NEWS

Bismarck Tribune: Tension over renewables in coal country on display at wind moratorium hearing

Bismarck Tribune - Amy Sisk

STANTON – The latest sign of tension over wind power in North Dakota’s coal country played out Wednesday in Stanton, where landowners, construction workers and a wind farm developer asked the Mercer County Commission to reconsider a moratorium on wind-related projects.

The commission issued the moratorium in May on zoning applications related to wind energy as Alberta-based Capital Power seeks to build a wind farm north of Hazen and Stanton. The measure will stay in place until May 2022 unless the county lifts it earlier, something commissioners will discuss at their next meeting July 15.

“If they build the wind farm, is that going to change what happens to coal?” asked Roy Rasch, a landowner north of Hazen, to commissioners at Wednesday’s hearing. “I don’t think it does.”

Read the full article here