OFFICE OF GOVERNOR
DAVE FREUDENTHAL
State Capitol
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Ph. (307) 777-7434
2/1/2010
****** For Immediate Release ******
Contact: Press Secretary Jonathan
Green
Phone: 307-777-7437
Mobile: 307-421-0197
E-mail:
jgreen3@state.wy.us
Governor Freudenthal
promotes wind project legislation
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Problems associated with the massive
development of Wyoming wind energy “are simply opportunities dressed in work
clothes,” according to Gov. Dave Freudenthal.
“With proper ground rules, wind
energy can generate income for the agricultural community, help diversify
Wyoming’s economy and tax base and perhaps become a significant source of
employment,” the Governor continued. Freudenthal has scheduled an 11 a.m. news
conference today to discuss four proposals for the Legislature to consider:
1 Strengthening the Wyoming
Industrial Information and Siting Act to ensure adequate bonding or other
financial assurances so that the facility will be operated properly from
initial site construction, through operation, decommissioning and eventual
reclamation.
2 Providing minimum state standards
and enhancing county permitting requirements for the proper siting of wind
facilities, such as setbacks from homes, roads and towns.
3 Imposing a $3.00 per megawatt
hour excise tax on wind energy produced in Wyoming, with a provision to send 40
percent of the revenues to local governments, and 60 percent to the state
General Fund. The tax would return an estimated total of $5.9 million per year
to the six counties where wind projects are already in operation. Converse
County would receive the largest share of that figure, an estimated $2.25
million in 2011. In the aggregate this is believed to equate to a 5 percent
excise tax.
4 Suspending the power of
condemnation for one year where it might be used to gain access to private
lands to construct wind energy collector lines (those lines that tie the wind
farm to the electric grid) and asking the Legislature to study the issue before
adopting a permanent solution.
Freudenthal praised the Wind
Task Force created by the 2009 legislative session for its policy
recommendations to improve the Wyoming Industrial Information and Siting Act
and local government permitting requirements.
“During the last legislative
session, we all knew it was time for a long, hard look at wind development in
Wyoming,” Freudenthal said.
“With representatives from
across the spectrum, from local governments to the wind industry itself, we all
got an education and, ultimately, a first cut at some meaningful changes that
will hopefully lead to better planning and more involvement from local
governments and private citizens on the front end of these projects,” the
Governor said. Proposals (1) and (2) are a direct result of the Wind Task Force
Report.
“Wind energy developers should
pay an excise tax based on the amount of power generated with a large share of
the revenue returned to the county of origin. A production tax moves towards a
level playing field for all Wyoming energy producers and helps diversify
Wyoming’s tax base. While wind energy is one of the heroes of the former Vice
President’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ and it enjoys a most favored position in the
federal tax code, we must remember that it remains a profit oriented business
that should be treated the same as other energy producers,” Freudenthal said.
The Governor is concerned with
the broad powers of condemnation wind developers enjoy when building
transmission lines from the wind farm to the electrical grid because the
developers are, by their nature, merchant ventures.
“I doubt that most legislators
or citizens understand the degree to which current state eminent domain law
favors the merchant developer over the private property rights of the
landowner. This tends to weaken the landowner’s position during negotiations. It
also encourages building lines on private rather than public lands since
condemnation cannot be used against federal or state land interests,”
Freudenthal said.
Citing a need to “take a breath”
on the question of condemnation, Freudenthal noted his hope “that the right of
condemnation for collector systems could be suspended for a year so the
Legislature can define appropriate sideboards for the exercise of eminent
domain by wind developers, particularly tied to the issue of landowner
compensation.”
“The increasingly heated
discussions around wind projects and power lines are just the beginning. We
must develop a set of fair rules that protect Wyoming people while providing
certainty to wind developers. The wind energy development problems can be
addressed by taking this opportunity to do right by Wyoming. And opportunity
seldom knocks twice,” Freudenthal said.
-30-