In signing below, your voice will be added in support listening sessions and other communications with Wisconsin State legislators asking them to sufficiently regulate the new, special, "merchant" class of power plant developers that lawmakers unwittingly created in 2000-2004. The laws handed out-of-state, mult-national corporations, extraordinary exemptions from community, landowner and electric customer protections that all utilities were previously required to follow.
Our Requests:
I. Require formal, public notifications and detailed information prior to seeking land control contracts with private property owners. Make it illegal for "merchant" power plant builders to
secretly seek and obtain land leases from property owners before formally notifying local governments and the public. To protect landowners interests, require merchant power plant builders to provide crucial details about proposed power plants including physical
sizes of all equipment, considered locations, mininal setback distances, maps of the total impact area and plain language descriptions of allowable intrusions of noise, glare, flicker and other nuisances currently permissible within state
law.
2. Eliminate Merchant Power Plant Exemptions (Wis. Stat. § 196). Make merchant power plant development follow the same regulations as public utilities (Alliant, MGE, WE Energies. etc.) and show that the facility would satisfy the reasonable needs of the public for an adequate supply of electric energy; is designed and located according to the public interest, and that alternatives, ratepayer impacts and other economic factors must be considered.
3. Increase setback distances from occupied dwellings for larger wind turbines by updating PSC 128. Modern wind turbines (and solar facilities) are much larger than were anticipated in 2014 when PSC Admin Code 128, state wind siting ordinances, were written. New law and updated codes are needed to help ensure the health and economic welfare of residents and communities as well as livestock and wildlife. Health impacts studies from all other countries should be considered.