Hot air in Carroll County
The wind generators at Scout are spinning at full blast. Last week they announced their Nimbus industrial wind installation is in “full construction.” Well, at least on their laydown yard, not anywhere else.
Let’s review what they haven’t gotten done yet: They have not even submitted their final mitigation plan to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which can take several months to review.
Then there will be a 60-day public comment period. They have gotten no permits from the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and there is a pending lawsuit by county residents over County Judge [David] Writer’s Road Use and Maintenance Agreement, covering county roads.
One thing is for sure, if Scout can’t use the roads, they can’t build the project.
In addition, they just keep putting off the most critical element to their progress, the Power Purchase Agreement. In September it was by the end of the year. Now, at the end of the year, it is two months hence. Or, maybe never, who knows?
At a recent quorum court meeting, Writer stated that any ordinance passed by their court would “conflict with state laws.” Well, that’s interesting because, according to multiple state agencies, there are no state laws regarding wind installations. This is just more avoidance of restricting Scout in any way rather than protecting the voters of Carroll County. Those voters recently spoke loudly and clearly by electing Caroline Rogers over Scout advocate John Howerton by a significant margin.
The primary purpose of all this windiness from Scout is to make sure that these foreign billionaires sitting in their cabanas in the Bahamas, Scout’s headquarters, get to take advantage of American tax incentives and to meet certain milestones required by their financiers.
Remember the broken down, empty trailer Scout moved in, put a brand-new sign up and made a big announcement then, too? This is the same thing, just make it look good, say how monumental it is and maybe everyone will fall for it.
They also want to try to convince the considerable opposition to the project that this is a done deal, and they should just fold. I can assure Scout that the ever-growing opposition to this project will not be fooled. Their tenacity has been proven and their perseverance will pay off.
It has been the local opposition on a shoestring budget versus the Bahama billionaires with unlimited funds, and the locals are still standing.
Already the other two phases of the Scout project originally announced have apparently been scrapped, and instead of 43 turbines, now there will only be 30. So, no matter what rosy, favorable press you read, don’t fall for Scout’s hot air. They can blow all they want but it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.
Julie Morton