is a tax scheme devised by wind developers to reduce taxation and increase profit. One million dollars offered in PILOT equals over $7 million profit for Everpower - Adding insult to injury!
We are Being Sold as a Commodity
Energy efficiency is a good thing. Profit is a good thing. Community is a good thing but proven predatory practices by wind developers nationwide have divided communities forever with Big Wing riding the wave of "Green Energy" all the way to the bank, while leaving a trail of disappointment. We become a scarred community and an investor's revenue stream commodity.
Good Neighbor Agreements are Anything But
By signing this agreement, the abutter loses the right to sue the wind developer over any past, present, or future claims or actions. They lose the right to sue for compensatory or punitive damages. For a small pittance the landowner cannot do anything that will interfere with construction, installation, maintenance, or operation. Then there is a nondisclosure agreement.
Impact on our Roads/Lives
Roads slated to carry parts for turbines are: Ludlow, Urbana-Woodstock Pike, Perry, N. Parkview, Bullard-Rutan, Yankee Hill, N. Mutual Union, as well as US Route 36, State Routes 814, 296, 56, 29, 4, 161 and 559. Utility poles, signs, and mailboxes must be moved. Road beds, bridges, and culverts must be reinforced. Intersections and curves must be widened, in some cases onto private property. Estimated road trips: 2800 for gravel, 3200 for concrete, 825 for turbine parts. In addition, equipment and personnel must be transported. Some vehicles will be 234-feet long and carry 380,000 lbs. This will be followed by 20-30 years of shadow flicker, noise, bird and bat kills in our community.
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Join Champaign County Townships United
Help protect our homes, our families and our valuables. Contact Us at [email protected] and on our Champaign County Wind Facebook page.
** Lawn Signs Available ** |
Changes in the Wind: Amended Turbine Project Draws Several Intervenors
Midge and Robert Custer stand near one of the out-buildings on their mini-farm on Parkview Road. The tongue-in-cheek message on the roof behind them could foreshadow Downsize Farm’s entry into the latest chapter of the Buckeye Wind saga. Downsize Farm is a Medicaid-certified facility for developmentally-disabled persons. The Custers are concerned about how the operations of a wind farm with turbines sited to the east and the west of them might adversely affect their clients.
Brenda Burns | Urbana Daily Citizen
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Champaign County commissioners, several local townships, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and a new citizens group have filed notices to intervene in the amended Buckeye Wind/Champaign Wind project, according to case filings listed on the Ohio Power Siting Board’s website. The deadline for petitions to intervene was Monday, Jan. 22.
Named Champaign County Townships United, the new intervening citizens group formed shortly after learning that a previously-intervening group known as Union Neighbors United (UNU) had reached an agreement with EverPower in December. Neither side – EverPower nor UNU – has divulged the terms of the “confidential” agreement. |
In late December 2017, EverPower filed with the OPSB for an amended certificate that combines the two project phases – Buckeye Wind I and II – previously approved by the OPSB, but reduces by more than half the number of wind turbines that could be constructed. After EverPower and UNU reached their agreement, all but one turbine planned for Union Township was deleted from the resulting amended certificate application and no turbines previously planned for Urbana Township appear on the updated maps submitted to the OPSB for consideration.
UNU’s attorney, Christopher A. Walker, would not directly address whether the agreement was the reason for the significant disappearance of turbine sites in Union Township and total elimination of the sites planned in Urbana Township. Addressing the question in an email to the Urbana Daily Citizen after a brief journal entry about the agreement was publicly listed on the OPSB website, Walker said: “With the exception of the information provided in the press release, the settlement terms are confidential. I can’t comment on the relationship, if any, between the settlement and the absence of turbines in Urbana Township.”
The press release to which Walker referred was part of a Jan. 4, 2018, communication with the Daily Citizen. The newspaper sought official statements from both EverPower and UNU after the settlement agreement appeared on the OPSB website in December. A legal advertisement also appeared in the Daily Citizen announcing EverPower’s filing for an amended project. The advertisement was printed Dec. 30, 2017.
