County board to receive draft of wind: farm environmental assessment

Published 9:59 am Monday, December 2, 2013

The Mower County board will get its first look at the draft of the environmental assessment as part of the permitting process for the transmission line routes and substation for the 100-turbine Pleasant Vally Wind Farm at its 1 p.m. board meeting Tuesday

The board unanimously accepted the scoping document for the assessment at last Tuesday meeting, which compiled a list of the public’s comments and concerns about the proposed overhead transmission line routes and substation brought up at the Nov. 5 public scoping hearing, along with additional written comments from the public.

Those comments and concerns will be addressed and included in the environmental assessment, which HDR Engineering has been preparing.

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The turbines are already approved by the state, but the Mower County board is the permitting authority for the transmission line and substation for the project. The board is expected to approve or deny conditional use permits for the transmission line and substation early next year.

RES Americas is developing Pleasant Valley for Xcel Energy, which will buy the wind farm once it’s completed. The agreement with Xcel calls for a 200 MW wind farm of 100 2-MW turbines over 35,000 acres — 88 in Mower County and 12 in Dodge County.

After the regular board meeting, the county will hold its truth in taxation meeting at 6 p.m. in the county board room of the Mower County Government Center.