As wind farms flood the Eastern Plains, the renewable energy alternative is now running into the same concerns that originally plagued the fossil fuel industry.
It was the spring of 2000 when two wind company representatives came to Tom Fehringer’s farm near the Nebraska border.
They told him about a coming wind project and pressed him to sign a contract on the spot to lease his land for turbines. Fehringer consulted an attorney in Sterling who said the contract was vague but fairly similar to what an oil and gas company might present. The agreement was signed within a few weeks. Fehringer soon had nine of the Peetz Table wind project’s 33 turbines turning on his Logan County land.
Fehringer, 71, had long been intrigued by renewable energy. He’d considered erecting a wind turbine for his own use and has solar panels outside his house. He calls himself a “firm believer in science” and global warming.
The wind towers were attractive for another reason: enXco, the developer of the project, was offering landowners $1,000 per tower, per year.
See the full article by Shannon Najmabadi, October 23, 2022