According to the press release Walker sent to the Daily Citizen on Jan. 4, “UNU and its individual members have reached an agreement with EverPower settling the parties’ decade-long dispute regarding the Champaign Wind and Buckeye Wind projects proposed for Champaign County. The settlement provides that with the exception of one turbine site (Turbine T-107), EverPower will not construct wind turbines in Union Township. EverPower has agreed to file an application with the Ohio Power Siting Board to seek approval to reduce the originally-approved 108 turbines to a combined design of 55 turbines, of which no more than 50 will be constructed. UNU and its individual members have agreed not to oppose the reduced project. On December 28, 2017, UNU and its members filed notices with the Ohio Power Siting Board withdrawing from the pending certification proceedings for Buckeye Wind and Champaign Wind. In the future, UNU and its members will remain publicly neutral on the pending amendment application, PILOT, and other matters directly relating to the Buckeye Wind and Champaign Wind projects.” PILOT is an acronym for local tax favorability known as “payments in lieu of taxes.” A PILOT application to the Champaign County Commission is anticipated to be part of EverPower’s process prior to actual construction of the wind turbines.
Despite several attempts since Dec. 30 to contact EverPower through its local spokesman, Jason Dagger, the company has not responded to the Daily Citizen with an official statement from the corporate office.
On Jan. 18, the Champaign County Prosecutor’s Office (which is the legal counsel for local governments and their officials) filed electronic notices of intervention on behalf of the Champaign County Commission and filed four separate notices on behalf of the townships of Goshen, Salem, Union and Wayne. Rush Township officials did not file a petition to intervene.
The goal of the local governments’ filings with OPSB is to ensure the entities are representing the “extensive interests” of the public they serve. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation filed a motion on Jan. 19 in support of intervening in the amended project. The citizens group Champaign County Townships United filed to intervene on Jan. 22 and concerns listed in its petition are points of opposition to the project.
In the Champaign County Commission’s filing to intervene, part of the letter notes the commissioners voted to intervene during a regular meeting on Jan. 11 in which all three commissioners were initially present. Commissioner Bob Corbett moved to accept the resolution to intervene, Commissioner David Faulkner seconded Corbett’s motion and then the official vote was taken. Corbett and Faulkner voted in favor of intervening and Commissioner Steve Hess was listed as “absent” under the vote tally.
The citizens’ group’s petition to intervene – filed by attorney John Stock of Columbus – notes the various concerns of the residents comprising Champaign County Townships United. The petition also states there has been no hearing date set by the OPSB yet on the application to amend the certificates and no specific deadline has been set by the OPSB for the proceeding.
Names listed on the citizens’ group petition include Robert and Roberta (“Midge”) Custer, who operate Downsize Farm near the project area in Rush Township. Downsize Farm is located at 806 N. Parkview Road and is a Medicaid-certified facility for developmentally-disabled persons, according to the petition to intervene. At issue are proposed turbines located to the east and to the west of Downsize Farm, which could subject its clients to potential for shadow flicker (a recurring phenomenon caused when the sun is at certain angles in the sky and the turbine blades are turning), as well as potential noise from the turbine blades as the wind makes contact with them. Robert Custer told the Daily Citizen on Tuesday his clients are exceptionally sensitive to environmental stimuli such as noise and vibration. Some clients are susceptible to life-threatening seizures whose trigger sources are often unknown. He explained the close proximity of several proposed turbines near his facility could cause him to be unable to serve some clients if the turbines are built because he would feel a need to disclose and address the risks from the noise and flicker with clients’ families as a protective measure.
Robert Custer said he wasn’t aware until recently the turbines in the amended project might be close enough to affect his facility. Now he is working rapidly to educate himself about the towering structures that could become his mechanical neighbors.
In its petition to intervene, the citizens’ group also expresses concerns about setbacks (distance from operational turbines to inhabited structures and non-participating properties) and EverPower’s request to use different turbine models than previously approved under the existing certificates.
