Legalectric

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!

9:30 a.m. Wednesday November 9, 2022

3rd Floor Large Meeting Room

Public Utilities Commission

121 – 7th Place East, St. Paul

A wind energy company has pleaded guilty after killing at least 150 eagles

What’s really odd about this is that most of the projects that I’ve been dealing with in permitting have secured eagle take permits — I thought. In this case, NextEra seems as a policy not to have take permits. HUH?

I am remembering resistance to developers answering questions about eagle take permits, and I think that it comes down to whether USFWS requires them to get one.

Here’s USFWS info on eagle permits here in the Midwest – it appears that there are only three eagle take permits issued for Minnesota wind projects, Red Pine, Getty/Black Oak, and Pleasant Valley/Grand Meadow:

Midwest Region- NEPA Documents for Eagle Permits

This seems to say that there are only FIVE eagle take permits? Here’s the application for one project that I’d worked on:

Black Oak/Getty Wind Farm Eagle Take Permit Application

For the Freeborn Wind project, we entered information about locations of nests and photos of eagles foraging, nests and foraging territory being, supposedly, two criteria examined in siting of wind projects and consideration of need for take permits:

See Freeborn Wind ALJ Recommendation, and search for “eagle” in the Recommendation.

Methinks this will have significant impact, but sentencing a company to probation — but how does that work?

Freeborn Wind at the PUC tomorrow.

Watch on line HERE: Live Webcast

ANOTHER LATE FILING!!!  This last minute flurry is indicative of their desperation!  So I guess it’s a good thing, but hey, I’ve got to get ready for the Wind Rulemaking docket that I’ve been trying to get before the Commission for how many years?  Oh well… one thing at a time…

Freeborn Wind’s “Late Filed — Proposed Special Conditions Related to Noise _20189-146486-01

And our response just filed:

AFCL’s Late Filing2_Reply2Freeborn

Oh yeah, we’re going to have fun at the PUC tomorrow.  Watch on line HERE: Live Webcast

And background, yesterday and day before:

AFCL reply to Freeborn Wind’s Motion to Exclude

Freeborn Wind files Motion to Exclude!!

Photo of TNT, LLC truck cab taken at the scene

On Thursday, just as we were leaving the hearing for the Freeborn Wind project at the Albert Lea Armory, a large chunk of ice flew off one of the Bent Tree turbines and hit the drivers side of a truck going south on Hwy. 13 towards Albert Lea.  Put a scratch and lite dent in the door, and took a big chunk out of the faring near the gas cap.  That’s a big piece of plastic that costs way, way too much to replace.

A chunk of ice also hit the Langrud’s shop nearby.  Others???

The ice last week was unreal, I’ve never experienced that level of ice coating my vehicle as last Monday, it was raining all the way from Red Wing to Albert Lea, and in places it was an inch thick.  I can just imagine how it was caked on the turbines.

It’s been reported in both the Albert Lea Tribune and KAAL TV 6:

Complaint: Ice From Freeborn Co. Wind Turbine Hit Semi – KAAL

Turbines temporarily shut down after ice … – Albert Lea Tribune

And here is the letter sent by Alliant/Wisconsin Power & Light Company regarding the ice throw:

20182-140446-01_Letter Bent Tree