Montcalm County has the chance to seize a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity by embracing wind energy.
- Bringing wind energy to Montcalm County will generate over $40 million in new tax revenue for our community—money that can improve our schools, support law enforcement and first responders, repair roads, and power better community services throughout the county.
- Wind energy in Montcalm County would support local farmers with a stable source of income, preserving and protecting family farms for future generations.
- Building a local wind farm will also create hundreds of construction jobs and tens of millions of dollars in local construction spending, supporting local businesses and contractors.
Sign the petition to let your local township officials know that you support safe, responsible wind development in Montcalm County and want them to support local laws that allow projects like Montcalm Wind to be built in your community.
To the Township Board and Planning Commission Members of Montcalm County:
As residents and taxpayers in Montcalm County, we are writing to express our support for bringing wind energy to our community. We are urging you, our elected township officials and planning commission members, to craft rules for wind energy that respect land rights, are based on established science, follow Michigan zoning law, and allow a responsibly designed wind project to be built in our community.
Wind energy isn’t new to Michigan. Today, there are over 1,500 wind turbines operating safely throughout the state. While a wind farm does represents a change, it is also a huge opportunity for the entire region. These projects bring many benefits, including tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenue, hundreds of jobs with new spending at local businesses during construction, and long-term support for farmers and landowners through rent payments.
In short, a wind farm will bring hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment to our community and dependable revenue that will keep local farms healthy and preserve our way of life for future generations. That is an opportunity we should not pass up.
Our local zoning ordinances should obviously protect the community, but regulations for wind energy should be based on facts, peer-reviewed science, and Michigan law – not personal opinion and false information. Any proposal that is intended to prohibit wind energy will violate the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act and infringe on the private property rights of landowners who should be able to develop their property safely and responsibly.
Wind energy is well-established as an agricultural land use across the country and Michigan has a demonstrated need for clean energy. With hundreds of examples of responsibly built wind turbines operating quietly, safely, and without negative impacts on local communities across the state, wind has proven to be a good neighbor and we would welcome it in our community.
Like you, we care about our neighbors. We believe that wind energy will benefit the entire county and we encourage township boards, planning commissions, and our neighbors to remain open-minded. Seek out accurate, unbiased, information about wind energy and talk to landowners and communities that have benefited from these projects. We believe you will conclude, as we have, that bringing wind energy to Montcalm County will be an enormous benefit, not only to our farmers, but to our entire community.
We, the undersigned, call on you to adopt reasonable rules for wind energy that respect private property rights, support our local farmers and landowners, and allow for responsible wind development in our community.
(Fill out the form below and attach a picture of your handwritten signature if you can!)