Did County Cut Corners To Approve Wyoming Wind Farm?

With subsidies and tax breaks being cut for wind and solar projects by the Trump Administration, you might think that all current, undeveloped construction will come to a halt.

But the money was already in the pipeline from the last presidential administration. So work will proceed.

We now enter the next phase in the battle of Wyoming's Tie Siding wind farm.

Residents of Tie Siding accuse the county and the state of cutting regulatory corners to approve the project, which has led to numerous court battles.

Tie Siding is a small community just south of Laramie on the Wyoming-Colorado border.

Mira White is one of the homeowners in Tie Sidding. She joined me on Wyoming morning radio talk show, Wake Up Wyoming, to explain where the opposition is making what might be their last stand to stop the project.

You can listen to that interview below.

26,000 acres of land, in a very poor location, one of the scenic gateways to southern Wyoming from Colorado. My family’s home sits right in front of most of the proposed project.

The turbines are too close, even with the setback that the county granted especially for this project.

On December 23, it was heartbreaking to watch heavy construction equipment scar our beautiful landscape.

I called the county commissioners who told me that ConnectGen had met all requirements to begin construction.

 

 

I didn’t think that sounded correct. So I did some digging.

Rail Tie as a wind project has received the most special conditions than any other project in Wyoming. The state placed 29 special requirements.

As I looked through what was provided to the county and state as proof, I found there was either inadequate proof or none given at all for a few important conditions and regulations.

Without adequate proof of these conditions met, it should be as if Rail Tie does not have a permit at all and therefore should not be allowed to construct until they do so.

It is illegal. I think it speaks volumes about ConnectGen that they would start without having proper proof of all conditions met.

It seems to me that they are going to build, then ask for forgiveness. (Mira White).

Residents are worried about light pollution from the turbines as well as the noise pollution they cause.

Then, there is the issue of migration corridors and bird and bat kills.

First the basics. CFACT collegian Maggie Immen comments on a proposed Wyoming wind facility. She writes,

“Wind turbines are a documented threat to bird populations, particularly raptors like golden and bald eagles. Estimates suggest that wind farms kill at least 150,000 birds annually in the U.S. alone. Wyoming, a crucial migratory corridor, is especially vulnerable.

 

Wildlife biologist Mike Lockhart, a Laramie resident, warns that official bird fatality counts are likely underestimated since scavengers quickly remove carcasses before they can be recorded. She says that The Rail Tie Wind Project, planned for Albany County, would place turbines dangerously close to golden eagle habitats.

In contrast, the Biden Administration made it much easier to get eagle killing permits, which were then not enforced.

They created what is called a General Permit, meaning individual projects did not have to submit lengthy project-specific applications.

The project basically just registered and paid a nominal processing fee. The requirement that reporting of actual kills had to be monitored by an independent third party was also dropped.

Official construction for the Tie Siding project is closing it.

Residents have fought a 6-year battle to prevent this from happening.