TUSCOLA COUNTY , Mich. — A group of farmers has signed a contract with a large energy company that is being touted as a first of its kind collective bargaining agreement.

The contract, which is for a wind development in Tuscola and Bay counties, is rumored to be with Next Era Energy Resources, a subsidiary of Florida Power and Light.

The celebration comes amidst complaints that many wind power companies are aggressive, bullying and sometimes even verbally abusive towards landowners.

Scott Bernia, a farmer in Tuscola County , grows corn, wheat and other crops on 3,000-plus acres. He was one of the original principals involved in the deal. Bernia painted a picture of wind power company officials pushing farmers around, trying to get them to sign contracts that were most favorable to the company whether they are good for landowners or not.

“They kept telling us, they don’t negotiate with us. They got kind of huffy,” Bernia said of more than one of the power companies, which he declined to name.

He said he called some of his neighbors and they felt the same way, which is how the larger group got started.

“We had similar experiences before with oil and gas leases,” Bernia said. “Even the group we ended up with was trying to wait us out and wear us down. Their strategy is always to divide and conquer. This one guy was really pushing me around.

“It’s been a long and very steep learning curve. I would say to anyone out there - don’t just sign any piece of paper they throw at you, and don’t be afraid to spend a little money on an attorney who knows what he’s doing.”

The 100-megawatt project, if it happens, would comprise about 65 large wind turbines on 15,000 acres of land. The original group of farmers was made up of only three individuals, but it got much bigger until the final group of 70 agreed to the contract.

“This is the first collective bargaining agreement for wind energy development east of the Mississippi ever attempted,” said John Kreucher, one of the attorneys that helped negotiate the deal. “The farmers really deserve a lot of credit. This group really stuck together; they spoke with one voice.”

Kreucher, who works at a law firm that does a lot of work on independent power projects in the Midwest , said a lot of projects like this never get off the ground because landowners try to negotiate contracts themselves.

The farmers originally approached the law firm, Howard & Howard, in February 2009. Kreucher and his partner, Rodger Kershner, developed what he called a term sheet, which is basically a list of conditions from the farmers.

It includes stipulations such as:
•If tiles are broken during construction, they would have to be replaced.

•If crops are damaged there would have to be compensation.

•Turbines would have to co-exist with any oil and gas leases.

•Turbines can’t interfere with GPS navigation devices.

•Funds would have to be set aside to take down the wind turbines once the wind park becomes inactive.

About 18 different developers saw the term sheet and eight of those expressed an interest in the project, Kreucher said.

By early this year the farmers coalition narrowed the choices down to two developers. The farmers held an informal vote on the final contract.

“The vote was overwhelmingly supportive,” Kreucher said.
Kreucher said there have been cases of local officials being bribed by wind power companies to expedite wind projects, although he said none of those confirmed cases have been in Michigan or the Midwest .

In order for the project to go ahead, there must first be wildlife studies, bird studies, a study to make sure the turbines won’t interfere with airplanes, an evaluation of ground stability, a flicker analysis to make sure that shadow flicker won’t bother nearby residents and local zoning approval that includes setback planning.
Kreucher sounded optimistic, “We feel good that this is a project that’s been developed,” he said. “A lot of developers have been interested in this.”

5/13/2010

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