DEWITT COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) – A proposed wind farm in DeWitt County has failed to pass the county board.
The vote, which needed seven “yes” votes to pass, only had six. Five board members said “no” and one abstained. The project was proposed by Tradewind Energy.
Tradewind released a statement that read in part:
"Although we did not get the outcome our supporters and participating landowners wished to see, we would like to thank them for all of their hard work...At this point, we plan to reassess the situation and our options moving forward."
The plan faced some criticism by locals before it ultimately failed. They were concerned about noises caused by the turbines and the distractions caused by lights on them at night. One of those concerns was addressed when the county board passed a measure limiting those aircraft detection lights to only go off when a plane is approaching.
"This was a huge decision for our county, one that was going to impact us for 40 years," said Andrea Rhoades, one of the opposition's organizers. "We were so, so thrilled to hear the board make the decision they did."
The wind farm would have gone on land west of Clinton.
