(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Board of Supervisors in Montgomery County, today (Wednesday), received numerous comments with regard to a wind turbine moratorium, carbon capture (CO2) pipelines, and closure/replacement of railroad bridges, prior to discussing and/or acting on those issues. In her report to the Board, Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert discussed ongoing road maintenance projects.

The Board then opened sealed bids for property forfeited to the Sheriff’s Department**, and awarded the vehicles to the highest bidders. Supervisor Donna Robinson….

The Board also received a lengthy report by Jan Norris from West Township in Montgomery County, with regard to the status of carbon capture pipelines in Iowa and surrounding States.

In other business, the Montgomery County Supervisors heard from Zoning Administrator Barry Byers, who said the Zoning Commission recommends the Board pass an indefinite moratorium on wind turbine energy conversion system construction. Byers said on Tuesday, the Pottawattamie County Supervisors passed a one-year moratorium on wind turbine and solar power projects. Their moratorium will last up to 365 days, or when the board approves an updated set of rules and regulations, whichever comes first. The moratorium will give the county time to revise its current set of rules and regulations for wind farms and create a set for solar farms. Currently, the county does not have a set of regulations for solar farms.

After hearing from MidAmerican Energy/wind turbine spokesman Will Dougherty, and subsequent lengthy discussion, Supervisor Mark Peterson read a motion to extend the moratorium. Here’s a portion of the resolution….

Following a second on the motion, a Resolution to that effect was passed by a vote of 4-to-1. With Supervisor Randy Cooper voting no. In other action, the Board voted purchase a new laptop computer for the Maintenance Director, since the old one is no longer functional, and to accept a recommendation from the County’s IT Director, to purchase a Sennheiser microphone kit/audio equipment for the Board of Supervisor’s meetings, in the amount of $3,433.02.

**The property included a 2008 Ford F-450 Super Duty King ranch pickup; a 2007 AWD Saturn Vue; a 2003 Audi A4 and a 2008 Harley Davidson Soft Tail.