Audience numbers have been up substantially since debate began over the Neosho Ridge wind energy project, and the public forum portion of Friday’s agenda had to be relocated to the larger courtroom to accommodate the crowd.
Opponents Shirley Dillinger-Estrada and her husband John Estrada moved to Neosho County two months ago from Arlington, Texas, before they found out about the project.
“I had a vision of where I wanted to live. I bought a view. I have a panoramic view of the countryside,” Dillinger-Estrada said. “Wind turbines were not part of the view in my life. If I wanted to live by a wind farm, I would have chosen to live in west Texas.”
“We didn’t buy this property to see our values go down,” John Estrada said.
Galesburg farmer Greg Brumgardt has signed a lease with Apex Clean Energy, the company constructing the electric generation project. He said the county should welcome the business, which he said would increase the tax base for the USD 101 school district. He said the district leads the state in ad valorem levy, and dropping farm prices will decrease valuations, requiring levy increases.
Brumgardt said the project would create jobs for young people.
“I don’t think it’s going to be 60-year-old fat guys climbing up and down these towers every day,” he said.
(Read more: The Chanute Tribune)