The Eastern Shore has an unmistakable and prized ambiance distinct as the Chesapeake’s blue crab. From salt slough to soy field its horizon line is unbroken except by patches of dense forest, church steeples and cloud. Scenic beauty is one of the Shore’s priceless resources.
So, how would a 497 ft tower with 160ft propeller blades alter the landscape?
How about 50 or more of them towering over fields between Kennedyville and Galena. You would be able to see them for miles. Fifty structures as tall as the tallest building in Baltimore, taller than the Statue of Liberty.
That’s the plan if Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy succeeds with their Mills Branch wind turbine project. By 2016, 32 farms and residents in the Kennedyville-Galena Chesterville area would be leasing their properties for wind-turbine platforms. The power captured from the wind turbines would be fed into the Atlantic power grid and sold to the highest bidder with little or no direct benefits—except for those leasing their property for wind turbine sites— for residents of Kent County.
Designating wind turbine energy as a public utility, the state will be able to override county comprehensive plans and guidelines provided by Kent County Renewable Task Force.
Kent County Commissioner President William Pikrum said that the Maryland Court of Appeals made a ruling some years ago that would allow the State to trump County laws in the case of a public utility.
Pikrum added, “I don’t think the dominating scope of this project appears to be good for Kent County. I’m not seeing the benefits. Even the job possibilities are only temporary. I do hope the public will attend any Public Service Commission meeting that happen.”
Whether or not the public utility designation can be tested again is under consideration. At this time, District 36 Senator Steve Hershey is planning to submit legislation to challenge the public utility designation.
Commissioner Bill Short agreed. “I’ve been looking at the project since I heard of it and listening to people who live in the immediate area and what I’m hearing is about 95-5 against having this installation succeed. It’s important to know that the people who are pro-wind turbine are my friends and constituents,but this project is being considered ill-suited for the area.”
Commissioner Rob Fithian also questions the value of the project in this location.
“I think it is hard to imagine that Kent County is going to welcome something like this. A couple of months ago a solar array group approaching Kent County did not get a very warm welcome. My job is to represent the people of the County in this issue and right now since we (the Commission) was never officially contacted about this project all we’re receiving is second hand information. I think Apex picked the wrong spot.”
In a world searching for alternative energy, a field of wind-turbines seems to be in line to help meet the Maryland Energy Administration’s goal of a 20% renewable portfolio to be in place by 2022.
Traditionally, energy companies like Apex take advantage of federal and state “green” tax incentives while offering counties tax revenues for capital improvements. However, this could be offset by a steep decline in property values. Not everyone likes living near a wind turbine, and there are enough well-sourced reports of people moving from their homes to warrant closer studies.
Internationally, claims have been made for “wind tunnel syndrome,” a set of physiological symptoms blamed on the low frequencies emanating from the wind turbines and resulting in headaches, tinnitus and sleep deprivation.
Other studies purport to discredit the link between the health complaints and the wind turbines arguing that an individual’s disdain and aggravation with an adjacent wind turbine manifests the symptoms. In other words, “it’s all in your head.”
Property values could also be impacted.
Joe Hickman, an international farm management consultant, and partner with Cross Street Realty lives in the area proposed for the wind turbine project.
“I truly believe real estate values will plummet around this area,” he says. “We’ve come a long way in setting up ag-land preservation guidelines in Kent County. We’re pro-alternative energy and green conscious but we want to see it done the right way and I don’t think this is it.”
And finally, is there even enough wind in the proposed location? According to National Wind Watch wind turbines require 7-9 mph winds to begin moving the blades, a “cut-in wind speed”, and 25-35 mph to run at capacity rated capacity. According to national wind map surveys, Kent County is sorely lacking in sustained wind values of that magnitude.
Many other questions remain unanswered at this point. How would geese flyway patterns be impacted? How do these alter the ecology of the area? Would the bird and bat populations sustain losses similar to other wind turbine projects?Are the undisclosed aspects of the installation that should be considered?
The Mills Branch Wind Project is on tonight’s County Commission agenda. The meeting begins at 6:00 PM
Clark BJorke says
Please do not exaggerate . The proposed are 497 feet. I believe that includes the height of the blades, but I could be wrong. The proposed number of towers is between 35 and 45, not more than 50. These towers will be quite visible without adding imaginary numbers.