In addition to the Custers, other residents listed in the Champaign County Townships United filing with the OPSB are Terry and Phyllis Rittenhouse, Keith and Lori Forrest, John and Joy Mohr, Brent and Johnna Gaertner, Mark and Marisue Schmidt, Carrie Apthorpe, Jim and Georgianna Boles, Bill and Carmen Brenneman, T. Gary and Paula Higgins, Brian and Bayleigh Halterman, Rodney Yocom and Mathew Earl.
Reach Brenda Burns by emailing [email protected] or by messaging the Urbana Daily Citizen Facebook account.
UNU’s attorney, Christopher A. Walker, would not directly address whether the agreement was the reason for the significant disappearance of turbine sites in Union Township and total elimination of the sites planned in Urbana Township. Addressing the question in an email to the Urbana Daily Citizen after a brief journal entry about the agreement was publicly listed on the OPSB website, Walker said: “With the exception of the information provided in the press release, the settlement terms are confidential. I can’t comment on the relationship, if any, between the settlement and the absence of turbines in Urbana Township.”
The press release to which Walker referred was part of a Jan. 4, 2018, communication with the Daily Citizen. The newspaper sought official statements from both EverPower and UNU after the settlement agreement appeared on the OPSB website in December. A legal advertisement also appeared in the Daily Citizen announcing EverPower’s filing for an amended project. The advertisement was printed Dec. 30, 2017.
According to the press release Walker sent to the Daily Citizen on Jan. 4, “UNU and its individual members have reached an agreement with EverPower settling the parties’ decade-long dispute regarding the Champaign Wind and Buckeye Wind projects proposed for Champaign County. The settlement provides that with the exception of one turbine site (Turbine T-107), EverPower will not construct wind turbines in Union Township. EverPower has agreed to file an application with the Ohio Power Siting Board to seek approval to reduce the originally-approved 108 turbines to a combined design of 55 turbines, of which no more than 50 will be constructed. UNU and its individual members have agreed not to oppose the reduced project. On December 28, 2017, UNU and its members filed notices with the Ohio Power Siting Board withdrawing from the pending certification proceedings for Buckeye Wind and Champaign Wind. In the future, UNU and its members will remain publicly neutral on the pending amendment application, PILOT, and other matters directly relating to the Buckeye Wind and Champaign Wind projects.” PILOT is an acronym for local tax favorability known as “payments in lieu of taxes.” A PILOT application to the Champaign County Commission is anticipated to be part of EverPower’s process prior to actual construction of the wind turbines.
Despite several attempts since Dec. 30 to contact EverPower through its local spokesman, Jason Dagger, the company has not responded to the Daily Citizen with an official statement from the corporate office.
On Jan. 18, the Champaign County Prosecutor’s Office (which is the legal counsel for local governments and their officials) filed electronic notices of intervention on behalf of the Champaign County Commission and filed four separate notices on behalf of the townships of Goshen, Salem, Union and Wayne. Rush Township officials did not file a petition to intervene.
The goal of the local governments’ filings with OPSB is to ensure the entities are representing the “extensive interests” of the public they serve. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation filed a motion on Jan. 19 in support of intervening in the amended project. The citizens group Champaign County Townships United filed to intervene on Jan. 22 and concerns listed in its petition are points of opposition to the project.
In the Champaign County Commission’s filing to intervene, part of the letter notes the commissioners voted to intervene during a regular meeting on Jan. 11 in which all three commissioners were initially present. Commissioner Bob Corbett moved to accept the resolution to intervene, Commissioner David Faulkner seconded Corbett’s motion and then the official vote was taken. Corbett and Faulkner voted in favor of intervening and Commissioner Steve Hess was listed as “absent” under the vote tally.
The citizens’ group’s petition to intervene – filed by attorney John Stock of Columbus – notes the various concerns of the residents comprising Champaign County Townships United. The petition also states there has been no hearing date set by the OPSB yet on the application to amend the certificates and no specific deadline has been set by the OPSB for the proceeding.
