By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

A bill to create uniform siting standards for wind power projects
across Wisconsin is being introduced in Madison after stalling a year
ago.

State Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee), chair of the Senate Energy
and Utilities Committee, is circulating a bill that would call on the
state Public Service Commission to develop uniform siting standards
for wind power projects across the state.

Wisconsin state law requires large wind power proposals to be reviewed
and approved by the commission but leaves smaller projects in the
hands of local governments.

Several counties and communities around the state have enacted
ordinances that amount to bans on wind power, however. Plale’s bill
would call on the state Public Service Commission to engage with
counties, towns, utilities and others on developing a comprehensive
set of standards that wind projects would have to follow.

“We made it a priority in this state to harness wind, and if we’re
going to do that, we can’t have one township or one village dictating
energy policy for the rest of the state,” Plale said.

The bill is expected to fare better this year because it is being
handled earlier in the legislative session and there is less confusion
about what the bill would do, Plale said.

But opponents are raising similar concerns as they did a year ago –
that the bill is taking away local control. That’s the perspective of
state Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer (D-Manitowoc), who is also Manitowoc County
executive.

“It’s an attempt to pre-empt local control and local decision-making
on these very difficult siting issues that communities like Manitowoc
County have spent years, literally years, agonizing and trying to
balance competing points of view on this issue – siting wind power.
And for the state to just push them all aside now because Dane County
lobbyists know better than local people is really unfortunate,” he
said.
Restrictive ordinances

While wind farms have been built in the state after receiving approval
from the state Public Service Commission, local ordinances have been
so restrictive as to block construction of smaller projects, including
in Manitowoc County, according to renewable energy advocates. A
seven-turbine project has been the subject of court challenges in
Manitowoc, and the project was recently rejected by the Manitowoc
County Board of Adjustment.

Michael Vickerman, head of the renewable energy advocacy group Renew
Wisconsin, said the Manitowoc County ordinance is so restrictive that
if applied statewide, there would be no construction of wind power
projects anywhere in the state.

Of particular concern, he said is a requirement that turbines in
Manitowoc County be located at least 1,000 feet from a property line.
The bill has gained more support than it did last year, including the
backing of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, Vickerman said.

Wind power siting reform was one recommendation of a group of
businesses, utilities and environmental groups appointed by Gov. Jim
Doyle last year to recommend strategies for Wisconsin to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases. Other recommendations included in the
global warming task force’s report are expected to be drafted in
separate legislation in Madison.

The Wisconsin Towns Association, which supported the bill last year,
is now neutral, said executive director Richard Stadelman. The
organization got feedback from many towns concerned about the state
pushing development of wind power that the association supports an
alternative that would attempt to resolve wind siting disputes through
arbitration, he said.

The environmental group Clean Wisconsin says it’s encouraged that
there is already bipartisan support for the bill, which is being
circulated but has not been introduced.