Proposed wind farm near wildlife refuge will move

MOUND CITY, Mo. -- A company that had planned to build the largest wind farm in Missouri near several wildlife areas has decided to look elsewhere because modifications needed to protect the area's animals made it financially unworkable.

Element Power, based in Oregon, had proposed erecting 84 to 188 wind turbines near Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Holt County and seven nearby conservation areas. The company, which had been studying the project for five years, had leased 30,000 acres of private land near the wildlife areas since 2010.

Squaw Creek, about 100 miles north of Kansas City, has more than 7,400 acres of wetlands, fields and grassland that attract several birds, including pelicans, wood ducks, trumpeter swans, blue-winged teals, sandhill cranes, blue herons, snow geese and smaller shorebirds.

The proposed location of the wind farm was criticized by the Missouri Department of Conservation, environmentalists and birding groups, who said it would endanger the millions of birds and bats that migrate through the area.

Element Power officials recently notified Holt County commissioners that the company was moving the project because measures that would be required to protect wildlife made it financially troublesome, The St. Joseph News-Press reported. The company said it was considering other areas of Missouri for the project but did not specify where.

Landowners involved in the project also received a written 30-day notice of a lease termination.

"The reality of the situation is that there are other areas in Missouri that make more economical sense to build in and as such, we are working to move the project to a more suitable location," the letter states.

Michael Hutchins, a spokesman for the American Bird Conservancy, said the organization is cautiously optimistic.

"This would be extremely good news from the perspective of bird and bat conservation if they are going to move this wind farm to an area where the turbines will be less of a concern," Hutchins said.

------

Information from: St. Joseph News-Press/St. Joe, Missouri, http://www.newspressnow.com