Once again, a motion against the proposed Neosho Ridge wind electrical generation project failed to draw a second at Thursday evening’s Neosho County Commission meeting, when matters came to clash over a 1,000-foot setback.
Development manager for Apex Clean Energy, Jade Scheele, said a setback of more than 1,000 feet ends the conversation, although Apex has agreed to a setback of 1,640 feet from the middle of properties that are not involved in leases.
“If you can’t go more than 1,000, I’m done,” Commissioner Paul Westhoff said. “Let’s just get this done. No windmills.”
Apex has signed leases in about 44,000 acres for 139 windmills to generate up to 300 megawatts of electricity, which nonleasing residents in the area want to stop. They have asked for setbacks of 2,000 feet from nonleasing property lines and 4,000 feet from nonleasing residences.
After Westhoff’s motion failed, opponent Lori Whitworth asked why the commission stopped short.
“Every time we’re here, they dangle something else,” she said. “Why can’t we make that formal?”
(Read more: Parsons Sun)