Invenergy pulls plug on wind energy project

There will be no wind farm project in Washington County, at least for now.

Washington County Board of Supervisors Chair Richard Young said at Tuesday's meeting that Invenergy is pulling the plug on its proposed project in the county.

'As of yesterday, this project has been tabled,” Young said. 'I received a phone call (from Invenergy), and the company will be contacting property owners. It's done.”

Invenergy had been recruiting property owners in the county to allow wind turbines to be constructed on their properties.

'While Invenergy will not be advancing development activities further at this time, we sincerely appreciate the relationships we have built with numerous stakeholders across Washington County and the warm welcome we have received from the landowner community,” the company said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The board was slated to vote Tuesday on the first of two ordinances to regulate wind farm projects in the county.

The ordinance that was to be considered Tuesday pertained to the valuation of the land and equipment on wind farms built in the county.

The proposed taxation schedule, which is in line with an agreement the wind energy industry made with the state many years ago, calls for no taxable valuation for the first year of operation.

The following year, the county can tax only 5 percent of its taxable valuation. Every year, it goes up 5 percent until a maximum of 30 percent is reached.

The board had planned to vote on the ordinance at last week's meeting but tabled the matter until this week after it became clear that the vote would be split 2-2.

Supervisors Jack Seward Jr. and Bob Yoder both indicated they were against the ordinance, while Young and Supervisor Stan Stoops spoke in favor of the ordinance.

Recently elected District 3 Supervisor Marcus Fedler, who was sworn in at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, would have been the deciding vote.

With Invenergy's decision not to proceed with the project, Seward offered a motion to table the ordinance indefinitely.

Fedler was the lone vote against tabling the measure.

'I would've like to have talked about it and vote on it,” Fedler said.