NEBRASKA CITY – Otoe County Commissioner Jim Thurman expects a zoning committee to recommend regulations on wind turbines that will make it impossible to establish a wind farm here.

The county’s current regulations require a wind turbine to be at least 1,300 feet from a residence and Thurman said he supports a setback no more than 1,800 feet for a turbine that is 600 feet tall.

He said, however, the subcommittee has asked City Zoning Administrator Dave Schmitz to draw up regulations three times that distance to require a mile setback from non-participating landowners.

Thurman: “A mile setback makes it impossible to put a wind farm in Otoe County.”

He said there are not enough landowners who own full square miles to locate multiple turbines. Even if a farmer owned a square mile, a single house on the edge that did not want the turbine could prevent the landowner from putting it in the center of his property.

 

 

Thurman said he plans to suggest that the county planning commission adopt fair and balanced regulations.

Thurman: “A landowner should have the right to put a wind turbine on his property and make a profit on it.”

He said property rights have long been important in agricultural communities.

Thurman: “Whether it’s a hog farm or another kind of agriculture or if they want to put an airport on their property, it’s a land rights issue.”

He said if Otoe County sets regulations that automatically prohibit wind and solar, it will invite economic stagnation.

Thurman: “We will never have any economic development in Otoe County,  if we eliminate wind and solar.”

The federal government has set a goal of getting rid of fossil fuels by 2050.  Thurman warns that even if there is an administration change in Washington, D.C., the local realities stay the same.

He said even without current subsidies it is four times cheaper to build a solar farm and five times cheaper to build a wind farm compared to the cost of a new coal-fired power plant.

Thurman: “Do the ratepayers really want to pay four or five times more? It really doesn’t come down to politics. It comes down to the dollar.”

Thurman said private and public power companies will not want to invest in building fossil fuel plants.

If the energy is produced by renewable sources outside of the Otoe County, Thurman said, businesses that purchase energy will want to be located where the energy is produced.

Thurman: “Electricity is a commodity and it's most efficient if energy is used near where it is generated.”

He said Nebraska must build a lot more wind and solar facilities to make up the future loss of coal-burning plants.

Thurman: “Anyone who wants to build new, who has a high-demand of electricity, is going to want to know if it’s close by, so it will be affordable.”

Thurman: “We have to look at what are needs are for electricity in Otoe County for the next 20 years. We just can’t not have electricity any more when those plants close down.”