Forest files another petition for judicial review of PSC decision on Highland Wind Farm

By LeAnn R. Ralph

HUDSON — The Forest Town Board has filed another petition for judicial review in St. Croix County Circuit Court.

The petition for judicial review involves the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin’s final decision on a St. Croix County judge’s remand for a permit allowing Highland Wind Farm to build wind turbines in the Town of Forest.

The petition was filed in St. Croix County September 9.

The PSC issued a 57-page written decision, dated August 11, clearing the way for Highland Wind Farm to construct a 102.5 megawatt wind electric generation facility in the Towns of Forest and Cylon.

The PSC’s latest final written decision was in response to a St. Croix County Circuit Court judge’s decision in the summer of 2015 to remand portions of the permit back to the PSC for further consideration.

The Forest Town Board requested the first judicial review of the PSC’s decision to issue a permit to Highland Wind Farm on January 10, 2014.

PSC commissioners voted July 7 to remove Highland Wind Farm’s voluntary lower noise limits for “sensitive” residents and to remove the requirement that the turbines be in compliance with PSC 128 for 95 percent of the time.

PSC 128

For the first time in Wisconsin, PSC 128 set maximum noise limits for wind farms, with a nighttime noise limit of 45 decibels and a daytime limit of 50 decibels.

St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge Edward Vlack issued an order on August 27, 2015, upholding the PSC’s decision to issue a permit to Highland Wind Farm but remanded two specific issues for the PSC to reconsider: the 95 percent compliance standard and the lower noise limits for sensitive residents.

Judge Vlack did not send the permit back to the PSC to decide again whether Highland Wind Farm should be allowed to build wind turbines in the Town of Forest.

The PSC concluded in the August 11 written decision that it is reasonable to expect Highland Wind Farm to comply with noise limits set by PSC 128 but that it is not reasonable to expect Highland Wind Farm to comply with a noise limit lower than the limit established by PSC 128.

The PSC also concluded it not reasonable to set a 95 percent compliance standard, but that it is reasonable to use the complaint process established in PSC 128 if there are complaints Highland Wind Farm is not complying with the noise limits set in PSC 128.

Complaints

In a letter to the editor published elsewhere in this issue of the Tribune Press Reporter, Town of Forest resident Brenda Salseg writes, “to date the Public Service Commission has failed to investigate or enforce compliance complaints received.”

According to the PSC’s final written decision issued in August, the Forest Voice asserted “multiple individuals living near other existing wind farms in Wisconsin testified that they were never able to satisfactorily resolve complaints through the Commission’s process.”

The PSC’s final written decision points out the Forest Voice failed to note PSC 128 became effective March 1, 2011, and that the most recent wind farm approved by the PSC was the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County with a final decision dated January 22, 2010.

“This argument is misplaced as there are no other wind farms in Wisconsin, other than [Highland Wind Farm], approved by the Commission to which the complaint process in Wis. Admin Code PSC 128.40 is applicable,” according to the PSC’s written decision.

PSC 128 apparently does not make the complaint process retroactive to existing wind farms, so there are no wind farms in operation today covered by the complaint process outlined in PSC 128.

St. Croix County

Salseg’s letter to the editor also notes the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution at the September 6 meeting asking the state of Wisconsin to fund and complete a health impact assessment on the effect of wind turbine energy systems.

The resolution, which was recommended by the St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board,  also asks the Wisconsin Division of Public Health to review current human health hazard statutes and determine if updates to the statute are necessary.

According to the resolution approved by the St. Croix County Board, “one conclusion of the Wisconsin Wind Siting Council in the Wind Turbine Siting Health Review and Wind Siting Policy update completed in 2014 stated that although there are several publications arguing that noise from wind turbines directly causes adverse health effect in humans, based upon the peer reviewed literature, it appears at this time that there is insufficient data to validate this scientific conclusion.”

The resolution goes on to say a minority response from the Wind Siting Council “strongly recommends acoustic and epidemiological studies be carried out, especially in Wisconsin where there are existing complaints of sleep disturbances, headaches, nausea, tinnitus or much worse related to existing wind energy systems. These studies should include measuring and analyzing the nature and effects of infrasound and low frequency noise.”

The PSC’s final written decision states, “The 2014 Review and the 2015 Review and the additional evidence received generally support the [PSC’s] prior conclusions that the noise limits in [PSC 128] are ‘protective of public health and welfare’ and ‘the Commission is not convinced that a causal link between audible and inaudible noise at wind-generating facilities and human health risks has been established to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty.’”

The PSC goes on to say, “the additional evidence received during these reopened proceedings on remand confirms that there is not substantial evidence to support a causal link between the alleged health conditions and wind turbine noise.”

According to online court records, a hearing has not yet been scheduled in St. Croix County Circuit Court regarding the second petition for judicial review.