The lawyer for a company planning to install wind turbines in northwest Iowa says Dickinson County Supervisors do not have the authority to pass a moratorium that would block the project.
Kristy Rogers, an attorney for Invenergy, says the company has spent millions of dollars following the rules outlined in the county’s current ordinance and is close to seeking a construction permit from Dickinson County supervisors.
“Ultimately what you’re being asked to do is a violation of Iowa law because passing a moratorium is an act in bad faith taken to stop a particular project,” Roger says. “especially when it’s done for the express purpose of enacting a new ordinarnce that will impose new requirements after a project has been developing for 15 years, trying to comply with what you already had in place.”
Jamie Hunter is with a group asking for the moratorium as county officials review the ordinance regulating where wind turbines may be located. Hunter says other Iowa counties have taken that step.
“These counties that have enacted a moratorium and updated their ordinance, they’re not dependent on tourism. They’re don’t share the same natural beauty and resources and bird migration that Dickinson County is so lucky to have,” she says, “so you have an even greater responsibility to take care of these natural resources.”
Hunter and Rogers made their comments during a Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Documents filed with the federal government indicate Invenergy is planning to install over 100 wind turbines in Dickinson County. The county’s planning and zoning board has indicated it’s willing to start a review of the Dickinson County’s wind power ordinance. Critics of Invenergy’s project say without a moratorium, the company is likely to be granted a construction permit while that review of the ordinance is underway.
(By Corey Harguth, KICD, Spencer)