Last week the Public Service Commission turned down a siting permit for a large (23,000 acres, 76 turbines) wind farm project in Burke County. NextEra, the company behind the project, had pushed for a permit despite opposition from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department who argued that…
Plain Talk: Senator Cramer Says Political Attacks on North Dakota Company Could Scare Off Bidders for Federal Contracts
“There are a lot of good people who sit in the sidelines because they get attacked,” Senator Kevin Cramer said on this episode of Plain Talk. The comment was part of a discussion about the political controversy surrounding Fisher Industries, a North Dakota-based company which has been campaigning for an opportunity to build President Donald…
Julie Fedorchak: Wind Projects Save Xcel Customers Millions
This guest post was submitted by Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak. In a recent article, Rob Port claimed that the PSC gave the go-ahead to Xcel Energy “to inflate power bills” here in North Dakota to meet “green energy” goals in other states. While that’s certainly a provocative lead, it’s false on both accounts. First…
Podcast: Do Wind Farm Lights Bother You?
Do those flashing lights on wind farms bother you? They bother a lot of people, but relief may be on the way. Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak was on the radio show to talk about the regulations going in place to shut those lights off, except when airplanes are near, or to at least dim…
North Dakota Is Smart to Resist the Wind Energy Bubble
Ed Gruchalla is a former Democratic state lawmaker now serving as a flack for the wind energy after voters cast him out of office in the 2014 election cycle. He has a letter to the Fargo Forum suggesting that North Dakota is missing out because wind energy projects are being developed in other states and…
Connie Krapp: Before Permitting Another Wind Mill North Dakota’s PSC Must Publicize Costs for Taxpayers and Energy Consumers
News broke this week that a 130,000-acre wind farm originally proposed six years ago near Merricourt in south-central North Dakota is back on the burner. Last month, Otter Tail Power Company paid the $175,000 filing fee to get the project back in front of the North Dakota Public Service Commission. In so doing, it resurrected…
Pro-Wind Lawmaker Accidentally Speaks the Truth About Wind Energy: It’s Not Needed or Stable
“I want to see us support and make coal more competitive,” said House Minority Leader Corey Mock, a Democrat from Grand Forks, said in a committee hearing in Bismarck last week. “But I certainly wouldn’t want to do it at the expense of other energy industries.” That’s an ironic statement given that the topic at…
NDGOP Chairman Breaks Rules Lobbying For Wind Energy Company
Earlier today a Republican lawmaker forwarded me this photo of a letter distributed by Robert Harms to the Senate Finance and Tax Committee. In the letter, on Harms Group letterhead, Harms (who is also the Chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party) describes himself as “the lobbyist for Tradewind Energy.” The problem? Well as 9:51am…
Shauna Theel: Wind Becoming A Valuable Part Of North Dakota’s Energy Boom
The renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) has helped spur private investment in projects that help American workers make more of our energy right here at home, and North Dakota has seen the benefits. For instance, when the leading wind turbine manufacturer LM Wind Power announced it was hiring hundreds of workers in the state…
Regulator Says EPA Is Making Us Too Dependent On Wind Energy: "We're Down To Zero Alternatives"
Yesterday North Dakota’s Public Service Commission voted on the $180 million Sunflower Wind project, which consists of 59 new turbines to be built in Morton and Stark counties, south of Hebron. They would provide 80 megawatts of power generation. But in voting to approve the project, Public Service Commissioner Randy Christmann expressed some concern about…