WILBER - The operator of a 99-turbine wind farm in Saline County is seeking temporary and permanent injunctions against the Saline County Board of Adjustment, for creating a sound limit on its wind turbines, after the fact.


When the permit for the Milligan 1 project was approved in Saline County in October of 2016, there was no wind turbine noise limit that applied to utility-grade projects in the county….not until July, of 2021.


Attorneys for the wind farm contend the Saline County Board of Adjustment used a “meritless citizen complaint to invent and enforce a sound limit that was not a part of its original conditional permit”. They say the county’s zoning administrator said the wind farm received its permit before there was any sound limit…and that the wind farm has continued to operate legally.


Milligan 1 attorneys are also alleging violations of open meetings laws. At the conclusion of a July 25th meeting, the Board of Adjustment voted 4-0, with one abstention to create a sound limit that could not exceed 50-decibles within one-thousand feet of a complainant’s property…or require shutdown of the wind farm.


Milligan 1 Attorney Lindsay Lundholm said there is urgency to get a ruling on the matter….since if the wind farm were to be shut down, it would cost the company around $120,000 in revenue per day, reduce energy provided to the grid, and possibly affect financing covenants on the wind farm.


The wind farm operators are seeking a temporary restraining order and temporary and permanent injunctions prohibiting enforcement of any sound limit….because the permit for the project was in place before the sound limit was created….and a limit cannot be retroactively applied.


Saline County District Judge David Bargen asked attorneys for Milligan 1 and Saline County to draft an order for his consideration. The judge said he would issue a decision as soon as possible. Milligan 1 is seeking a ruling to reverse and vacate the board of adjustment action.