Many people think the wind turbines will bring in a lot of money for the schools. It’ll only pay a percentage for five years. The school will be paid so much for each child’s tuition so the smaller schools in the county won’t get much money. It’ll go to the more populated schools distributed by the state.
Heavy equipment and trucks will destroy the roads and will cost a great deal of money to repair. There will be 27 large trucks with a blade on each, causing road damage. The hub is 36 tons in weight without blades, the generator weighs 61 tons and the blades are over seven tons on smaller turbines in White Lake area, and the ones projected for Sanborn County are a third larger and will weigh more accordingly.
My suggestion is to put them in a less populated area instead of close to my home. Would you want the noise, shadows and landscape of a wind turbine within 1,500 feet of your house so that you can see it while you are looking out your front window or see and hear it while you are mowing your lawn? What would it do to the resale value of your house or farm? If it does lower the value, then the tax valuation should be lowered.
How close to your house would you want one? What’s to stop a neighbor or an out-of-the-area landlord from putting one in front of your house?
Talking to the state legislator’s, the money provided to the schools on taxes for the turbines will disappear in five years; so this tax increment will be depleted, and the school tax will go back to the old system and therefore reducing the benefits to the school and our future leaders. The new taxes for teachers implemented this 2016 legislative year does not take into consideration the wind energy factors, which will be disappear in five years. The Congressman said that there has been no discussion so far, but there is possibility the wind turbine income may be paid to the state and taken away from the county and the
townships.
I am not against energy but put them in a less populated area. Every time you step outside your front or back door, would you like to stare at a wind turbine 500 feet tall? Would you like them by your house? How close would you want a tower to your house?
There is a lot of information on a web site, www.we-caresd.org.
Mary Ann Blindauer
Letcher, SD