Winona County Building Wind Power; Model for Madison/LAIC?

Fellow lake resident Rod Goeman pitched a pretty good idea to the Madison City Commission last year: he offered some of his land for a municipal wind power facility. Whether the city would use the power itself to keep its electric rates low or sold the power to other users to make money for taxpayers, some green muni-power seems like a great idea. The city thanked Goeman for his input... and I still haven't seen Chad Comes hauling turbine blades out to Goeman Acres.

Take heart, Rod: Winona County, Minnesota, thinks you have a good idea. The Winona County Commission has teamed up with private investors to build wind turbines. The county's Economic Development Authority is investing all of $68,000 to help build the $3.6 million project. They'll build two 1.5-megawatt turbines by next June and sell the power to XCel Energy. That investment will put green in electric sockets and taxpayers' pockets: the county expects a return of $865K to $1.12M over twenty years (see Winona County's Q&A sheet).

The project is the first such wind power public-private partnership in Minnesota, and Winona County is touting it as a model for economic development authorities around the state. Perhaps our own local economic development authority, the Lake Area Improvement Corporation, could take a cue as well. The LAIC could direct the city's and county's contributions to its coffers into a new local wind project. It could arrange a deal with Knight & Carver to get a discount on turbines in return for advertising for the Howard manufacturer on high-traffic Highway 34 just east of Madison. And some locally produced green power might peel back some of that rate increase Madison power customers are facing.

A string of wind turbines along Highway 34 pumping power into Madison would be a real sign of progress. They could even provide the electricity to run the waterfall on our Madison sign.

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Footnote: Another good idea for our LAIC: the Winona County Economic Development Authority has a Local Foods Subcommittee.

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Update 2009.09.21 08:12 CDT: Reimagine Rural notes the Winona project and points out that the City of Howard jumped into municipal wind power way back in 2001. With such an exemplar just one county over and with the improvements in turbine tech since then, I find it surprising Madison hasn't followed suit yet.

The Scourge of Unsuitable Semicolons: Sunday Grammar Check

I guess summer really does make the kids forget their grammar. As I peruse the agenda packet for the August 11 Madison City Commission meeting (PDF alert!), I find an outbreak of improperly used semicolons.

Long-time school board member (and potential wind power magnate?) Rod Goeman erroneously* punctuates the salutation of his letter to the City Commission (agenda packet, p. 4) with a semicolon instead of a proper colon:


Brookings Mayor Scott Munsterman gives his potential opponents in the 2010 gubernatorial race some grammatical ammo by committing the same error in his letter (p. 11) to Madison Mayor Gene Hexom:



Who will save us from this semicolonic cataclysm? Trust the Department of Homeland Security—FEMA!—to set things straight (agenda packet, p. 6):


If FEMA can do it, so can you.

Remember, there are only two situations where you ever use a semicolon: joining related independent clauses, and separating items in a complicated list. Anywhere else you feel the colon urge, especially at the end of a greeting in a formal letter, go full colon.

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Update 09:45 CDT -- Semicolons Part Deux:

Reviewing Mayor Munsterman's blog, I find further egregious semicolon abuse:

"Teacher Shortages Are Not the Real Issue...," 2008.07.30:

"The Real Problem," 2008.08.04:


"Education Is Not a Destination, It Is a Process,"2008.08.07:

I appreciate Mayor Munsterman's regular attention to education on his blog. With some review and practice of semicolon rules, he should be able to count on the grammarian vote. ;-)

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*Update 11:02 CDT: See comments #1-2 below.

Goeman Proposes Lake Madison Wind Farm

-- originally posted at RealMadison.org --

O.K., let's skip the wisecracks about the potentially humorous combination of Rod Goeman and wind power -- Mr. Goeman has a good idea! Rod and his wife Cheryl have sent a very interesting wind power proposal to the City of Madison:

August 5, 2008

Dear Mayor Hexom and Commissioners;*

My wife, Cheryl and I are interested in participating in wind power generation on our property which is located on the highest point of Lake Madison, between Johnson's Point Road and 459th Street on Highway 34, four miles easy of Madison.

With utility cooperatives exploring reliable green methods to create and distribute affordable electricity, we would like to somehow offer a portion of our 42 acres as a potential site to partner for the development of wind power turbines that would benefit the City of Madison and lower your costs.

If the City is interested in exploring wind-power for Madison, we would welcome a conversation to determine if our location would work. The wind potential of our location is premier, located next to Highway 34 and at the highest point on Lake Madison. It is also close to your generator transmission lines.

Thanks for considering the idea. If you have an interest or suggestions, please call me anytime.

Sincerely,

Rod and Cheryl Goeman

[see Madison City Commission agenda packet -- PDF alert! -- August 11 regular meeting, p. 4]

Heck of an idea, Rod! And well-timed, too: the city commission just demonstrated its progressive character by pledging $12,500 (with the LAIC expected to match that amount) to support the creation of a new I-29 economic development consortium with Brookings and other forward-looking communities. Looking into creating a locally owned and operated wind farm to power local homes and businesses and lower local energy costs would be another good project for the city to invest in. Consider also the image value: folks coming from I-29 to Madison would be greeted by the sight of windmills on Lake Madison along Highway 34. Talk about a welcome sign!

So what do you think: is it time for Madison to upgrade its power plant with wind capacity? And even if Madison has all the juice it needs, might a Goeman Wind Farm make Lake Madison the first energy self-sufficient community in South Dakota? Let's think big!

*I reproduce the letter verbatim and verpunctuatim, but please note: business letter salutations should end with a colon (:), not a semicolon (;).