The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1269344
B-4 Wednesday, July 15, 2020 The Press-Dispatch SPORTS EAST GIBSON Submit East Gibson items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST PHYSICIAN Alexander Radnovich, MD Adult Psychiatry Now accepting new patients! Samaritan Center 515 Bayou Street Vincennes, IN 47591 812-886-6800 | gshvin.org INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST PHYSICIAN Alexander Radnovich, MD Adult Psychiatry Now accepting new patients! Samaritan Center 515 Bayou Street Vincennes, IN 47591 812-886-6800 | gshvin.org INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST PHYSICIAN Alexander Radnovich, MD Adult Psychiatry Now accepting new patients! Samaritan Center 515 Bayou Street Vincennes, IN 47591 812-886-6800 | gshvin.org Alexander Radnovich, MD Adult Psychiatry Health Dept. encourages honesty to aid contact tracing By Janice Barniak The Gibson County Health Dept. was at 88 county cases of COVID-19 when Public Health Nurse Diane Hornby presented to commissioners July 7, telling them travelers coming back from vacations have led to clus- ters of cases, and contact traces need complete information to aid contact tracing. Hornby added, of those 88 cases, 56 cases were since July 1, so all of those were of course still active. The num- ber is now 133 cases, as of the time of publication Tuesday. Travelers coming back from Flor- ida, Texas and California have re- turned to work, then realized they had contracted the virus, Hornby said. Then when they talk about who they've seen to contact tracers, they underestimate whom they might have infected. Hornby stressed mask wearing, and, if infected, letting contact trac- ers know who has been within six feet for 15 minutes or more. "In our community, a lot of people don't believe in wearing masks," Horn- by said, adding the health department does stress the importance of it. Ma- ny people are going into "bar-type sit- uations" maskless. They've also had many complaints about restaurants whose staff aren't wearing masks. The Health Dept. would like to see schools requiring masks on buses and when away from desks in the fall. The governor will reevaluate the state on July 17, she added, and will decide whether to move on to stage 5. "He's taking the whole state in- to consideration," she said. "We will have to consider if we want to be more restrictive." Hornby let commissioners know that coronavirus has taken a toll on the local department's budget. Some impacts have included paying the fair- grounds for the use of a building to test for coronavirus cases and pro- viding a person to monitor the court- house entrance, taking temperatures and checking for masks. "My budget has pretty much run out," Hornby said. She also has five staff members who are working overtime and week- ends during the crisis. "My staff has really worked hard. I'd like to commend them on that," she said. She did want people to know the free testing for coronavirus is avail- able from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. People can, for exam- ple, get a test when they come back from out of state, and then again 14 days later if need be. Pro-zoners meet to discuss NTIA response By Janice Barniak Pro-zoning property owners met Saturday at Haubstadt Town Hall to discuss a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service response to seeing a Renewable Wind Energy's (RWE) project map, and to discuss the requests by wind en- ergy lawyers for concessions to help turbines in the county's proposed zoning ordinance. The document they received, forwarded to members by Commissioner Steve Bottoms, was a response to a request from Senator Mike Braun to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). According to the information they had, Braun had sent the following request to NTIA, "The Gibson County Commissioners are in desper- ate need of a report that was conducted by the NTIA. It is an analysis of the effect of building 80 wind turbines in Gibson and Posey Coun- ty near the Owensville (Evansville, Ind.) Dop- pler radar. The company which requested the analysis is RWE. If there is a safety concern be- cause of the interference with the Doppler ra- dar—then the county needs to know." According to the NTIA's response, the NOA A and NTIA are reviewing the requested docu- ments for release, but it contains industry-sen- sitive, privileged information. The 80 -turbine project submitted turbine heights of 590 feet, covered a large region, and was deemed "high impact" due to the possibility of many turbines located within one mile of the radar in Novem- ber 2019. The report said an updated project proposal submitted March 31 has 33 turbine locations that could potentially clutter the radar at two elevation scans. One turbine would clutter the first three elevation scans. "Effects from the turbines on precipitation and wind data will lower forecaster confidence in distinguishing severe weather from the tur- bines," read the report. Since the latest review of the project, NTIA said they have not received a response from RWE. USI physics professor and pro-zoning mem- ber Kent Scheller said the report showed long- term impacts that needed be weighed heavily when talking about zoning. "That's why we find ourselves here. We have a third-party organization telling us this will im- pact our Doppler. This is up to a 50 -year proj- ect," he said. "My grandkids will live with it." Member Jean Bittner said she's worried that if the company goes out of business within that time, the county will have to pay to dismantle turbines out-of-pocket. Scheller said the group needed to base what- ever changes they lobbied for on information from NTIA; that they do not want the project to include an exact mileage from the Doppler, because the miles are based on a height of 590 feet, and should a taller turbine be used, the miles would need to be higher. Also, if a lower turbine were used, or if tech- nology somehow improved to not disrupt radar, then the mileage could be less, based on NTIA data. Scheller said depending on science would strengthen the ordinance so that the commis- sioners could not be accused of adopting an ar- bitrary number. "The science is what the science is," agreed Posey County member Sarah Newton. "It's about saving our Doppler. There are 400,000 people in the