Perhaps we should have let the trash to power incinerator that was proposed in the ’80s be built instead. Or maybe we could have fracking in Kent County. that might be nice. I kind of like the idea of flaming tapwater.
Wind and solar energy are the least destructive ways we have available to us to generate electricity at this time. I am in favor of doing our part here. The windmills themselves will be come a tourist attraction for a while, until the have them all over New Jersey.
James Dissette says
Thank you. Height has been corrected. Proposed numbers, as registered with FAA, along with any difference as per Apex plan is being researched.
Thomas Baker says
The official filing with the State of Maryland by Apex Corp calls for 55 turbines at a height above ground of 620 feet at blade tip. Imagine trying to live near one of these behemoths spinning day and night. You will never see a starry night again with all those flashing red lights at the top of the turbine. You will never be able to sell your house. As for tourism, they won’t have to come here they will be able to see them all the way in New Jersey!
Elizabeth Alexander says
The past two years have been a battle royal to defeat the wind farms in Somerset County. They start with lower heights and then sneak in another 200 feet… They finally gave up and have decided to go elsewhere. It took a band of brave people to battle the corruption in the county and big money interests but they did it.
Go to http://www.safeforsomerset.or to see how, and why these are dangerous, unsightly, health hazards that contribute very little to the power grid.
Ken Noble says
I am leaning toward smaller is better and I guess that is what we are allowed under the current regulations, but I would perhaps want to see a group of neighbors be able to form a coop within our Choptank Cooperative to be allowed to provide solar and wind power in a sub area, while also training Kent County High School students marketable skills beyond burger flipping.
Tourism is way overblown as a money maker, though, I have to say that. Raise your hand, if you (not YOU, Elizabeth!) have ever make a dime off of the Chestertown Tea Party (or 1812 proceedings…)?…I mean your OWN pocket, not like the one of many many many non-profits we work for at that gig that do all of the things that our government should, can’t and doesn’t do for us. Swan Point…not Sparrow’s Point, Elizabeth….Swan Point, that’s Kent…shut up about Baltimore County, please…..look at that NOAA wind potential map more closely…you ever sail?
Make these APEX guys contribute something to us if they get their way. Don’t call it a tax, though…remember, it’s a FEE……(run for Congress Billy….)
Anne Elizabeth Watson says
According to the 2012 U.S. Economic Census, Kent County has close to a thousand jobs in the two industry sectors most closely associated with tourism (Arts, entertainment, and recreation; and Accommodation and food services) – that is 13.2 percent of our overall employment (941 jobs out of 7113). Tourism is big business in Maryland – Kent County’s 2013 income from sales taxes derived from tourism was $886,202 , as reported by the Maryland Office of Tourism. (The state as a whole collects far more than this – tourism is a $4.5 billion industry, with the tenth largest private sector employment, more than 135,000 jobs.)
The kinds of heritage travelers who are visiting Kent County are here to enjoy the natural resources, historic places, wonderful arts, and beautiful countryside – they are NOT coming here to see as many as 55 towers as high as 610 feet plus ancillary transmission lines, access roads, substations, and other facilities (this according to a submission to the Maryland Historical Trust/Maryland Department of Planning that is not yet a public record).
“Proper prior planning” here demonstrates that Kent County is not just ANY place, this is a place with well-recognized, significant, special, BELOVED resources – this project will impact the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (on both the Sassafras and the Chester), the Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway (213) right next to the project from Kennedyville to Galena, and the Maryland-certified Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area (in both Kent and Queen Anne’s County – and it is also visible from the other two counties in that program, Caroline and Talbot). Shrewsbury Church, listed in the National Register is also beside the project, and there are other listed properties, plus others eligible, plus one property listed with the Underground Railroad National Network to Freedom. Chestertown, only a few miles away, is famed for its National Historic Landmark status, the nation’s highest honor. I’m just guessing on this one, but we probably have more artists per capita than any other county on the Eastern Shore, and the arts alone is a large industry as recent conversation here confirms, with the Commissioners’ vote to confirm the local arts district in Chestertown. The National Audubon Society has named an area close to the project, by Millington, as an Important Bird Area, and the Sassafras is a state Targeted Ecological Zone.
