Complaints on HillTopper Wind Farm night work heard

 

[October 17, 2018] 

At the Logan County Board meeting on Tuesday, October 16, there was some discussion on issues going on with the HillTopper Wind Farm Project.

At the Board Workshop on Thursday, Chris Martin of Mount Pulaski said he lives near the HillTopper Wind Farm Project and has talked to several county board members about problems over there.

Martin said he has seen people working there after dark five or six times recently and has photographic evidence of it and has called dispatch, talked to Bret Aukamp and Will D’Andrea about the issue. He said he is “sick and tired” of them violating the contract and wants to know why it is still going on.

Martin said the condition [of not doing certain work after dark] was put in [to the agreement] to protect the citizens and he wants to know what the county board will do about it.

Martin said he has also been lied to by Matt Birchby, who is principal and managing director of the project by developer Swift Current Energy. He said Birchby has told him that ComEd is not under their curfew.

Martin said D’Andrea told them ComEd is not supposed to be there after dark and just because they are ComEd does not mean they are not under the project curfew.

Board member Kevin Bateman said ComEd never told Swift Current Energy they were working at night. They just kept on working.

Board member Scott Schaffenacker said at the Planning and Zoning Committee, D’Andrea and Aukamp have expressed discontent with their warnings falling on deaf ears.

Schaffenacker said before going forward with an expansion at Whitney Hill, the board needs to look at better enforcing the conditional uses that have been set. He said Aukamp has made a new road use agreement.

Board member Bob Sanders said he agrees that it needs to be stopped and asked about fining the developers. Board Chairman Chuck Ruben said there are no specific fines set in place and that is part of the problem. Board member Gene Rohlfs asked what can be done about it when nothing is in place for fines.

Bateman said knowing the specific time of day and which tower they are working at would help give them more teeth in getting something done. Bateman has immediately called HillTopper when he has gotten calls and emails, so it is not “falling on deaf ears.”

Martin said he has photos on his phone with the date, address, and time of day, so he can attach that information.

Martin said his frustration is that the problem has continued, and no one has gotten to the next step of stopping it. They will be done with the project with nothing done about these problems.

Board member Gloria Luster said it would be good to hear the input of D’Andrea, Aukamp, and the HillTopper developers at Tuesday’s meeting.

Board member David Hepler said a lot of these issues are subcontractor issues and they need to bring in regulations if the same subcontractors are used for the Sugar Creek Wind Farm Project.

Schaffenacker said these are the same subcontractors that were used on the Railsplitter Wind Farm Project, which was the first one in the county. Ruben said he does not believe there was any restriction on nighttime work then.

Board member Dave Blankenship said enforcement options need to be five to ten times stronger. Blankenship said he and Sanders sat in a meeting with some of the developers and he felt some had “blatant disregard” for the rules.

Martin said when you sign a contract, you are liable, and they are in clear violation of the contract. He said the recourse is to pull the permit because they will keep violating it unless action is taken.

Logan County Board Regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018

On Tuesday, Matt Birchby of Swift Current Energy said his company takes any violations of the agreement very seriously. He said for the company, it is not a project they are working on and then leaving. Swift Current Energy has an office in the community, is putting roots down, and is planning a second 65-megawatt project at Whitney Hill.

Birchy said he wants to make sure they are communicating well from their end. Swift Current Energy has learned a lot in terms of relationships with Logan County Board members.

Birchby said as they wrap up HillTopper, he wants to work together to build on experiences in a positive way. He said a lot did not go correctly with the road use agreement, and they had to correct several issues.

Birchby said he will make sure as they do work at Whitney Hill, things that the company expects will be incorporated into that agreement in advance of the construction of that project.

Birchby said in terms of concerns raised last Thursday, they take violations very seriously and do their best to police the permit and need to make sure to stay within its confines.

Birchby said, “I will be the first to say we have not been perfect there, and that obviously causes us a lot of significant displeasure as it creates a lot of discomfort with board members. I want to make sure as we move forward, we have dialogue there.”

Derek Hinksteva, Project Manager for ComEd, said they had to tie in a line to the interconnecting substation. He said he was not aware of the requirements on nighttime work.

Hinksteva said part of the reason they were working at night is due to safety issues. They had to dig fifty-foot holes and falling in them could likely result in death and there is no safe way of covering up the holes. He said once the concrete pouring starts, it cannot stop, which is what led to the nighttime work.

Hinksteva said they corrected it once they found out it was in violation. They were told to stop work by 8 p.m., but worked until 8:15 a few times. He said they accepted fault for that and apologized.

Atlanta resident Dennis Minick, who is Business Manager of the Operating Engineers, thanked board members for allowing projects like this one to go through as their members have worked many hours up there making good wages and reinvesting in the economy.

Minick said he has heard bits and pieces of the complaints, but hopes the board realizes construction is an ever-changing environment subject to weather conditions.

Luster said she cannot understand a lot of the complaints. She said in a project of this magnitude, you are going to have problems develop and if they are willing to work together to help our community and make things right, we just need to address the issues.

Daniel Sheehan handles liaison responsibilities for the construction phase of the project and has reached out personally several times and has gotten very little response until he came to the meeting last week. Sheehan said they have done their best to communicate and resolve issues.

Board member Kevin Bateman said Martin reached out to him about the problem. Bateman then called Birchby, who called ComEd. Bateman said they are concerned about their constituents, but you must consider the scope of the project and he wants people to contact the board with any concerns. He said sometimes problems happen, and nothing falls on deaf ears.

Sheriff Steve Nichols said he has talked to Sheehan several times, who has contacted him when there have been problems with contractors. Nichols said they would always go and address the problem and Martin has been the main one calling him.

[Angela Reiners]