June 4, 2018
To: Commissioners Scott Shoemaker, Josh Uitts & Steve Woods
From: Responsible Harvest of Clinton County, Inc.
The members of Responsible Harvest and the 90% of Clinton County residents, according to a local media poll, opposed to industrial wind development want to personally thank our commissioners for the past 17 months of a reasonable and peaceful moratorium. With that peace we have enjoyed not dealing with another industrial wind developer and our commissioners have been able to focus on vital issues of health, safety and transportation in our county like the vitally needed EMS building, the IU hospital, advancements in dealing with the opioid crisis, improving the county’s infrastructure and more. Gentlemen, this is not a talking point, but for myself personally and the people I speak for today, thank you for making Clinton County a better place to live.
For that very reason I do not want to take too much of your time today because the work on the new EMS building and other issues is much more important than rehashing an issue that has plagued our county since June 23, 2006 when Navitas secretly filed for the first FAA turbine permits in four townships. Since that time, 12 years ago, Navitas, AES and TradeWind have come and gone with each company being encouraged by the same handful of local supporters without consideration for the long term consequences and general welfare of their fellow citizens and most likely the county itself.
So today the focus is on the moratorium which you have the right to maintain and the only way that an outside and foreign company like E.ON can remove it is by challenging it in court and winning, which has never happened in Indiana, or convince you, the commissioners, to remove it. There are many reasons the current moratorium should remain in place and it should not be removed. Let’s look at one of the original reasons for putting the moratorium in place; it was because of pending legislation in the General Assembly that would significantly alter industrial wind development in the state. Since that time a couple of our local legislators have become involved in this process along with representatives and now senators from all over Indiana. This issue will be back on the agenda in January with many new legislative supporters and as many of you who understand the workings of the General Assembly the third time an issue is presented is when it gains full traction and something is usually passed.
Another reason to maintain the moratorium is that there are pending lawsuits out of Cass and Miami counties that depending on a decision by the courts or the Indiana Attorney General could make our current wind ordinance unconstitutional and parts of it null and void. How can we even consider changing the current status of the commissioner’s moratorium until the state makes a formal decision on the issue of Trespass Zoning? Locally our citizens are not interested in legal action because the money that our county has to spend in legal fees comes directly out of the pockets of all of the taxpayers of this county. However, an outside company like E.ON seems to make a habit of threatening lawsuits. They threaten the county on December 15, 2016 and have twice threaten to sue Responsible Harvest through our attorney, Steve Snyder, for releasing public records that can be found on the second floor of this courthouse.
Other reasons to maintain the moratorium include the fact that there is a vast wealth of additional new documentation about the ill effects of turbines related to health issues, property values and well and aquifer contamination than there was two years ago. The opposition to wind farms has expanded in almost every county and now at the state level. Of the 48 counties in Indiana that has been targeted by industrial wind developers over the past decade only 5 have allowed that industry into their county. About ten are currently dealing with this controversial issue and most have either placed a moratorium on industrial wind development or created ordinances where it is impossible to build them, including Allen, Grant, Marshall, Noble, Wayne, Whitley just to name a few. Five of the seven of our neighboring counties Boone, Hamilton, Howard, Tippecanoe and Tipton counties have made it known they do not want industrial wind development. Clinton County is only one of two counties in the state bordered by three of the fastest growing counties in Indiana in population and economic development. So why would we want to turn the entire eastern half of our county into what E.ON has named in their Tipton County agreements, “an economic dead zone”?
We could list all of the misleading and alternative facts that we have been provided by this outsider company to land and home owners and our local government over the past 4 years but that will have to wait until another time. We understand that E.ON and other industrial wind developers are pressing hard to get projects started before the federal government ends subsidies in another 18 months. We just learned that according to the March 17, 2018 edition of the British newspaper, The Guardian, “E.ON will be reshaped to focus on supplying energy to customers and managing energy grids. The company will leave renewables.” This is to be completed by the end of 2019. So with all of the uncertainty with E.ON’s future in industrial wind, the upcoming decisions of the Indiana General Assembly, the Hoosier courts and for the health, safety and real future economic development of Clinton County, Responsible Harvest and the vast majority of Clinton County residents who are opposed to industrial wind respectfully asks our commissioners to continue their path of wisdom and caution and maintain the current moratorium against industrial wind development.
Thank you for your time and patience