Names listed on the citizens’ group petition include Robert and Roberta (“Midge”) Custer, who operate Downsize Farm near the project area in Rush Township. Downsize Farm is located at 806 N. Parkview Road and is a Medicaid-certified facility for developmentally-disabled persons, according to the petition to intervene. At issue are proposed turbines located to the east and to the west of Downsize Farm, which could subject its clients to potential for shadow flicker (a recurring phenomenon caused when the sun is at certain angles in the sky and the turbine blades are turning), as well as potential noise from the turbine blades as the wind makes contact with them. Robert Custer told the Daily Citizen on Tuesday his clients are exceptionally sensitive to environmental stimuli such as noise and vibration. Some clients are susceptible to life-threatening seizures whose trigger sources are often unknown. He explained the close proximity of several proposed turbines near his facility could cause him to be unable to serve some clients if the turbines are built because he would feel a need to disclose and address the risks from the noise and flicker with clients’ families as a protective measure.
Robert Custer said he wasn’t aware until recently the turbines in the amended project might be close enough to affect his facility. Now he is working rapidly to educate himself about the towering structures that could become his mechanical neighbors.
In its petition to intervene, the citizens’ group also expresses concerns about setbacks (distance from operational turbines to inhabited structures and non-participating properties) and EverPower’s request to use different turbine models than previously approved under the existing certificates.
In addition to the Custers, other residents listed in the Champaign County Townships United filing with the OPSB are Terry and Phyllis Rittenhouse, Keith and Lori Forrest, John and Joy Mohr, Brent and Johnna Gaertner, Mark and Marisue Schmidt, Carrie Apthorpe, Jim and Georgianna Boles, Bill and Carmen Brenneman, T. Gary and Paula Higgins, Brian and Bayleigh Halterman, Rodney Yocom and Mathew Earl.
Reach Brenda Burns by emailing [email protected] or by messaging the Urbana Daily Citizen Facebook account.
Feeling ‘Stepped on’ in Buckeye Wind ‘Footprint’
By Bob Custer - Resident - Woodstock, Ohio
POSTED ON JANUARY 25, 2018 BY URBANA DAILY CITIZEN
Footprints tell us where we have been and where others have gone before us. It’s the impression left behind after something has been stepped on. As I attempt to put words to what I feel after observing the still fuzzy outline of greatest impact of the impending wind turbine complex in Champaign County, it’s the realization that I live in the “footprint.”
I live in the footprint and frankly, I feel like I have been stepped on. I live on Parkview Road between US Route 36 and Urbana-Woodstock Pike in eastern Champaign County. Our family moved to Champaign County in 1989 and bought our property here in 2001. We have tried to get involved in the community both locally and in the County. We really like it here. It is not uncommon for us to arrive at our driveway and have one of our boys exclaim: “Home Sweet Home!”
We dubbed our 2.5 acres as “Downsize Farm” … just the right size for two boys with Down Syndrome. They have helped grow it into a business that now serves as a hub for over 60 individuals with developmental disabilities. People arrive in clearly marked buses from five different counties because they have a choice to attend a program that is unique. It’s built around the 4-H motto of “learning by doing.” They choose the projects they want to work in and build friendships with peers and staff. I call the Farm a hub because from here we disperse to integrate into the community … not just go places, but to work and shop and get to know other people who live here. This past October we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of fulfilling our mission: To enrich the quality of life of every person in our programs…to live, love, laugh, learn and leave a legacy.
Because we are in the footprint I am very concerned for the future of Downsize Farm. People with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the side effects of a wind turbine complex. Earlier this month we participated in a memorial service for a client that was very involved in our program: a wonderful young woman who passed away due to complications of a seizure. There is still much to learn about the triggers for seizures and they are person-specific, but emissions from wind turbine complexes are suspect. We serve a high-risk population so we don’t travel in high-risk weather conditions. If the turbines are built we will be in a high-risk zone. If we try to sell and re-locate, our investment here will not be as valuable or attractive.