I believe it may be possible to site land-based wind appropriately and help to achieve state goals for renewable energy, but not here, not when the tradeoffs are so clear just in the areas I’ve just outlined – others have addressed still other concerns, a long list beyond mine here. How about putting a few up on the new industrial park over by Baltimore, on the old Sparrows Point brownfield property? We might still have to see them from here, 25 miles away, but the impacts here would be negligible otherwise, and with all the redevelopment there, it would be possible to build in the mitigation.
joe diamond says
“The power captured from the wind turbines would be fed into the Atlantic power grid and sold to the highest bidder with little or no direct benefits—except for those leasing their property for wind turbine sites— for residents of Kent County.”
How about starting there…………….There seems to be an assumption that residents of Kent County are entitled to benefits from commercial enterprises. Aside from the considerable taxes that will be paid ……….where is there a requirement that property owners …..especially farmers…..are required to operate an agrarian Disneyland for tourists?
Almost by definition agriculture must eliminate costs to survive. Wages and employee costs are a major overhead farmers eliminate as machinery becomes available. This area does not set prices…farmers accept declining market price offered by national and world demand. The market trend is heading down for many local crops. This, as regulatory costs and planting costs rise. The chances of growing a fine crop without profit looms. The possibility of abandoned fields is real.
Yet there is this unwritten code that farmers will not augment or change their operation in the name of scenic appearance. Where is it written?
I mention this to suggest confining the objections to real dangers and conditions the are detrimental to others. Noise might be an objection. Injury to wildlife……might be an objection…..which could be mitigated if true. Decline in property values might be hard to prove but might be an objection…on a case by case basis.
There just seems to be an arbitrary need to stop innovation. Solar farms produce none of the effects mentioned yet this industry will need to claw through the courts to establish itself. Fish and oyster farms meet opposition. The fiberoptic cable project seems to move at a frustrating pace. Yet the announced purpose of Kent County is to maintain agriculture………long after that ship has, in my opinion, sailed. The future will not look like the past; bet ya!
Joe
Elizabeth Alexander says
It’s written in zoning codes that limit development in agricultural zoning, and in tax breaks for farmers.
joe diamond says
It goes beyond limiting development. Parts of the code read like a proclamation that instructs landowners how to conduct business. It mentions intentions to control commerce beyond consolidation of farming operations away from residential areas. Tax breaks for farmers are another planet….another where is it written question.
The most recent issue is making farmers by sales tax on equipment and supplies. I don’t think there is an intention to balance zoning restrictions with tax & other law exceptions…..my opinion.
Gren Whitman says
Too many. Too big.
As much a threat to the county’s character and appearance as an Upper Bay bridge terminating at Tolchester.
Joe Diamond says
There you go!
Another unwritten assumption. A few windmills on either side of such a span would go unnoticed. But what if someone said they were tired of driving to Elkton when they really wanted to go to Baltimore? Why would this be a threat? Local kids could grow up here and have careers here instead of everywhere else.
Joe
Ben Ford says
In my opinion, the way of thinking that makes a person say that “this place should be like that place”, and “THEY have things that WE don’t have”, is particularly dangerous and insidious. This is, I’m sure, how Kent Island became Kent Island and how Middletown became Middletown as it appears today. To be clear, there may be nothing wrong with them looking like they do, but I for one, do not want to live there.
As for the wind project, there are many failings of the design and location. But most importantly, I like looking up at night and seeing only stars and hearing only geese. I like looking across the fields of Kent County and seeing silos, fields, and hedgerows (and the occasional dilapidated 18th century house). What I really DON’T want to see is a 600+ foot turbine spinning above the horizon for the rest of my life.
Wouldn’t a wonderful distinction for Kent Co. to hold be one where the most rural county in Maryland also has (per capita) the most roof under solar? Don’t we want to keep the aesthetic that we all grew up with and now hold dear intact?
