Wind turbine project wins land use permit

Luther College was granted a conditional use permit Tuesday, Sept. 8, for a piece of land that could be the home to a new energy resource for the campus. Luther plans to use the land to construct a wind turbine that could be seen outside the cafeteria window by this summer.

Professor of Religion and Res. Chair in Ethics and Public Life, Jim Martin-Schramm has been working on this idea since 2005. The hope of the wind turbine is to reach Luther’s goal of reducing the campus carbon emissions by 50 percent. If installed, the wind turbine
would reduce emissions by 15 percent, generating
one third of Luther’s electricity.

“Around that time [Philosophy professor] Jon Jensen and I took students up to the ribbon cutting of Carlton’s new wind turbine,” Martin-Schramm said. Jon and I gaped at it and said, ‘if they can do it, so can we!”

In order to gain permission from the county to build the turbine, Martin-Schramm needed the approval
of the Winneshiek County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. The proposed site for the turbine is near the intersection of Highway 52 and
Madison Road.

A week before the proposal, Martin-Schramm and President Torgerson met with 12 homeowners who would live close to the turbine to answer questions. While many were concerned about the noise level, which Martin-Schramm assured the homeowners would be negligible, most expressed overall support
of the project.

At the September 8 proposal, the motion passed with seven votes in favor and two against. Most of the public and the board were in favor of the project, although several people expressed concerns that didn’t have easy answers.

Gary Waltgen, an employee working in the nearby Madison Quarry, pointed out that the shadow flicker from the turbine could potentially disturb the workers.

“We can’t have people feeding our rock crushers with the turbine casting shadows,” Waltgen said.

Waltgen also expressed concern over whether the turbine would get in the way of future expansion of the quarry. Despite his concerns, Waltgen voiced his support for the project.

However, acquiring the land is only one of many hurdles to overcome. Luther will need to come to an agreement with the planners for Madison Quarry in the coming months, along with numerous delegations between Alliant

Energy and the equipment suppliers.

Additionally, the project will not be cheap. It carries an estimated cost of $3.7 million.

“It takes a lot of creative financing,” Martin-Schramm said. “The [Board of] Regents want to do this without putting a drain on the college budget. They will not increase tuition to pay for it.”

If everything goes according to plan, a wind turbine could stand above the Decorah bluffs by June 2010, representing Luther’s continuing push towards sustainability.