Ala. lawmaker says proposed wind regulations derived from nuisance laws

Ala. lawmaker says proposed wind regulations derived
from nuisance laws

By Michael Copley

Alabama state Sen. Phil Williams has rankled proponents of renewable energy with a proposal to create new regulations and a statewide permitting
process for wind power projects, steps the senator said are necessary to protect constituents from unchecked development.

S.B. 12, known as the Alabama Wind Energy Conversion Systems Act of 2014, would require wind project developers to obtain permits from the
Alabama Department of Environmental Management and approval from local governing bodies where the systems would be located. Of particular
concern to the bill's critics, the legislation would create a noise limit of 40 decibels, measured from the edge of the property where the systems are
located, and a 2,500-foot setback from turbines to the nearest edge of the adjacent property.

The noise and setback requirements appear to conflict with the priority Alabama lawmakers have traditionally put on private-property rights, said the
nonprofit group Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which opposes the bill. Simon Mahan, the group's manager of renewable energy, said those
concerns are likely to "trump" the "extreme regulations" Williams put forward.

It is a reading of Alabama politics that Williams, a Republican, said he understands, but he said it misses another, more applicable, section of property
law related to nuisances.

"If what you are doing with your property degrades the ability of an adjacent landowner to enjoy his property, then you have gone into a place that the
law doesn't provide protection for," Williams told SNL Energy. "We're looking here at the law of nuisance as much as anything. ... You can put a hog
farm right next door — it's certainly your right — but as soon as the smell gets too bad, the neighbors have a right to complain."

Williams' proposal, which was prefiled with the state Legislature and is scheduled for referral in January to the Senate Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources, is the latest version of a bill that died in the state's House of Representatives last legislative session after it was introduced by
Rep. Randy Davis, a Republican.

Unlike Williams' proposal, Davis' bill, H.B. 678, would not have required wind developers to secure the approval of local governing bodies, did not
call for a setback from adjacent properties and would have put the noise limit at 50 decibels, rather than 40.

Williams has come to see the failure of H.B. 678 as a kind of blessing in disguise, since it allowed him to "go back and have more time to do
research," he said.

"Really, I'm almost glad it didn't pass last session, because it gave me an opportunity to do more work in between ... to come up with the bill you have
now," Williams said.

Mahan took a dimmer view of the changes Williams made, saying the differences between the two bills are noteworthy because they show that
Williams is not interested in compromise and is "doubling down" on his opposition to wind.

If passed, the restrictions would be a clear message that Alabama does not support wind energy, Mahan said.

'A hot topic'

To date, wind power generation has not been big business in Alabama. Lacking the kind of local resource found in the Plains and upper Midwest,
some electricity providers, such as Southern Co. subsidiary Alabama Power Co., have turned to long-term power purchase agreements for
imported wind energy, the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, said on its website.

But wind developers have started to show interest in the state, lending urgency to the debate around industry regulations, Williams said.

Texas-based Pioneer Green Energy LLC is building at least two wind farms in Alabama: the 18-MW Shinbone Wind Project in Cherokee County
and the 80-MW Noccalula Wind farm in Etowah County.

It was projects like Shinbone and Noccalula, Williams said, that helped him see the need for statewide regulations. "There is an absolute absence of
any regulatory authority regarding wind energy conversion systems in the state of Alabama," Williams, who represents Cherokee and Etowah
counties, said, adding that the unregulated landscape likely attracted interest from developers.

"This is a hot topic for our state," he said, "and I think the proponents of building these wind systems need to understand that they are not going to be
in a non-regulated environment."

AWEA said it has not yet taken a position on S.B. 12.

A spokeswoman for Pioneer Green Energy, Leigh Butler, said the restrictions in S.B. 12, particularly the setback requirement, are out of step with
"other practical ordinances."

A 2,500-foot setback "effectively prevents any private landowners who don't own hundreds or thousands of acres of contiguous land from hosting a
turbine on their land," Butler said in an email Nov. 26.

The company favors "responsible wind project development practices," she said, but Williams' proposal appears to be "a moratorium" on wind power development.