Tri-State area who de- pend on that Doppler," said member Kent Maur- er. "Anytime anyone or a corporation comes in the county, we have no voice in that. Zoning gives our residents a voice. It's for any com- pany that would negatively effect the county. We're not really free if anyone can just come in- to our county. The big picture isn't really about turbines. It could be any growth that's not pos- itive." In response to a poll on the Facebook page Gibson County News and Talk, saying that 80 percent of the county was against zoning, the group said they disagreed because the poll was marketed primarily to the audience of that page, which they said is already highly against zoning. They acknowledged some people in the coun- ty are against zoning, but believe the better measure of the county's feelings was in the pri- mary, when four anti-zoning candidates ran for office and only one won the party's nomination. Their big message, however, is they do not believe a safety ordinance can control the wind farms. "They've never given any proof to us. All we get is, 'We've got a plan,'" said member Erin Maurer. The members of the group feel they've fought an uphill battle bring zoning back to the ta- ble. When they first learned of Doppler inter- ference, commissioners told them that they wouldn't reopen zoning, which they saw as an unpopular measure. "We came to them asking for protection. The commissioners told us there was nothing we could do. We tried everything, and it wasn't un- til we exhausted every avenue they brought it back," said Erin Maurer. "They didn't want to get into this. Commissioner Bottoms knew it could cost him his position. They did it because it was the principled thing to do." Gibson County Planning Commission looks at energy interests By Janice Barniak Gibson County's Area Planning Commission met for a working ses- sion July 9, picking up where they left off prior to the coronavirus shut- down. While there were no votes during the meeting, the group did come to a soft consensus on how they might regulate energy compa- nies, including coal, natural gas, so- lar and wind farms. This conversation is important, said APC Attorney Mike Schopmey- er, because with the county's previ- ous investments in non-renewable energy infrastructure, the lines are already here in the county to send power all over the country. WIND Wind energy representatives asked that they only have to go be- fore the Board of Zoning Appeals in- stead of that and the planning com- mission. They want to measure the sound of the turbines, which can currently be up to 45 decibels, from the struc- ture, like a home, instead of at the property line. In past discussions, opponents have said they would like the flexibility to move a structure anywhere on their property with- out noise. They would like fewer signs re- quired; right now, the ordinance would require a sign with the com- pany's number at every intersection for people to call for complaints. The company would like the signs to just be close to the turbines. The board was willing to consider this conces- sion and the next. The ordinance would currently give the company 48 hours to re- spond to complaints; the company said complaints may take more than 48 hours to address. RWE, the energy company con- sidering Gibson, also requested that commissioners not be able to "un- reasonably withhold" authorization of the project if they've met guide- lines in the zoning ordinance, to make sure the project is allowed to move forward. The wind company requested property setbacks to be 1.1 times the height of the turbine; the or- dinance currently sets them at 2.5 times the height. "We've had loads of testimony to keep it at the higher number," Schopmeyer said. They want the plan to allow a drainage plan after, not before, the project is approved. "They don't want to go through the other engineering costs if not approved. It's a big expense," Schop- meyer said. "It's a chicken-egg prob- lem for people who want to invest in your county." They asked that landing strip guidelines not be more restrictive than the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration allows. When it came to a curtailment agreement, which is stopping the turbine when there's a severe weath- er threat, RWE, the wind energy company with property leased local- ly, wants the curtailment agreement to not be legally binding, Schopmey- er said. They say it's "beyond best practices" in Indiana. "It seems they're hedging now before we even have an ordinance," said APC president Steve Obert. "I strongly encourage you to keep it in," said Schopmeyer, adding some elected officials have even encour- aged more stringent standards than what is currently in the ordinance. "I don't have a lot of faith in the curtailment agreement," said APC Board member Mike McConnell. "People fought hard to get that ra- dar. They went to Congress...It's protected us in numerous instanc- es." McConnell said in talking to me- teorologists, only one station has its own radar, but they also rely on the Doppler because it's better than what they have. "Even if they're turned off at 590 feet...those things are going to be so big, there's so much mask, it will be a jumbled mess," said APC member Greg Reising. "Obviously, it's worse if running. It's going to be bounc- ing off all over the place. They don't see anything like that in nature...It's a mess. It looks like confetti com- ing back." He added 590 feet is 40 feet short- er than the St. Louis Arch, and there would be more than one. The board wants to keep the 2.5 times the height of the turbine set- back from property lines. SOLAR According to Attorney Mike Schopmeyer, solar interests have asked that they not go before both the APC and the Board of Zoning Appeals to apply to set up a solar panel operation. "Solar is more actively looking at your county than wind," Schopmey- er said. They also asked that they be al- lowed to submit the area the panels would take up, instead of the num- ber of solar panels going down, be- cause panels vary in size. Instead of an agreement to cover all the county's expenses associat- ed with their permit, Schopmeyer said they'd like to instead agree to a $25,000 up-front submission fee to take expenses out of, and if it goes over that, then both parties would Woodford pound Alan Brock See ENERGY on page 5