To give you an opportunity to see what's new, and what has changed, we have taken the paywall down temporarily.
Currently, there is no need to log into the site.
We will provide instructions for creating new account and resetting passwords when the paywall is turned back on.
Letter to the Editor
— Bobby Wilson StopWindFarmsAR — Angela Usrey Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks
Scout Clean Energy advertised that its open house on October 14, in Berryville was going to be an opportunity for Scout to answer the public’s questions about the construction of its proposed Nimbus Wind Farm in East Carroll County. Scout’s vice president said the company’s emphasis at the open house was to “keep everyone informed,” and invite everyone out “to ask their questions so they can get the answers they’re looking for.” Members of the public, including members of Stop Wind Farms AR as well as the locally founded non-profit, Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks, attended but they did not get the answers to many of their questions.
Scout originally planned to build 43 turbines but has recently said it will build 30. It’s a $400 million project with about $130 million in New Green Deal tax credits. Scout has never built a project of this scale. Twenty-six of the turbines will be approximately 650 feet high along the fragile karst ridges south of Green Forest, taller than anything in the entire state and 10 times taller than Christ of the Ozarks. EACH turbine will have a concrete and rebar foundation approximately 84 feet in diameter, 16 feet deep. EACH turbine foundation will require approximately 4 million pounds of concrete and 75,000 tons of rebar. Scout could not identify exactly where it was going to get the concrete OR the water to mix it with although one Scout rep mentioned the water coming from Green Forest.
Scout could not tell us how this project was vetted by the federal government. When first proposed by a different company almost two decades ago, the project had turbines that were only about 250 feet tall. Now, the proposed 650-feet tall industrial turbines and their massive bases put the fragile karst terrain of Carroll County at risk. Scout refused to rule out blasting to dig these foundations. Dynamite blasting and karst terrain rarely mix.
The wind farm is expected to operate for about 30 years. After that, Scout is supposed to tear down the turbines, but they plan to leave the gigantic concrete foundations in place—only covering them with four feet of dirt. Scout could not promise that the water supplies of the surrounding landowners would not be harmed from the leaching of chemicals from these massive foundations for generations to come.
— Bobby Wilson StopWindFarmsAR — Angela Usrey Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here