Floyd County wind policy on hold as supervisors await new member

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Although they did not reach a consensus on several important issues, members of a Floyd County mediation group on a commercial wind energy ordinance did make substantial compromises, members of that group said Monday morning.

The six members of the group, including Supervisor Boyd Campbell, presented the mediation group’s report at the Board of Supervisors meeting. The meeting was held Monday instead of its now usual Tuesday mornings to finish up some other items on the last day of the county’s 2024-25 fiscal year.

A full house gathered in the supervisors boardroom for the presentation, but even after a lengthy discussion it was agreed that no further work on the issue would be done until a replacement for the late Supervisor Dennis Keifer could be appointed or elected and the three-person board was up to full size.

Given a chance to offer comments after the presentation, members of the public again showed the wide gulf between those who favor rules that would allow more commercial wind projects, and those who would prevent any additional commercial turbines in the county.

The mediation group’s report had been released Thursday afternoon, June 26.

As reported in the Press on Friday, while the 46-page document outlines many proposed rules for utility-scale wind farms, it also underscores the group’s inability to reach consensus on key issues – the total number of turbines allowed in the county and various property setback requirements.

An original utility wind energy ordinance recommended by the Floyd County Planning and Zoning Commission did not include a cap on the total number of turbines. But during the first two official readings of the proposed ordinance, then Supervisor Jim Jorgensen and Supervisor Keifer had pushed through a 70-turbine total limit that included the 50 existing turbines already in the county.

Representatives of two wind energy companies working on developing wind projects in Floyd County called that turbine limit – along with other several other ordinance amendments – “poison pills” that would prevent any future commercial wind projects.

The mediation report showed that Campbell and mediation group member attorney Thomas Reavely agreed to a 90-turbine limit, but attorney Samantha Norris, representing Invenergy’s Marble Ridge Wind Energy project, has said 100 was the minimum needed.

In areas where the mediation members could not agree, the report has no recommendation.

Norris said at the meeting Monday that it would be difficult but probably possible for Invenergy to develop a project within the compromises that she had offered during the mediation, and the rules would still be among the strictest of counties in Iowa.

Taking the other side, former Supervisor Jorgensen said during public comments on the topic that he was “thoroughly disappointed” in the number of things Campbell “gave up” in the mediation.

The discussion started with the mediator reading the introduction to the report that outlined the process. The group held six meetings between November 2024 and May this year. All the group members attended every meeting, but only three of the six participants voted on recommendations.

The mediation “working group” members were:

• Mediator Louis Lavorato, former chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, who was hired by the county.
• Boyd Campbell, whose position as a Floyd County supervisor began after the wind ordinance process had stalled last fall.
• Attorney Thomas Reavely, who had been hired after a recommendation by Jorgensen and Keifer to represent the Board of Supervisors.
• Attorney Samantha Norris, representing Marble Ridge Wind Energy LLC.
• Todd Prichard, Floyd County attorney.
• John Robbins, senior planner with the North Iowa Area Council of Governments (NIACOG).

Of the group members, Lavorato as the mediator did not vote on recommendations. Neither did Prichard or Robbins.

Supervisor Gloria Carr started the discussion Monday by making two points – that she didn’t think the mediation group had done its job of coming to a consensus, and that she wasn’t sure how Reavely represented her on the board, since he disagreed with her positions.

Reavely said he knew where the supervisors including Carr stood on the issue, but because of the confidentiality agreement that all the group participants had signed he did not confer with the board members on the specifics once the mediation began.

Reavely, as well as Lavorato, said that not all mediations can reach a consensus.

Norris, the wind farm attorney, said it was her hope that the group could agree on terms that would allow county landowners “to use their property to produce both wind energy and crops,” and allow the county, schools and emergency services to benefit from increased tax revenues.

Unfortunately, she said, the group was unable to agree on terms “that would allow for wind development in Floyd County even under unusually restrictive terms.”

Much of the discussion involved the potential of the county being sued by Invenergy or NextEra, the two companies that have done initial work on projects in the county.

Invenergy won a suit against Worth County, arguing that it had a vested interest in its project in that county and that the Worth County supervisors had not operated in good faith by passing an ordinance that would have prevented that project.

Campbell said he didn’t think that precedent would apply in Floyd County, because Invenergy had started construction already in Worth County, something it isn’t doing in Floyd County.

But County Attorney Prichard said his reading of the Worth County opinion leads him to believe that Floyd County could be sued and could lose.

“I think I’ve made clear my position in terms of urging caution with the lawsuit, following the law, so that Floyd County does not become involved in a lawsuit that could go badly for the county and be expensive and hinder the county,” he said. “That’s been my concern from day one.”

Prichard also said the members of the mediation group had all acted professionally, but had not come to an agreement.

“And the thing is, anything that we would have done from that group is a non-binding recommendation. Consensus or not, the ultimate authority and, you know, the decision, is going to be with the Board of Supervisors,” he said.

Reavely said the setback requirements – the distance turbines would have to be located from adjoining property lines, from occupied dwellings and various other structures and facilities – were the most contentious part of the discussions.

“There’s a balance between you wanting to put up turbines anywhere and having a person living in an occupied dwelling being able to enjoy their dwelling without being interrupted every day by a turbine,” he said.

Lavorato said there were 18 issues the group considered, and came to agreement on all but a couple concerning setbacks, plus the total number of turbines.

Robbins said the county should consider that “the state is paying attention to what’s going on in all these counties.”

He said the state could “steamroll” the counties and make rules they all have to follow, and he urged the supervisors to consider going back to the county Planning and Zoning Commission for guidance.

Campbell said the county needs more people and more homes.

“I haven’t heard anybody say ‘I want to live around a windmill,’” he said.

Carr said she believes in the diversity of energy, and in the importance of potential new funding for schools and other needs in the county.

At one point in the discussion a comment was made that the wind projects would not exist without federal funding and that the Trump administration might cut that funding.

Merlin Bartz, a former Worth County supervisor and state legislator who now represents Invenergy, said people shouldn’t assume that if tax credits go away the project will go away.

“Energy dominance is an extremely important issue in this country right now, particularly in competition with China and the energy uses that this country is going to use,” he said, adding that the project was in progress before President Biden’s “Green New Deal” and would be here if that funding was repealed.

“We need to build more renewables as well as other energy sources,” he said.

As the discussion was winding down, Carr summed it up.

“We’re going to get a new member and we’ll decide what to do.”

A county group of elected officials could appoint a new supervisor to District 2 next week, but residents of that district could petition for a special election to be held. If a special election is called, the appointee would be an interim supervisor until that election is held.

County Auditor Morrigan Montagne said Monday that four people have applied to be considered for the supervisor vacancy: Frank Rottinghaus, Dave Bahe, Aaron Hobert and Joshua Neupert. Application deadline is 4 p.m. Thursday, July 3, in the auditor’s office.