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Indiana county OKs project for 80 wind turbines

Associated Press
March 2, 2012
Keywords
Electric, Energy & Environment, Utilities, Wind Power
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A northeastern Indiana county has approved a wind energy company's plans to erect about 80 power-generating wind turbines in the county.

Members of the Wells County Area Plan Commission voted 6-4 early Friday to endorse Apex Wind Energy Inc.'s development plans.

The News-Banner of Bluffton reported that the marathon meeting at Southern Wells Junior/Senior High School began about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and ran past 1 a.m. Friday.

Charlottesville, Va.-based Apex plans to install the wind turbines in southern Wells County, about 100 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

Eight people who oppose the project addressed the commission, airing concerns that included the impact that setbacks for the turbines will have on future use of the land.

The wind farm's supporters extolled the economic benefits the project would bring to the county and its residents.

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  • Wind is part of the mix!!
    ParkesMarch 5, 2012 7:56 AM
    For those of you still not in the know: Wind Energy is in the mainstream now and belongs as a part of our national energy mix (yes, Solar does have a ways to go). Wind Energy PPA's are now being signed at as low as $30 to $40/MW-Hour, and when the economy rebounds and Natural Gas prices are back above about $6/MMBTU (which is half of where NG was priced just 5 to 6 years ago), then wind can still compete without any tax incentives. All the politics and "green arguments" aside, we would be a careless nation to not take advantage of the abundant wind energy resources we have across this country, and the industry has truly matured to the point where it only needs a few more years of either Federal tax credit incentives -or- to be made a minority element of a sensible "all the above" National Energy Policy, which we all need to demand that Washington get done! (i.e. having about 10% to 15% of our nation's power come from proven and affordable sources of renewable energy just makes sense ... don't let this sensible position be lost in the polarized political debate!).
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  • Gram14...
    JoeMarch 2, 2012 11:21 AM
    WHAT?!?! are you insane? You think we have been "blessed" with our current energy policy? We send young men and women off to die in the name of your gas driven lifestyle. We base a world economy on subsidized fuel prices. You call that blessed? I call it scary and a sign that things need to change.
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  • Wind turbines are the future
    MarieMarch 2, 2012 10:00 AM
    We need them badly. They save the environment and are a much cleaner and safer way to produce energy.

    China has thousands upon thousands of them--they are the future.
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  • Our Tax Dollars at Work
    Gram14March 2, 2012 9:27 AM
    Another example of our precious tax dollars at work, funding inefficiencies that help absolve the guilt of liberals who just cannot understand why we have been so blessed with inexpensive, abundant energy sources for all these years. Does anyone really think our country would have become great using windmills and solar panels?
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

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    1. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

    2. Yes. Blame those who were too lazy to go vote Obama out and those who voted him in again. That's my take on it. I know folks won't get it on the left. OK. Start berating me now!

    3. Serioulsy, people are AGINST this project? Most communities would be salivating over a project like this. You'd rather have an empty eye-sore gas station and shacks posing as apartments? This project is exactly what BR needs. BUILD IT MR MAYOR. And yes, I am a BR resident, and have been for 20 years.

    4. As a St. Vincent employee of over 20 years, I am saddened and disheartened by this announcement. Unfortunately, as the healthcare "industry" continues on this political and corporate path, all that St. Vincent Hospital has stood for spiritually for its employees and this community is being sucked dry. I know it truly has no choice. It is not just Obamacare or just competition or just any single thing. This trend started long before I was even born when the government became involved in healthcare and it became an "industry." I grieve for those who will lose their jobs, one of whom may be me, but I also grieve for this hospital which I have served for over 20 years. May God give us and it the grace to withstand the future of healthcare.

    5. Why do people constantly harp on this issue and act ignorant about what a city population measures? A city's population is the city's population. There is no argument or debate about it. If you want to measure the density of a city--measure it. If you want to measure the size of a metropolitan area, then measure the metropolitan population. City boundaries cover different sized areas--and they always have (though the disparity has probably increased since about 1900 or so when more cities began annexing their surrounding communities). For example, San Francisco only covers 49 square miles while Houston cover nearly 600 square miles. No one argues about the population rankings of either city even though they clearly cover extremely different sized areas. Indianapolis is the 13 largest city by population in the U.S. That is a fact. While the population of a metropolitan area may give you a better sense of how large a community is, as noted, even metro areas can vary widely in the size of geographic area they cover--so that is not a perfect comparison either.

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