Saturday, June 25, 2022
Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan
The brochure from Apex Clean Energy, (the entity trying to bring industrial wind turbines to Montcalm County), makes claims regarding conservation, property values and property rights.
One claim is that the company works in consultation with environmental agencies and uses conservation measures to ensure that wind projects have no significant effects on bird/bat populations. Why, then, must landowners leave the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)?
A Douglass Township planning commissioner has resigned after making statements at a meeting last week about wind turbines interfering with communication towers.
Todd Wells confirmed with the Daily News on Tuesday that he resigned from the Planning Commission on Monday after serving for 20 years. He told the Daily News he resigned “partly because your article was my final straw.”
A Douglass Township planning commissioner in a lengthy public statement on Wednesday claimed he’s had conversations with CMS Internet and Point Broadband employees and people in Gratiot and Isabella counties who say that wind turbines negatively affect communications towers and thus cell phone and internet service.
A study done by Kalamazoo-based W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research estimates a wind turbine project proposed for multiple local townships would be a $776 million investment over its 30-year lifespan, which would make the project Montcalm County’s single largest taxpayer.
Township government, which brings decision-making close to the people being served, has worked well for our county. I have had the opportunity to work with many township supervisors, officers and planning officials over the years and know that most are there to serve the public and put in the dedicated time and effort needed to help their townships be good places in which to live and work.
As we all know, wind turbines in Montcalm County are a hot issue. Like politics, as we’ve clearly observed, this delicate subject has the potential to strain family relationships, alienate friends, and offend close neighbors.
Since the COVID lockdown and virtual schooling started, parents were forced to really get involved in their children’s education.
The wind topic has been controversial and has created a chasm in the communities involved.
Division among families and neighbors, some of which will be irreparable.
A ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals regarding wind turbines in Tuscola County provides some insight into the future of a planned wind farm for Montcalm County, should that controversial local project also end up in court.
The opinion was issued last Thursday and signed by Judges Michelle Rick (who represents Michigan’s 4th District, which includes Gratiot, Isabella and Tuscola counties) and Douglas Shapiro (who represents Michigan’s 3rd District, which includes Ionia and Montcalm counties).
The pressure to force communities to embrace industrial wind turbines has caused a serious schism within those targeted communities, including Cato Township.
