by Lisa Hammer
Dispatch-Argus
GALVA, Ill. — Opponents of a proposed wind farm in east-central Henry County gathered at Black Hawk East College this week to hear about the impact of wind turbines on quality of life and the local landscape.
Kendall Guither, of Informed Farmer Coalition, who farms between Walnut and Ohio, Ill., talked about headaches and ringing in his ears from the proximity to a turbine 1,400 feet from his home…
Kevon Martis, a senior policy fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute in Washington, D.C., joined Guither in addressing the group.
Martis gave a kind of a pep talk for working on zoning ordinances for wind turbines. He said being here first counts, and the county’s wind energy zoning regulations ignore sound science.
He talked about “trespass zoning,” defining it as allowing wind farm companies to measure the distance from turbines not to the neighbor’s property line, but to the actual house. He said it means you’ve executed a safety easement in the neighbor’s property that could preclude the neighbor from building or future development.
“My right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins,” he said. “This is fundamentally unjust.
