(Updated 11:45-a.m.) (Radio Iowa/KJAN) – MidAmerican Energy is proposing a wind farm of around 90-140 wind turbines altogether in Mills and Pottawattamie Counties, as part of their effort to achieve a 100 percent renewable energy supply. But some residents in the path of the wind farm are concerned about how it will alter their community. Treynor farmer Corey Vorthmann says he believes the sound and light that wind turbines produce would be disruptive to residents. “It’s something that is really unthinkable for us to see that we would wake up every morning and not really be able to take in the beauty of mother nature, but have it polluted with 300-foot wind turbines,” according to Vorthmann.

Charity Duey lives in Silver City and says the uncertainty of how the wind turbines may impact everything from the quality of life to migratory birds concerns her. “Just looking at it as a whole and going is this a fit for our community? That’s where people are going ‘I don’t think this is going to work for us,’” Duey says.Almost 800 people have joined a FaceBook group dedicated to stopping the project.

MidAmerican Energy spokesperson Geoff Greenwood tells KJAN News the project is simply a proposal at this point. He points out “The estimated property tax benefits to the two counties would be around $187-million over the life of the project for both counties. And that’s property tax revenue that goes toward hospitals and schools and roads in those counties, and that’s a big benefit.” For now, they are in the process of gauging landowners’ interest. He they know from experience that there are land owners who request to have turbines on their property, especially with fluctuating commodity and grain prices. “This is a steady paycheck for them for the next several decades, over the duration of the project.”

Greenwood said there are approximately 3,300 wind turbines in the State. MidAmerican has 37 wind projects in 32 counties. Their proposed “Wind Prime” project – an almost $4-billion  dollar project – includes more wind and some Solar Energy. When complete, the project will add approximately 2,000 megawatts of power to the system. It’s not yet known how many additional turbines or projects will be included, but Greenwood says it may very well be up to nine such projects. The company hopes to complete the proposed project in 2024.

(Reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio; Updated by KJAN News Director Ric Hanson)