"Reviving the Economy: Government Responds"-Wind Farm Windfalls
Thursday, May 14, 2009SUSIE GHARIB: Thanks Jeff. Falling home values and rising unemployment make this one of the toughest times for local governments. But renewable energies like wind power could bring jobs and tax revenues to many communities. The industry's also getting a big boost from President Obama and government stimulus funds. Still, as Diane Eastabrook reports in "Reviving the Economy: Government Responds," wind farms could fuel both financial gains and controversy.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: In Waterman, Illinois, about the only sounds you hear come from wildlife and farm equipment. The quiet is what convinced Tammy Duriavich and her family to move here a few years ago from the Chicago suburbs.
TAMMY DURIAVICH, WATERMAN RESIDENT: We get three cars a day and one of them is the mailman and we like it that way. We want the peace. We want the quiet.
EASTABROOK: But Duriavich and many of her neighbors in Dekalb County fear their quiet lives would be disrupted if Nextera Energy, a division of Florida Power and Light, builds a wind farm here. Vice president of development John Didonato says Dekalb County is a perfect location because it has strong winds, is close to Chicago and is near transmission lines.
JOHN DIDONATO, VP DEVELOPMENT, NEXTERA ENERGY: We actually think we can generate enough power to power 67,000 homes with renewable energy from this site and that is very attractive for Illinois.
EASTABROOK: But, during a recent heated public hearing, residents grilled Didonato about how building and running the project would impact them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they going to be having workers work until 9:00 at night? Are they going to start at 6:00 in the morning?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who will buy my property and at what price if these changes prevail?
EASTABROOK: Wind power is blowing into rural America and often bringing controversy with it. Last year, utilities invested roughly $17 billion in new wind farm projects. President Obama wants to spark further development with $93 million of stimulus money. That is energizing hundreds of companies across the U.S. that make components for wind turbines. At a recent expo in Chicago, Broadwind Energy CEO Cameron Drecoll predicts government support and improving credit markets will trigger a building boom.
CAMERON DRECOLL, CEO, BROADWIND ENERGY: If you look at a five-year time horizon, the industry has been growing 20 to 25 percent a year. With the Obama money and the problem with coal fire power plants, I think you'll actually see that actually accelerate once the banking is in place.
EASTABROOK: The money invested in wind farms can bring windfalls to states, counties and municipalities that get them. Nextera Energy says the 150- turbine wind farm it is proposing would bring more than $600 million over the next 30-years to Dekalb and nearby Lee County. That includes lease payments to landowners, property tax revenues and wages for workers who build and maintain the project. Construction worker Mike Kresge thinks the wind farm could put hundreds of his fellow union members back to work.
MIKE KRESGE, LOCAL 150, OPERATING ENGINEERS: We've got 20 percent unemployment out of 23,000 members. That's a lot of people sitting. They can't pay their mortgages or feed their kids.
EASTABROOK: The Dekalb County board must weigh all the conflicting interests before deciding on a special use permit for the wind farm. Planning director Paul Miller calls this the toughest zoning issue to ever come before the board. And despite the project's financial promise, he says money and jobs won't be deciding factors.
PAUL MILLER, PLANNING DIRECTOR, DEKALB COUNTY: Is it an appropriate land use? Is it appropriate given the size and scale of these machines in the locations that they are proposing in comparison to what the land around has traditionally been used for, is currently used for?. Is it the right use in the right place?
EASTABROOK: Tammy Duriavich is convinced a wind farm near her home is not the right place. Would you leave?
DURIAVICH: Ultimately, absolutely yes without question.
EASTABROOK: If the Dekalb County board approves the wind farm at its June meeting, Nextera Energy says its turbines could be up and generating power by the end of this year and possibly generating controversy for a long time thereafter. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Waterman, Illinois.
