Last week, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors approved a special use permit allowing for the construction of a wind energy generation facility south of Winslow. In the absence of District III Supervisor Jason Whiting and following a public hearing, the approval was unanimous.
Assistant County Engineer Sandy Phillips began the presentation. “This is a wind turbine project that is located 27 miles south of Winslow. It is right on the county line between Navajo and Coconino County on Highway 99 on private property.
“The complete project, existing in both Navajo and Coconino counties has the ability to produce 477 megawatts of power. I do want to mention that this applicant has done significant studies for birdlife, impact to the community, artifacts and a sound study. The turbines will be a significant distance away from any occupied parcels.”
S-Power, the company planning to build this windfarm is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has alternative power projects throughout the United States. This project will include 164 turbines total, only eight in Navajo County, on 3,650 acres within Navajo County.
Senior Permitting Manager Terrance Unrein addressed the board. “We are a renewable energy developer. One key thing that I would like to point out is that our general business model is to not only be the developer but also be the long-term owner and operator of these projects. So, we have a vested interest in developing these projects correctly and partnering with communities like yours.”
Unrein mentioned the extensive studies the company has performed in order to prepare for construction to begin. “This will be located on what is referred to as the Chevlon Butte Ranch, predominately private property with state trust land mixed in. We have done nearly a year of robust environmental, natural resource and cultural surveys. We meet or exceed all the recommendations from Arizona Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Even though this property is predominately private, for which there is no legal nexus for us to perform cultural surveys, we voluntarily felt that it was the right thing to do. We found 111 cultural resource sites and our project successfully avoids each one of them.”
Unrein said, “Arizona is one of the best areas of wind resources in the country. This project will provide clean, cost competitive energy for decades using water and producing no emissions. In 2018, the amount of wind energy installed in Arizona, which was 268 megawatts, saved 1.1 billion gallons of water and avoided 2.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This project will double that. Another positive is that some of these turbines will be placed on state land trusts. Because of that, we are required to make turbine payments to the state each year. Those payments are directly passed to Arizona public education and university beneficiaries.”
Local economic impact will be positive as well, according to Unrein. “We are estimating that we will create more than 200 jobs during the construction of this project and 10-15 full time permanent jobs during the entire operation. Winslow will benefit from all of the direct and indirect spending. We are estimating to spend nearly $8 million per year during construction and a quarter million annually throughout its lifetime.”
The owners of Chevlon Butte Ranch, the O’Haco family of Winslow is in full support of this project. