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Iowa county passes moratorium on renewable energy projects

A county board in Iowa has approved a temporary moratorium on construction of new renewable energy projects.

The three-member Madison County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 on Oct. 8 to approve the moratorium, which is aimed at commercial wind and solar projects. The moratorium applies retroactively from Jan. 1, 2019, and sunsets Oct. 1, 2020.

The vote follows a resolution by the Madison County Board of Public Health that recommended a 1.5-mile setback between wind turbines and homes. The health board said there is "potential for negative health [effects] associated with commercial wind turbines," and "current setbacks are inadequate to protect public health."

County supervisors said the moratorium would give them time to craft a resolution that would establish new regulations for renewable energy projects. Madison County covers 560 square miles in central Iowa.

MidAmerican Energy Co., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, fought the measure. Adam Jablonski, director of MidAmerican's renewable energy program, previously told the supervisors that a 1.5-mile setback "would completely wipe out any future wind development in Iowa" if applied statewide. Jablonski cited a research report from the University of Iowa that concluded there is no evidence that wind turbines pose a public health risk, though the noise they generate may annoy people who live by them. In an Aug. 22 letter to county officials, MidAmerican, which says it will have more than 6,200 MW of wind power capacity installed in Iowa by the end of 2019, said the Board of Health recommended the setback without objectively reviewing the evidence.

MidAmerican has a goal to reach 100% renewable power. The moratorium does not apply to MidAmerican's proposed expansion of its 250-MW Arbor Hill Wind Farm (Wind XI) as the county already approved 52 additional turbines at Arbor Hill. A citizens group previously sued the county over its approval of that project, saying that the permit was improperly issued. The group lost in court and has filed an appeal.

Other states have imposed similar restrictions on renewable energy development. Maine's new Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in February rescinded a year-long moratorium on wind turbine permits. North Dakota legislators have attempted more than once to halt wind power development in the state. In 2018 Apex Clean Energy Inc. terminated its proposed 600-MW Long Prairie Wind project in Ohio, citing a law requiring a 1,300-foot setback distance, and sued the state attorney general over a 2014 law that nearly tripled setbacks.

The American Wind Energy Association ranks Iowa second in the country for installed wind capacity, at 8,957 MW.