Wind farms bring money to Sherman County, where residents of four towns get $590 a year in compensation for the wind turbines blocking their views.
Wind farms bring money to Sherman County, where residents of four towns get $590 a year in compensation for the wind turbines blocking their views.
Sherman County, which earned $315,000 in property taxes from the first wind farm in 2002, raked in $3 million from wind farms in 2010. The bounty, while mostly flowing to the farmers who lease their land for the turbines, also benefits the public. Taxes, fees and assessments on more than 1,000 megawatts of wind turbine capacity have brought $17.5 million in nine years to a county with just 1,735 residents.
“Wind is the only thing that is going to save rural Oregon,” said Judge Gary Thompson of Sherman County Court, “especially since all the timber is gone and the sawmills and all that are closing down. I think what it is is a breath of fresh air.”
Read more in the New York Times.
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