By Tom Morton

Proposed revisions for commercial wind energy projects will receive more revisions themselves, according to the Natrona County Planning and Zoning Commission.

The commission tabled a request to amend temporary commercial wind farm regulations on Tuesday because the volume of comments made it impossible to rework the revisions in one night, commission Chairwoman Roxy Skogen said.

The new regulations will not affect Chevron Global Power’s construction of an 11-turbine commercial wind farm on the former Texaco refinery site northeast of Evansville, because the Natrona County Commission has already approved those conditional use permits, Skogen said.

During the next two months, the Natrona County Development Department’s staff will rework the regulations and present them to the five-member Planning and Zoning Commission on June 9. If adopted, the commission will send them to the Natrona County Commission for final approval, she said.

The temporary emergency wind regulations adopted in September are set to expire May 20, but Skogen doubted anyone will erect a commercial wind farm from then until the adoption of the new rules later in June.

The proposed and now-tabled regulations arose after several residents living near the Texaco property noticed the buffer zones surrounding the towers overlapped into their properties.

Resident Stan Mundy, who lives on East Lake Drive, also saw an apparent contradiction in the rules: One paragraph in the emergency regulations stated turbines must be set back at least a quarter-mile away from any primary structure such as a residence, while another stated the buffers must be a half-mile if the primary building is in certain zoning districts.

Other comments and criticisms also arrived, so the commission decided to revisit the amended rules.

During the public comment period Tuesday, a Cheyenne lawyer representing residents near the wind farm and residents themselves said the amended regulations did not adequately address the concerns about the buffer zones and noise issues.

“The noise never goes away,” attorney Michael McGrady said.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.