Wind turbines. (RI file photo)
MidAmerican Energy is proposing a wind farm of around 100 wind turbines in Mills and Pottawattamie counties as part of their effort to achieve a 100 percent renewable energy supply. But some residents in the path of the wind farm are concerned about how it will alter their community.
Treynor farmer Corey Vorthmann says he believes the sound and light that wind turbines produce would be disruptive to residents. “It’s something that is really unthinkable for us to see that we would wake up every morning and not really be able to take in the beauty of mother nature but have it polluted with 300-foot wind turbines,” according to Vorthmann.
Charity Duey lives in Silver City and says the uncertainty of how the wind turbines may impact everything from the quality of life to migratory birds concerns her. “Just looking at it as a whole and going is this a fit for our community? That’s where people are going ‘I don’t think this is going to work for us,’” Duey says. Almost 800 people have joined a FaceBook group dedicated to stopping the project.
MidAmerican is in the process of gauging landowners’ interest. The company hopes to complete the project in 2024. A spokesman says the agreements signed with landowners are voluntary, and it’s projected in 40 years the counties and taxpayers will benefit from about $187 million in property taxes from the proposed wind farm.
(By Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)
(This story was edited to add additional comments from MidAmerican)