VERMILION CO., IL. (ECWd) –
The Future of Wind Turbines:
Vermilion County Refuses to Accept Decommissioning Facts;
Assistant State’s Attorney Calls it a “Roadblock to Development”
Wind Turbine Decommissioning is unveiled in Vermilion County, and the assistant state’s attorney Bill Donahue has closed his eyes. The lack of foresight and unprofessional treatment is rampant. When a respected member and leader from an outside community takes the time to advise at no personal gain, our Vermilion county leaders do not bother to respond. It is also disgusting and unprofessional to see personal attacks in an official county FOIA response. When will the county stop taking the questionable advice of this assistant state’s attorney?
In summary, the scrap value and performance bond does not come close to covering wind energy project removal costs. In reality, these machines will most likely be left behind for farmers to take down at their own cost. Farmers are advised to save all of their wind farm lease income payments to cover for the failures of the Vermilion County board to protect their financial interests. The lesson here is that one (or two) leaders can be placed as a bulkhead to put the success of a wind energy company ahead of protecting the rural residents.
This begs the question:
Are the short term gains for a few people worth the long term consequences for the rest of the community?
The research and facts in the decommissioning study (linked in this article) needs to be followed for wind farm developments. Licensed Professional Engineers and engineering firms (like Burns & McDonnell) should never endorse things which have not been verified. All communities are advised to verify the information provided by wind energy developers.
Carefully read the response from Bill Donahue. Will his words withstand the test of time?
Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Donahue’s unprofessional FOIA Response:
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/THIS-Comparision.pdf”]
Decommissioning paper from Boone County:
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/evaluation-of-Apex-decommissioning-All.pdf”]
3 Comments
Steve
Posted at 04:57h, 06 JulyHad never considered the decommissioning issue but now see it’s importance. A bit of handwaving by the Assistant State’s Attorney on the email, is how I see it.
Licensed professional engineers should not be signing-off on matters with which they are not familiar. Don’t know the details of this case but any concerns should be raised with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation , which regulates such engineers.
caseih2388
Posted at 12:06h, 05 JulyAnd I thought Iroquois County was corrupt. From what I have seen of Vermilion County, they are really crooked. I can’t imagine giving away county land when someone offers $10,000 for the approximate 3 acres. And to kick the wind farm decommissioning can down the road is really terrible. What is it with this generation that wants to profit now at the expense of our children? Thank goodness Mr. Donahue no longer works for Iroquois County. At least Iroquois County only has about 3 board members (all women) who are there to line their wallets. The rest seem to be pretty honest.
Jake Hobbson
Posted at 07:58h, 05 JulyAhh the stupidity and greed runs rampant in Vermilion County (as usual). Some people there never met a bad idea they didn’t like. Unfortunately a lot of them are elected to public office. Desperate to do anything that can be called development, they’ll even bring in parasites to ruin the community. (Remember a certain Mr. Black who keeps pushing casino, casino casino!) All these parasite have to do is waive big money in the face of the elected officials and anything they say becomes truth! How absurd. Let’s see…all it took was 30 pieces of silver for Judas…and that didn’t end too well.