Being in the footprint feels like being stepped on. So my wife Midge and I have chosen to be intervenors before the Ohio Power Siting Board. I know that there are many who are not in the footprint but believe this project is not in best interest of the county. So as always, Life is Looking Up at Downsize Farm and we are confident that this battle will not be Custer’s Last Stand.
POSTED ON JANUARY 25, 2018 BY URBANA DAILY CITIZEN
Footprints tell us where we have been and where others have gone before us. It’s the impression left behind after something has been stepped on. As I attempt to put words to what I feel after observing the still fuzzy outline of greatest impact of the impending wind turbine complex in Champaign County, it’s the realization that I live in the “footprint.”
I live in the footprint and frankly, I feel like I have been stepped on. I live on Parkview Road between US Route 36 and Urbana-Woodstock Pike in eastern Champaign County. Our family moved to Champaign County in 1989 and bought our property here in 2001. We have tried to get involved in the community both locally and in the County. We really like it here. It is not uncommon for us to arrive at our driveway and have one of our boys exclaim: “Home Sweet Home!”
We dubbed our 2.5 acres as “Downsize Farm” … just the right size for two boys with Down Syndrome. They have helped grow it into a business that now serves as a hub for over 60 individuals with developmental disabilities. People arrive in clearly marked buses from five different counties because they have a choice to attend a program that is unique. It’s built around the 4-H motto of “learning by doing.” They choose the projects they want to work in and build friendships with peers and staff. I call the Farm a hub because from here we disperse to integrate into the community … not just go places, but to work and shop and get to know other people who live here. This past October we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of fulfilling our mission: To enrich the quality of life of every person in our programs…to live, love, laugh, learn and leave a legacy.
Because we are in the footprint I am very concerned for the future of Downsize Farm. People with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the side effects of a wind turbine complex. Earlier this month we participated in a memorial service for a client that was very involved in our program: a wonderful young woman who passed away due to complications of a seizure. There is still much to learn about the triggers for seizures and they are person-specific, but emissions from wind turbine complexes are suspect. We serve a high-risk population so we don’t travel in high-risk weather conditions. If the turbines are built we will be in a high-risk zone. If we try to sell and re-locate, our investment here will not be as valuable or attractive.
Being in the footprint feels like being stepped on. So my wife Midge and I have chosen to be intervenors before the Ohio Power Siting Board. I know that there are many who are not in the footprint but believe this project is not in best interest of the county. So as always, Life is Looking Up at Downsize Farm and we are confident that this battle will not be Custer’s Last Stand.
Buckeye Wind Project Changes Draw Local Criticism
By Terry Rittenhouse - Resident - Champaign County
COLUMN POSTED ON JANUARY 19, 2018 BY URBANA DAILY CITIZEN
We are tired of it. You are tired of it. Our county is tired of it, but it just won’t go away. What is it?
Wind turbines.
Please, wait.
Before you turn the page and turn your back and turn your attention to the many other legitimately important concerns of your day, we plead with you, educated leaders and citizens of Champaign County, to give one last level-headed and critically discerning look into the future at the unwanted hostile takeover of our community that is going to change us irrevocably from this time forward. Our county government and citizens groups have made it very clear that this project is not wanted here. Before we ourselves allow strangers to hold to the lips of our very own children the secret elixir in this cup, let us consider.
Major changes are taking place relative to what was initially promised and reported as fact. Nearly 1,000 pages of revisions to the projects and announcement of the sale to foreign investors were submitted over the holidays while families were busy. Over 50 percent of the project has been eliminated; 31 new turbine models, some of the largest in the world with much longer and wider blades, double the output size and surface areas are now proposed for consideration. Some are the latest offerings from the wind turbine manufacturers. That means that some of the proposed turbines have very little real-world experience to report on.
COLUMN POSTED ON JANUARY 19, 2018 BY URBANA DAILY CITIZEN
We are tired of it. You are tired of it. Our county is tired of it, but it just won’t go away. What is it?
