-->

Furthering citizens' voices in the industrial wind arena / Coalition for Sensible Siting

Coalition for Sensible Sitng brings you latest news on the wind watchLast gasp for controversial Minnesota wind farm?

A letter from the owner of a proposed wind farm to regulators shows his frustration in the permitting process and a willingness to sell off assets of his investment. “New Era has no confidence that due process for this project will ever end, nor that an ABPP (Avian and Bat Protection Plan) will ever be approved, however comprehensively and carefully drafted,” said Peter Mastic, owner of New Era Wind Farm, in an April 17 letter to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. “A lot of the people that have been fighting this think it’s too good to be true,” said Kristi Rosenquist of the Coalition for Sensible Siting. “They want to see the official death certificate from the Public Utilities Commission before they’ll believe it’s really dead." Click here to read more


Coalition for Sensible Sitng brings you latest news on the wind watchWind Energy Reform Push in MN State Legislature

Minnesota House members Tim Kelly and Steve Drazkowski, along with first-term Senator Matt Schmitt, support legislation that would ensure Minnesota counties have a voice in wind energy siting. Another bill would reform (the often-reformed) "Community Based Energy Development" (CBED) laws from their current, quite meaningless state. These two bills look like common sense reform for some of the problems with Minnesota's current laws and practices for wind energy development. Click here to read more


Coalition for Sensible Sitng brings you latest news on the wind watchVitter Exposes Dept. of Justice Double Standard on Wind

Louisiana Senator David Vitter recently spoke out about injustice in the Justice Department: Why prosecute oil companies for killing ducks, while giving wind turbines a free pass for killing our national symbol of freedom - the American Bald Eagle? Citizens with the Coalition for Sensible Siting thank Senator Vitter and Senator Lamar Alexander for their excellent letter and questions. Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken not only fail to speak up for bald eagles in their own state, but have refused to meet with citizens for three years. Click here to read Sen. Vitter's statement

Ico Trophy A Voice For Concerned Citizens

Efforts have been supported by individual citizens contributing their time, talent and money and by a few educated legislators acting in the public interest. In addition to raising technical and economic concerns, citizens around the world have shared their experiences of wind turbine impacts including: unique unregulated industrial noise, loss of property value, induced voltage, wildlife impact (protected eagles), and shadow flicker. In Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest, foreign-owned wind companies control ever-increasing prime agricultural production acreage on 50-year leases. The wind companies have your tax dollars, legal mandates written by their attorneys and lobbyists, government agencies, huge multi-national corporations and well-funded “non-profit wind promotion organizations” disguised as environmental organizations.  Their goal is to get more of your tax and electrical rate money. Relentless participation by local citizens is bringing effective change.  Help us change the future of industrial wind.

More about The Coalition for Sensible Siting


Ico TrophyCoalition for Sensible Siting (CSS)

CSS recognizes the scientific, economic, and safety short falls of industrial wind. Turbines are, none-the-less, being installed and the Coalition for Sensible Siting advocates that citizens’ broad concerns, based upon science, economics and experience should hold sway over politicalagendas driven by financial gain when siting turbines. Citizens, who pay both the tax and electrical rate bill for renewable energy, should have a significant voice in the formation of national and state energy policy.

Your donations will help CSS work with elected officials, government appointees, and the individual farmers, landowners and parties affected by the reckless and uncontrolled siting of these projects.

Learn about wind energy basics

Latest Wind Watch Video.

Money you donate will be used for the following purposes:


Public education on wind watch

Support bald eagles awareness

Legal/attorney advice and representation

Expert witness research and testimony

Production and/or copying materials

Website domain purchase and maintenance


Wind Energy and Industrial Turbines

Industrial wind promises electricity produced from wind will lower CO2 emissions, free the country from foreign oil, lower electrical rates, and have an overall positive environmental and human health effect. None of the wind promises have proven true anywhere on the planet. Delivery on these promises is a technical and scientific impossibility. Concise details can be found in a document by Ir. J.A.Halkema. An engineer from the Netherlands, he explains what makes the electric power of a wind turbine extremely variable and unpredictable, and therefore unreliable. Further, in this video presentation, Dr. David Schnare explains why wind energy on the electrical grid creates more pollution than it saves.

Coalition for Sensible Siting recognizes that the most common human health complaints attributed to industrial wind turbines apparently arise from the unique, unregulated and difficult to measure noise they produce.

Wind Developers Fail To Perform Adequate Avian & Bat Studies

USFWS and the MN DNR have worked closely with citizens who raised concerns over repeated failures by wind companies to provide thorough and accurate data on bird and bat populations. The developer failed to produce an avian study showing the eagles, hawks and other birds that currently grace the landscape of Goodhue County.
Read about how AWA Goodhue will destroy the area's eagle habitat.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Support

Bald eagles and Golden Eagles are protected by two major federal laws: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Recent proposed changes to federal guidelines would require 30 year “incidental take permits” for wind devleopments to kill eagles. You can help by contacting the US Fish and Wildlife Service directly and voicing your concerns. In addition, state governments can enact state laws that afford more protection than federal laws to conserve wildlife species. Please see www.fws.gov/offices/statelinks.html for state or territorial wildlife agencies’ contact information.

Known Industrial Wind Project Risks

Concerns over bird kills caused Xcel to pull out of a wind project in Merricourt. Twin Cities attorney Dan Schleck said some other factors that can affect project risk include financing, the price and availability of wind turbines and the role of wind energy in the market place. Laws concerning wind energy can be found on our Energy Law page.

Why donate to the Coalition for Sensible Siting?

The Coalition for Sensible Siting ("CSS") promotes citizens’ voices on industrial wind. Your donations will be used for communication, outreach, education, grass roots legislative efforts and legal fees to promote this important mission.