Mike Waal says
It would seem to me, just thinking out loud, that in addition to Senator Hershey’s Legislation to short circuit, pun intended, Apex’s approach to circumvent the County, is a collective strategy executed by the District 36 Legislators and the County Commissioners aimed at the source point of Apex’s approach of circumvention, the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Senator Hershey’s Legislative effort has a small window for passing with; Legislation Draft, Committee approval, first, second and third readings, floor debate, and final vote by both Chambers of the General Assembly, if I remember the complete process correctly, it’s been a while, all before Sine Die, April 13, 2015: An effort of possible achievement, but a presumption on my part, not of probable achievement, considering the partisan nature of Annapolcircus.
A suggestion I am presenting is that the District 36 Legislators and the County Commissioners should meet collectively, jointly and cooperatively with the Chairman of the MD PSC, Kevin Hughes, and his team as defined by him, as soon as possible, if not sooner, with the expressed purpose of asking the PSC, as part of a three entity coalition, what are the best avenues to pursue to prevent Apex from achieving their goal of County circumvention. Allow the PSC to be part of the solution process, and not an adversarial body.
A point person should selected and chosen by District 36 Legislators and the County Commissioners to provide continual in-person follow-up with the PSC as pathways are established, demonstrated and proven verifiable to achieve the goal of circumvention prevention.
Just sayin’.
Mike Waal
joe diamond says
Hi Mike,
Wise words! As this play unfolds, it should be called “Annapolcircus.” I think your suggestion to let the PSC be part of the solution and not an adversarial body is apt but might be too late. The process should be fun to watch anyhow. The dramatis personae are assembled and await their script. I can’t decide how it will read….as in High Noon where all await the evil application that will set the players in motion; Apex…what’s next? Or more like Enemy of the People where the wise doctor tells the county they have to shut down their scenic tourist operation because the noise will be too much, and the windmills are essential. Maybe the Caine Mutiny where the crazy skipper passes legislation just in case something bad comes up.
We might be treated to a whole new show when the members of the Public Service Commission discover their actions have been preempted………or, actually, an attempt has been made to stop them from deliberating the technology they have been mandated to manage.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Mike Waal says
Regarding the Wind Turbine Farm, I have read a lot of narrative, information, definitions, comments, replies to comments, expressions of how this or that idea won’t work; Joe, you’ve commented the most about other people’s comments.
What I don’t read are ideas, suggestions or solutions to stop this project.
An idea or solution might be considered by some to be a faulty or weak of solutions, but it provides thought and imagination for stronger ones.
There are a few old sayings in business that stand the test of time; ‘never ask a question you don’t already know the answer of,’never find fault of someone else’s ideas and solutions to a problem unless you have better ones to bring forward.’
So, I’m laying down the challenge here and now, got a solution, bring it up, don’t worry about what others might think about it, they’re just jealous you thought of one and they didn’t. Who knows, it may be just the one that breaks the Achilles Heel of Apex. Walk the Walk.
Apex has had such a long lead time with their project; we need ideas, suggestions and solutions now, and on so many different levels,
if we are to find the right one[s] that allows this project to be stopped dead in its tracks.
To my idea about a Coalition of Local Community Government Officials meeting the PSC, I’d add that Queen Anne’s County, and Kent County, DE have skin in this game and should join in the meeting. There is power in numbers. How often do we here that everyone should telephone, fax or write letters to their Senators, Congressmen, Delegates about this or that. Why? Because there is power in opinions and numbers.
To that end, I think everyone in Kent, Queen Anne’s Counties, MD, Kent County, DE, who has an opinion about this project, should write to the Chairman of the PSC, Kevin Hughes, voicing their opinion.
Just sayin’.
Andrew Kraft says
An analysis of the evidence concerning symptom reporting attributed to sound produced by wind farms supports the nocebo expectation hypothesis; that health complaints can be explained by the influence of negative expectations. It is apparent that symptom reporting coincided with an increase in health concern about wind farms promoted by a book and internet sites focused on highlighting the purported heath dangers posed by sound, particularly infrasound produced by wind turbines. Such information, which has been further circulated though social discourse and media reporting, is liable to trigger health concerns and related symptoms of anxiety, while also creating a blueprint for what symptoms can be expected – expectations, which, in turn, are likely to guide the type of symptoms noticed and reported. This is supported by epidemiological evidence that increased symptom reporting has occurred in locations where there has been targeted dissemination of negative health information about wind farms, indicating that exposure to such information is shaping symptomatic experiences. Experimental work also suggests that it is expectation rather than wind farm sound exposure that is responsible for symptom complaints.
