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Resident tells supervisors AES Clean Energy wind proposal risks bats and wildlife
Summary
During public comment, Charles Tonkinson urged the Des Moines County Board to side with local conservation recommendations and criticized a letter from AES Clean Energy, citing concerns about turbine-induced vortices and impacts on bats and other wildlife.
Charles Tonkinson of South Yonca addressed the Des Moines County Board during public comment on Nov. 5 about a letter the board received from AES Clean Energy concerning a proposed wind project.
Tonkinson said he was "highly offended" by language in the letter suggesting outside groups or state agencies should be involved and urged the board to back the county’s conservation department. He raised technical concerns about turbine wake vortices and the potential for harm to bats and other flying wildlife, saying the vortices can cause animals to roll or flip in flight and arguing turbines could eliminate local bat populations.
He also noted AES’s broader energy holdings, asking rhetorically about the company’s ownership of fossil-fuel plants, and questioned the project’s environmental trade-offs. A supervisor (Mister Carter) offered to answer some of Tonkinson’s points, but no detailed staff response was recorded during the public-comment period.
Tonkinson concluded by urging the board to "stick with our own people right here, our own conservation department," and the board moved on once public-comment time elapsed.
