How a county election in rural Illinois became a referendum on wind energy

Energy News Network: “I don’t think anyone here would want a creepy neighbor sliding their hands under your daughter’s sheets.”

That was one of several metaphors for wind turbines that Ted Hartke used in telling a Ford County, Illinois zoning board how a wind farm had forced his family to leave their home in a neighboring county five years ago.

Hartke also compared wind energy to the tobacco industry and framed his opposition as a populist, social justice issue. He has made similar points at wind-related hearings around the Midwest, offering folksy anecdotes about his family and charts and maps about noise levels and property values.

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