Fight over wind turbines in Ohio county will be decided in state's first referendum of its kind; nearby project blocked

Wind turbines, built by Apex Clean Energy,
in Michigan. (Gere Goble/Telegraph-Forum)

On Nov. 8, north-central Ohio's Crawford County will have a referendum on whether to allow an energy company to build 50 to 60 wind turbines, each 650 feet high, in the county, Kris Maher reports for The Wall Street Journal. Discussions over the coming vote have grown contentious.

“If you’re pro-wind and an anti-winder knows that you’re pro-wind, you don’t talk to them,” Dan Bute, a county fiscal specialist who supports the wind project, told Maher. Supporters of the project see it as a way to increase revenue through land leases and payments to the county — which according to pro-wind billboards around the county could be $2.7 million annually. Opponents say the turbines "will disrupt rural life, damage property values and put birds and other wildlife at risk," Maher writes.

The referendum comes after the county's commissioners passed a resolution in May blocking the development of wind farms in the county, Gere Goble reported for the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum, the newspaper based in the county's seat. However, a political action group backed by Apex Clean Energy, the company seeking to build the turbines, secured enough signatures on a petition asking for a countywide referendum — which will be the first of its kind in the state.

Apex's projects have been controversial nearby. The company is appealing an Ohio Power Siting Board's denial of a permit to build a wind farm in Seneca and Sandusky counties, just north of Crawford County, Daniel Carson of the Fremont News-Messenger reported in July.

(Wikipedia map, adapted)