A proposed wind power project in West Michigan that would have erected wind turbines on 50,000 acres of land appears to be dead after years of debates. The company behind the Montcalm Wind Project has announced it's giving up on its plans.
Elisabeth Waldon is the news editor at the Daily News in Montcalm and Ionia Counties. She followed the many twists and turns in this story over the past several years.
Waldon spoke with Michigan Public Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: Apex Clean Energy is the group that proposed the turbine project. What did Apex's original concept look like when it first became public in 2020?
Elisabeth Waldon: I learned about the project when I was covering a routine township board meeting in Sidney Township, and some Apex representatives were there. They shared plans about how they hoped to build wind turbines across up to 50,000 acres in as many as 11 townships in the county. The concept of wind turbines was quite new to myself and Montcalm County at that time.
DT: This would have been a large-scale, utility-grade group of wind turbines. What was the plan for distributing the power they generated if the project came to fruition?
EW: I don't know that it ever got that far. Basically, Apex was able to sign leases with, I believe, around 500 property owners, which fell short about 20,000 acres of their goal.
DT: What benefits did the landowners who did sign land-use agreements with Apex, along with other supporters of the project, expect for themselves and for the region?
EW: The industry of farming has been struggling for some time now, and I believe a lot of farmers saw it as a chance to utilize some of their land to bring in some additional revenue. And also, there were many people that saw wind turbines similar to solar energy, and that it was a green, renewable project that they supported. They thought it would be good for the environment.
DT: And so people have a mental image here, this is not 50,000 acres of wall-to-wall turbines. This is a concept that people may have seen in other places where farmers are allowing a turbine to be put up in the middle of crops, so that they're still farming most of their land, but allowing for some turbines within the property.
EW: Correct.
"The sound issue was one of the most heavily debated issues at these township board meetings."Elisabeth Waldon
DT: Wind and solar projects have generated a lot of debate across Michigan, but over the last six years, there was an especially passionate grassroots opposition movement fighting this Montcalm project. One of their major concerns was the potential for decreased property values. What were their other primary objections?
EW: The proposed height of the turbines, which could have ranged from 600 to 700 feet. The property setbacks for people that were kind of forced to live next to these turbines. And also the sound that the turbines themselves generated. Those were the three primary issues. And then there were also questions and concerns about who's going to clean it up. Are these turbines just going to get old and rusty and be standing in fields?
DT: One of the common things — and you've touched on this — that comes up in these debates is the noise generated by the wind turbines. And there's a lot of debate about that, that they're quieter than a traffic intersection or that sort of thing. Did you gain any insights about how much effect that really would have if they were put up in these rural areas that we're talking about?
EW: The sound issue was one of the most heavily debated issues at these township board meetings. You know, people studied and debated and became experts in sound decibels.
And I went and stood under a wind turbine in Gratiot County, which is next to Montcalm County, just to hear it for myself. I didn't find it to be particularly loud. It was just kind of a whooshing noise.
In the end, it did feel like a very personal thing, just some people were like, I don't want to hear these turbines. I don't want to see these turbines. I don't want to live next to them.
"Montcalm County had sheriff's deputies present because the township board and their own planning commission were having so many arguments."Elisabeth Waldon on wind turbine discussions at public meetings in Douglass Township
DT: You describe some wild township government meetings in those early years and multiple local officials being voted out of office in recall elections, as an example. Could you tell us about the Douglass Township meeting that got out of hand?
EW: This was during a lot of COVID-19 restrictions, as you'll recall. These meetings started out on Zoom. A lot of townships were doing Zoom for the first time ever, and they had 100 people showing up. And then in the spring of 2021, you know, 100 people were showing up in-person to meetings when these COVID-19 restrictions got lifted.
Douglass Township had a township board at the time that came across to residents as being maybe a little too sympathetic towards the wind project. And the township board really ended up clashing with some members of their own planning commission over this.
In particular, one woman on the planning commission, she became so vocal and active in the process, almost the entire board ended up being recalled. And this woman on the Planning Commission, she ended up becoming the new township supervisor. That was after a couple years of meetings at which Montcalm County had sheriff's deputies present because the township board and their own planning commission were having so many arguments. The township board and the residents were having so many arguments.
DT: And as you're talking about these meetings, you're mentioning a hundred people showing up. And these are the types of meetings where it might not be uncommon to see 5 or 10 people in the audience on a given night, right?
EW: Yes. So many of these township boards, they had, you know, supervisors, clerks, treasurers, trustees who had been on the board for decades. They have maybe five people show up at your average meeting. And then this wind thing blows up and you have 50 to 100 people at every meeting, analyzing every little thing that you're doing. I think it made some township board members feel a little defensive, so that kind of added to the tension as well.
DT: In a statement to the Daily News, an Apex spokesperson said they were ending their plans because they were unable to secure the land rights necessary to fully connect the project. The company says it's releasing the landowners from their land use agreements that they'd signed. Do you think the issue of wind power is now settled in Montcalm County?
EW: No, I don't. I'm already working on another story about a possible other project being looked at for a portion of Montcalm County. So the debate isn't going away anytime soon.
DT: Well, and in your reporting, it seems like there are a lot of lingering hard feelings in these small communities with relatively small populations. And it seems like some people think those won't be resolved for a long time to come.
EW: I don't think they will be resolved for a long time to come. There are a lot of lingering feelings. This issue also brought to light a debate about property rights, and what are you allowed to do on your property, and how much say does your neighbor have in it?
Further reading: Wind dies down in Montcalm County: Apex abandons Montcalm Wind project after years of debate; fight over turbines reshaped local politics and strained relationships by Elisabeth Waldon for the Daily News
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been lightly edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full conversation near the top of this page.
