We are all familiar with these last few decades trying to show environmental importance and pushing a much-needed appreciative attitude of our environment. It has been incredible to see how far our society has come in caring for our earth, but have we gone far enough?

Impact on People Wisconsin

A controversial Green County wind farm — one of only a handful under development in Wisconsin — has been scrapped. EDF Renewables had planned to build 24 turbines in the town of Jefferson near the Illinois border.

General Wisconsin

The Windaction Group is deeply sadden to hear of Dr. Jay Tibbetts passing. Dr. Tibbetts was a long time physician, a member of the Brown County (Wisconsin) Board of Health and Medical Adviser to the Brown County Health Department. He will long be remembered as a rare public official with the willingness to listen to his constituents regarding the health impacts of wind turbine noise and the courage to put their human health risks ahead of the county's financial interests. In 2014, Dr. Tibbetts was instrumental in the Board of Health declaring a local industrial wind plant as a human health hazard. Brown County’s health code defines a human health hazard as “a substance, activity or condition that is known to have the potential to cause acute or chronic illness or death if exposure to the substance, activity or condition is not abated.” Dr. Tibbetts will be missed. Our thoughts are with his family during this sad time. 

General Wisconsin

Wisconsin regulators voted Thursday to deny a request from some Green County residents to stop construction of a controversial wind farm near Monroe. The 65-megawatt Sugar River Wind project proposed by EDF Renewables would consist of 24 turbines in the town of Jefferson near the Illinois border.

Zoning/Planning Wisconsin

Conservationists hoped the site would someday be added to Nelson Dewey’s former estate, now a state park. Or perhaps absorbed into the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, a meandering stretch of protected river bluffs and flood plains where migratory birds breed and bald eagles spend the winter. Instead, Wisconsin ratepayers — and others as far away as Michigan and downstate Illinois — could be forced to pay clout-heavy energy companies more than $1 billion for a new high-voltage power line that would start near the Dewey substation.

Transmission Wisconsin

The Highland Wind proposal would inject more than 40 wind turbines that are 50 stories tall into a largely residential area in St. Croix County, which is within commuting distance of the Twin Cities and its job-creating economy. The impact on local property values and the tax base could prove devastating.

Impact on People Wisconsin

The environmental groups claim PSC Chair Rebecca Cameron Valcq and Commissioner Mike Huebsch should have recused themselves from the case because of their ties to utility groups supporting the project. Valcq previously served as regulatory counsel for We Energies, whose parent company WEC Energy Group also owns about 60 percent of American Transmission Co., one of the developers of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line.

Transmission Iowa Wisconsin

The Clear Creek Town Board approved a one-year moratorium Monday night on wind farm development in the town. The action came in response to overwhelming demand from town residents who attended a special meeting last week about a proposed 200-megawatt wind farm in southern Eau Claire County. ...Eau Claire County Supervisor Carl Anton said he plans to deliver a copy of the moratorium to the county’s Planning and Development Committee today.

Zoning/Planning Wisconsin

The action is the result of a special meeting of the Town Board on Tuesday at which residents voted 60-15 to direct the board to draft the moratorium. The board plans to adopt it at its Monday meeting.

Zoning/Planning Wisconsin

The Clear Creek Town Board will draft a moratorium on wind energy development at its meeting next week in response to overwhelming demand from town residents who attended a meeting Tuesday night about a proposed wind farm in southern Eau Claire County. More than 100 people showed up at an informational meeting Tuesday night at Clear Creek Town Hall to share their views about the potential wind farm, with many calling for a moratorium to give residents more time to study the pros and cons on wind energy.

General Wisconsin

After a nearly decade-long battle, a western Wisconsin town has declared victory over a proposed wind farm, though the developer insists the beleaguered project is not dead. If built, it would be only the second new Wisconsin wind farm in eight years, 

General Wisconsin

George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said the construction and maintenance of the towers would have “significant and undue adverse impacts on environmental values, including land and water resources.” Meyer said the WWF would continue to challenge the line at other state and federal agencies and if necessary in the courts.

Transmission Wisconsin

"There is not sufficient evidence of record for this Commission to definitively conclude that the Cardinal-Hickory Creek (CHC) transmission line project is the highest priority energy option that is also cost effective and technically feasible as required by Wisconsin law," Wellinghoff, now the CEO of Grid Policy, Inc., a distributed energy consulting group, wrote in his testimony to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. 

Transmission Iowa Wisconsin

WE Energies confirmed the turbine is part of the Glacier Hills Wind Park. The turbine poses no threat or immediate danger to the public. ...Officials are trying to evaluate how to put out the fire. The fire's cause is unknown at this time. 

Safety Structural Failure Wisconsin

Renew Wisconsin and other groups believe wind power is one solution to climate change because it helps reduce carbon emissions. They also cite economic benefits ...But residents who live near proposed wind power sites often see it differently, and an intense fight is playing out in Wisconsin and other states between residents and renewable energy developers as large wind and solar projects crop up.

General Wisconsin

The Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would allow the transmission of an additional 1,300 MW between Iowa and Wisconsin and would provide “an outlet for approximately 25 gigawatts of wind resources in Iowa and areas west of Wisconsin and enable more than a dozen new wind facilities to fully interconnect to the electric system in areas west of Wisconsin,” ATC spokesperson Kaya Freiman said. Now the Wisconsin Public Service Commission is tasked with, among other things, deciding whether Wisconsin ratepayers can be billed for the cost of constructing the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line.

Transmission Wisconsin

A state appeals court Thursday, Jan. 3 dealt the town of Forest another legal blow in its attempt to limit noise levels the Highland Wind Farm would generate. The District III Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by St. Croix County Circuit Judge Edward Vlack dismissing the town's request to review part of the Public Service Commission's approval of the 44-wind turbine project.

Legal Wisconsin

The 14 wind turbines at the Lincoln Wind Energy facility in Kewaunee County were removed in October. 

General Wisconsin

“We have made the decision to retire the Lincoln wind energy facility in the town of Lincoln in Kewaunee county,” said Cullen. “The turbines at that facility have reached their useful life and they're no longer cost-effective to maintain and operate”

General Wisconsin

The proposed 345-kilovolt line would run between Dubuque, Iowa, and a substation in Middleton along one of two routes that the utilities say would deliver low-cost wind energy from Iowa to population centers where the power is needed.

Transmission Iowa Wisconsin