New Nebraska group forms to cash in on wind energy

LINCOLN, Neb. — Two of Nebraska’s largest agriculture groups have joined forces to make sure farmers and ranchers get a fair shake in wind-energy deals and to break down barriers they say stymie development of big wind farms.

The new group, the Nebraska Energy Export Association, includes representatives from the Nebraska Farm Bureau and Nebraska Cattlemen, the largest associations representing their respective constituencies in Nebraska.

So far, they have been largely silent in the debate over how to make Nebraska a bigger player in the burgeoning wind-energy field but are now getting involved as wind energy increasingly poses both opportunities and problems for their members.

The association stresses that it’s not going to be in the business of promoting wind energy. Instead, the association will try to bring farmers and ranchers whose land could hold wind turbines and transmission lines into the discussion over wind energy and position them to benefit from a wind-energy market should one blossom in the state.

Thus far, some of them have been “sitting in the grandstands” as the wind-energy debate rages, said Tim Geisert, president of the association, said Tuesday.

The interests of farmers and ranchers are varied and not all focused on increasing Nebraska’s presence in the wind-energy market.

“Our members are concerned about private-property rights and eminent domain,” said Duane Gangwish of Nebraska Cattlemen.

Helping farmer and ranchers deal with wind-energy developers who sometimes pit farmers against each other as they try to get the cheapest lease rates they can to put turbines on farm and ranch land will be one goal of the new association, Geisert said.

“The reality is, growers and producers need a place to go to get good counsel … on what they should and shouldn’t do,” he said.

The demand for good advice is not as great as one might expect in a state known for its vast, wind-swept plains.

The association cited a Harvard University report that says Nebraska ranks fourth among states in wind-energy potential. In actual wind-energy production, Nebraska ranks 22nd.

One reason is that Nebraska is the only state where all electric customers are served by publicly owned utilities.

The state’s public-power districts have been slow to invest in wind power because it is more expensive than generating electricity with coal, and the public utilities’ main goal under state law is to deliver the cheapest power possible.

Andy Pollock, the attorney for the new association, said he hopes the association can add a perspective to the wind-energy debate “outside of public power, without undermining it.”

To that end he said the group, instead of promoting wind energy, will try to topple wind-energy barriers so Nebraska can compete should an export market for wind energy develop.

One of the obstacles, Pollock said, is the lack of a public-private financing mechanism to help build transmission lines so wind energy could eventually be exported out of Nebraska.

The group, he said, is opposed to using revenue from public-power bills to build transmission lines estimated to cost billions of dollars.

“Public policy should … encourage private development of Nebraska wind resources while building on the present public-power model,” Pollock said.

On the Net:

Nebraska Energy Export Association: www.nebraskaenergyexport.org/