Symptom reporting is also consistent with patterns of health complaints seen in other environmental health scares involving benign exposure, and which often follow the introduction of new technologies. Importantly, indications that negative expectations are implicated in symptomatic experiences ascribed to wind farms aligns with evidence that instances of symptom reporting attributed to perceived environmental hazards and exposure to modern technologies have been triggered by nocebo responses.
Understanding the underlying cause of health concerns and symptom complaints, which have arisen in communities in which wind farms have been proposed and developed, is critical if such concerns are to be addressed, and symptom reporting alleviated. Given indications of the determinative role of negative expectations in creating and maintaining symptom reporting, successful strategies to address health complaints are likely to involve changing the narrative about wind farms, to create more positive expectations.
joe diamond says
Mike,
To the extent that the wind project will produce clean energy I would agree with the land owners that they have a right to build & contract for the system they propose. The idea that landowners have a responsibility for maintaining scenic values is just not part of what they have to do…my opinion.
Expert analysis says the windmills will not produce adequate power due to measured low wind speeds over many years of monitoring. The project, therefore will not produce cash. At some time maintenance will lag as the system fails. A bonding requirement for a demonstrated gap in the projected model is not unreasonable.
Then there is the noise consideration. Once noise or dust or fumes leave the property and damage nearby property or persons the sharks can pounce. Fines and lawsuits could stop the cash.
None of this will stop the project….only predict how it will not be there every long if the experts are correct. It may be that Apex has figured out a way to proceed. You have to guess why they would knowingly construct a system that will just eat funds without a return. If Apex has stockholders they might be interested in all this.
Joe
Mike Waal says
You are correct that land owners have a right, within p&z ordinances, to do what they want with their land.
For farmers, their land is their IRA, 401K, retirement annuity, I totally get that and I am all-in on that thought!!
I would disagree with you, however, as all land owners have a right-of-responsibility, to be Stewards of and for their land
as it affects the greater community? And for the short 22 years I have been here, yea, not 22 generations, just 22 years,
seems like 22 generations at times, it seems to me, for the most part, the vast majority of land owners believe the same.
Look at the opposition to this project.
Even I have a responsibility, with my little stamp-sized piece of land, to be a responsible steward of my land to and for
my neighbors, with not having junk in my yard, maybe not have an offensive smoke inducing camping type fire,
keeping my little spit of land clean and presentable.
Wind analysis . . . . I’d say Apex is working on showing there might be sufficient wind, through scientific study,
that at a 300 or 350 feet, the hub/transmission/generator height, there is adequate wind.
Tax and energy generation incentives and subsidies aside.
I truly don’t know how any land owner that signs up for wind turbines to be constructed on their land is going to be able
to walk around town, heck, for that matter around the County, with there head held high. To me this project is shameful!
As for not being here long, conduct an internet search of “wind turbine foundation.”
If you haven’t already, do it, and you’ll have an O-M-G moment! Those are VERY LONG TERM foundations.
I going to go out on a limb here and say some, if not all, of the land owners signing up for this project are going to have a
“O-M-G, WHAT HAVE I DONE!” moment, if they have signed up and construction were to begin on their land.
Paul Briggs says
Here’s an interesting article.
https://www.scenic.org/issues/telecommunications-towers
Basically every objection about the effect of wind turbines on the property values and the general character of a region was once made about radio towers. Now they’re just part of the landscape.
Elizabeth Alexander says
Radio towers don’t have moving blades that cast long shadows across the land and distract drivers or fall off to kill people or damage property, they don’t have whirring blades giving people headaches and insomnia . They don’t kill millions of migratory birds and destroy property values (proven time and again wherever the wind turbines are planted).
Radio towers are monitored and maintained by the FCC and stations. Most of these “green companies only stick around long enough to get their millions of dollars from the FEDS and then disappear.