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Residents Against Win Turbines Hoping To Educate The Public Through Facebook

A group of DeWitt County residents are banding together to fight back against a proposed wind farm on the northeast side of DeWitt County.
 
Andrea Rhoades leads a Facebook group called "DeWitt County Residents Against Wind Turbines". She says their goal is to get information out to the community about the wind farms and the happenings surrounding it's potential development.
 
 
With the erection of wind farms in other parts of the state, Rhoades says they have learned of the negative impacts of the wind farms in other places.
 
 
The group is also concerned about the distance between the turbines and homes. Rhoades say they are proposing a 3-thousand feet distance and points to Livingston County who recently enacted a 32-hundred feet distance between their homes and a turbine.
 
 
The Facebook group is a closed group. Rhoades indicates this allows people to safely view information and learn more.
 
 
Trade Wind Energy representatives indicate the 'flicker effect', or when the turbines intercept with the shining sun, would only be an impact less than a percent of the time throughout the year. Rhoades says homeowners may not be compensated well enough to deal with those effects.
 
 
Trade Wind Energy compensates property owners who agree to have these turbines on their properties, however, they also go the extra mile to compensate other homeowners within a certain distance with a yearly check for living near a turbine. Rhoades indicates the compensation for those homeowners is not enough.
 
 
Rhoades says there is some evidence that suggests property values could decrease based on other communities assessments.
 
 
The group recently addressed the land use committee with several of these concerns and many more. The project still has several hurdles to clear before any ground breaking becomes imminent. 

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