BEATRICE - NextEra Energy LLC., the company that runs the Steele Flats wind farm in rural Jefferson County, recently spoke to News Channel Nebraska. 

Matt Jones is the lead developer for NextEra in Nebraska and talked about some of the beliefs and negativity residents have towards wind turbines. One major concern of turbines is sound. Jones talked about how they plan to combat that. 

"There's a requirement throughout every community and county as far as the decibel level a turbine can have near an outisde wall of a home or occupied residence," Jones said. "Turbines, when you're standing right below them, they make a sound, but depending on the wind that day, it can be louder or quieter. That's why we have setbacks to homes and stay below the range of levels."

Another concern many have when it comes to turbines is the disruption of wildlife, specifically bird-wise.

"When a nest is found within a project boundary, we have to stay two miles away from that nest, that's something we're going though right now," Jones said. "Sometimes I think the myths are overstated... There's a lot of studies that have been done about bird deaths relating to wind turbines, it's something we don't see relating to as much as they're made of in these myths."

While it may seem like turbines come with a lot of concerns, Jones explained the benefits they bring to areas including more jobs. Additionally, Jones says a current proposed wind turbine project in Jefferson County would bring money to local school districts.

"That project would bring roughly $5,000 per mega watt per year in new tax revenue to the community," Jones said. "Of that, $30-million of the 30-year project would go to schools. 2/3's of the money would go to, in this case, Diller-Odell schools, Tri County Public Schools and Fairbury Public Schools. They could expect about $1-million per year during that project."

Jones explained they want a good relationship with landowners for the project, in addition to the required lease they must agree on. In order to get more landowners on board, he provided information on how to find out more about wind energy, projects, and NextEra. 

"We have a website online, bigbluewind.com, you can learn more about the project, there's an FAQ to learn more about the myths," Jones said. "We're also doing landowner dinners, we bring in folks that are within the community, we'll talk about the project, past projects, and about NextEra itself. We're also doing tours of Steele Flats so people can come out, stand underneath a turbine and see how it sounds for themselves."