Pro-wind mayor, anti-wind newspaper join Manitowoc fray

From a weekly commentary by Manitowoc Mayor Kevin Crawford:

What is baffling then is that with great “green job” employers like Manitowoc Cranes and Tower Tech located right here in the County Seat, why does the County Board have an ordinance that may as well state, “no wind turbines allowed”.

Tower Tech manufactures the towers on which wind turbines are mounted. The wind turbine generates electricity using the free and renewable resource: wind. Alternative and renewable energies are needed if we are going to rid ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil.

Manitowoc Cranes manufactures the lifting devices needed to erect wind towers.

Can you see the nexus then between not being able to erect a wind generator in Manitowoc County and jobs . . . .

Manitowoc is not the only place where wind towers can be manufactured. And by the way, they’re worth 2 million dollars each … that’s a lot of jobs.

Maybe its time for the County Board to rethink its “no wind turbine” stance.

Keeping people employed and families stable is everybody’s business.

From an editorial in the Herald Times Reporter:

We believe local governments are quite capable of deciding what is best for the people that live within them. If the state wants to have a role in local wind farm decisions, we feel it should be advisory only.

The state thus can maintain some degree of oversight, but the ultimate decision would be made by the people most directly affected — at the local level.

The state can do quite well in helping regulate large wind farm projects, like those in Fond du Lac and Columbia counties. It does not need to extend its long arm to smaller, community-based projects, unless local agencies ask for their advice and input.

More verbal exchanges.