Wind turbines.
Please, wait.
Before you turn the page and turn your back and turn your attention to the many other legitimately important concerns of your day, we plead with you, educated leaders and citizens of Champaign County, to give one last level-headed and critically discerning look into the future at the unwanted hostile takeover of our community that is going to change us irrevocably from this time forward. Our county government and citizens groups have made it very clear that this project is not wanted here. Before we ourselves allow strangers to hold to the lips of our very own children the secret elixir in this cup, let us consider.
Major changes are taking place relative to what was initially promised and reported as fact. Nearly 1,000 pages of revisions to the projects and announcement of the sale to foreign investors were submitted over the holidays while families were busy. Over 50 percent of the project has been eliminated; 31 new turbine models, some of the largest in the world with much longer and wider blades, double the output size and surface areas are now proposed for consideration. Some are the latest offerings from the wind turbine manufacturers. That means that some of the proposed turbines have very little real-world experience to report on.
This map submitted by EverPower to the Ohio Power Siting Board shows the predicted shadow flicker of the amended Buckeye Wind project - which has combined two proposed wind farm projects while reducing the total number of wind turbines by about half. Image from the Ohio Power Siting Board website.
This map submitted by EverPower to the Ohio Power Siting Board shows the predicted sound impact of the amended Buckeye Wind project - which has combined two proposed wind farm projects while reducing the total number of wind turbines by about half. Image from the Ohio Power Siting Board website.
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Have you seen the noise maps? Sound power levels are increasing, yet there is no new noise study to identify, document or report the changes. EverPower claims that the old studies are enough, yet one look at the sound maps indicates that there is absolutely no margin of error for the citizens that live close by. Fully 14 of the proposed turbines must run in “Low Noise Mode” or “Very Low Noise Mode” at all times just to be legal.
It appears the formerly negotiated underground collection system will be changed back to hundreds of above- ground high tension poles and high voltage lines along our roads and through our townships, a major cheapening of the build. Have you seen the shadow flicker maps? Shocking. Many, if not most of the homes in the project footprint will see in excess of 100 hours of shadow flicker every year. How much more? No one knows. The maps just say greater than 100 hours. Just every morning and evening, until 10 p.m. on long summer nights and only on the days when the sun rises and also sets for the next 20-30 years. They will also have synchronized red aircraft clearance lights and white strobe lights for evening viewing. These proposed amendments are in addition to the scaling back of the projects, changes to access roads, collection points and substations, as well as a request for exemption from Ohio Power Siting Board procedural rule 4906-3-11(B)(2)(A)iii, namely removing the required notification of the changes to neighbors. Construction is proposed to commence in the second quarter (Spring) of 2018. Not so fast, EverPower. There are many laws, rules and regulations in regard to wind turbines. These major project amendments are required not by an OPSB rule, but by Ohio law, a much stricter standard, to trigger the newest updated safety setback laws. This law has been violated and completely ignored. |
These amendments by EverPower were submitted in the final minutes of business before the Christmas holiday on December 22, 2017 and announced by contractually enforced legal notice on Dec. 30, 2017. In an article reported by the Urbana Daily Citizen on January 2, 2018, EverPower was asked to comment. They were unavailable for comment on a document with a 30-day time limit that had already been out for over a week. The response since that time from EverPower? Silence. Deafening silence. The time for our response is ticking away, and in this matter, time is of the essence. The deadline to intervene is Monday, January 22, 2018.
Why is this important?
