Report details factors in pick for wind site
A public notice appeared in Wednesday's Daily Republic stating that the Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Rural Utilities Service had published the final version of an environmental impact statement for PrairieWinds.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- July 28, 2010
Originally published by The Daily Republic
Reported by Melanie Brandert
A new report on the PrairieWinds project shows that two federal agencies chose the Crow Lake site near White Lake over a site near Winner because of factors including proximity to a substation and environmental impacts.
A public notice appeared in Wednesday's Daily Republic stating that the Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Rural Utilities Service had published the final version of an environmental impact statement for PrairieWinds.
Basin Electric in Bismarck, N.D., wants to build up to 111 turbines in parts of Aurora, Brule and Jerauld counties for the $363 million, 165-megawatt project.
Dusty Johnson, state Public Utilities Commission chairman, of Mitchell, said the commission had done its own environmental assessment and credited the federal government for making the right choice for the site. PUC approved a state permit for the project in June.
He added the project has a limited environmental footprint.
"They came to the right conclusion here and this is really, really big news for South Dakota," Johnson said. "Our analysis came out and said this was a good project and this is not going to cause undue environmental or economic development problems for the area."
Western cited in the impact statement that transmission capacity was available at the Crow Lake site through an interconnection at its Wessington Springs substation. The Winner site would have required an expansion. WAPA also considered environmental effects.
RUS noted that construction of a wind farm at Crow Lake would result in fewer environmental impacts than Winner and would meet Basin Electric's need.
Basin had sought financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture agency. RUS is authorized to make loans that finance the construction of electric distribution, transmission and generation facilities, including system improvements and replacements required to furnish and improve electric service in rural areas.
The final environmental impact statement stated that the Crow Lake site would affect fewer acres, with 1,006 acres temporarily and 190 permanently affected, compared to 3,188 acres and 261 acres at Winner.
As for vegetation, Crow Lake would disturb 691 acres of mixed-grass prairie temporarily and 141 acres permanently, as opposed to 2,314 acres temporarily and 741 permanently for Winner.
The document pointed out that the impact area at Winner would be nearly double that of the Crow Lake site because of the need for more access roads, longer underground collection lines and more crane walks.
Liana Reilly, National Environmental Policy Act document manager at Western, said it's best to promote alternatives that are more protective of the environment. She said the need for more access roads at Winner would have generated more impacts on soil, erosion and transportation.
"You want to have development with the least amount of destruction," she said.
Kevin Solie, senior environmental policy analyst at Basin, said he thought the difference in sites was that the Winner site was more spread out with longer access roads.
"There would be a larger disturbed area to build the project," he said.
Compared with the Crow Lake site, which had no homes within 1,000 feet of turbines or 1,900 feet from transmission lines, the Winner site had a home within 800 feet of a turbine, thus requiring it to be moved. The second closest home would have been 1,050 feet away.
A home closest to one transmission line corridor for the Winner site was 100 feet away.
Reilly said those setbacks were a factor in the decision, saying Western would want to be as considerate to homeowners as possible.
"We just want to make sure we are taking into account people's concerns," she said.
Solie disagreed, saying that issue carried only minor weight and Basin would have adjusted its layout to meet setback distances.
While the impact to wildlife was deemed less than significant, the report pointed out that both sites were located in the migration corridor for the federally protected whooping crane.
Solie said he thought the fact that Crow Lake was farther east from the corridor's center was a factor in both agencies' decisions. He explained that turbines would be less likely to kill whooping cranes with fewer birds. If Basin would encounter whooping cranes during construction, he said crews would shut down work until the cranes leave the area.
Reilly said Western was relying on Basin to ensure that its best management practices would be used for minimal impact to wildlife.
The final environmental impact statement is expected to be published Friday in the Federal Register, thus kicking off a 30-day comment period, Solie said.
He anticipated the two agencies would make a decision on the document two to four weeks after that.
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