When EverPower settled at the Ohio Supreme Court with the Union Township group Union Neighbors United, of the several reported items of the settlement, one was that the citizens’ group would drop their public opposition to the remaining project – the business logic possibly that a 50 turbine project with no visible opposition was easier to sell than a 108 turbine project with highly competent and effective opposition. The settlement included only the project areas in Union Township. The rest of the townships are not a party to the settlement. With UNU out of the way and no other citizens’ group looking over their shoulder and looking out for the community at large, EverPower seems to think that they can now lobby the OPSB for whatever changes they desire, for whatever reason they determine, and they certainly have. As a result, we have a nearly 1,000-page major change request document that appears to substantially reduce or even eliminate funds formerly promised to the schools, county and township governing bodies. Did I mention that 50 percent of the revised projects have no road repair agreement in place? Who will pay when vehicle weights of up to 380,000 pounds repeatedly crush our infrastructure that is legally and structurally designed for 80,000 pound weight limits, and in the case of many of our township roads and bridges, much less?
The Ohio Power Siting Board has demonstrated that they cannot be trusted to operate in the best interest of our citizens. The lease holders are silent. EverPower has the project sold. They will be coming soon to our Champaign County Commission to ask to be relieved of paying their fair share of taxes to our schools, county and townships in addition to the forecasted major project reductions. Then they are leaving with the money, never to return. This scenario has been repeated all over the country.
In response to these developments, a new citizens’ group, Champaign County Townships United, has been formed. We support our Champaign County Commissioners, local government and townships in their opposition to the projects. We also have submitted an application to intervene in the case.
It’s been said that in Champaign County we have three things: corn, beans, and relationships. This is truly our last chance to stand. We have come to the final battle for who will control our future. Look closely at the maps. Draw your own conclusions about what you see, then by your actions decide if this is the elixir that we as a people would give to our families and to our neighbors and to our future. Either way, God be with us.
This column was composed by Terry Rittenhouse and submitted on behalf of a new local group intervening in the proposed Buckeye Wind case: Champaign County Townships United. Rittenhouse lives near the project area. A previous opposition group named Union Neighbors United recently reached a settlement agreement with EverPower and is no longer intervening in the case before the Ohio Power Siting Board.
Why is this important?
When EverPower settled at the Ohio Supreme Court with the Union Township group Union Neighbors United, of the several reported items of the settlement, one was that the citizens’ group would drop their public opposition to the remaining project – the business logic possibly that a 50 turbine project with no visible opposition was easier to sell than a 108 turbine project with highly competent and effective opposition. The settlement included only the project areas in Union Township. The rest of the townships are not a party to the settlement. With UNU out of the way and no other citizens’ group looking over their shoulder and looking out for the community at large, EverPower seems to think that they can now lobby the OPSB for whatever changes they desire, for whatever reason they determine, and they certainly have. As a result, we have a nearly 1,000-page major change request document that appears to substantially reduce or even eliminate funds formerly promised to the schools, county and township governing bodies. Did I mention that 50 percent of the revised projects have no road repair agreement in place? Who will pay when vehicle weights of up to 380,000 pounds repeatedly crush our infrastructure that is legally and structurally designed for 80,000 pound weight limits, and in the case of many of our township roads and bridges, much less?
The Ohio Power Siting Board has demonstrated that they cannot be trusted to operate in the best interest of our citizens. The lease holders are silent. EverPower has the project sold. They will be coming soon to our Champaign County Commission to ask to be relieved of paying their fair share of taxes to our schools, county and townships in addition to the forecasted major project reductions. Then they are leaving with the money, never to return. This scenario has been repeated all over the country.
In response to these developments, a new citizens’ group, Champaign County Townships United, has been formed. We support our Champaign County Commissioners, local government and townships in their opposition to the projects. We also have submitted an application to intervene in the case.
It’s been said that in Champaign County we have three things: corn, beans, and relationships. This is truly our last chance to stand. We have come to the final battle for who will control our future. Look closely at the maps. Draw your own conclusions about what you see, then by your actions decide if this is the elixir that we as a people would give to our families and to our neighbors and to our future. Either way, God be with us.
This column was composed by Terry Rittenhouse and submitted on behalf of a new local group intervening in the proposed Buckeye Wind case: Champaign County Townships United. Rittenhouse lives near the project area. A previous opposition group named Union Neighbors United recently reached a settlement agreement with EverPower and is no longer intervening in the case before the Ohio Power Siting Board.
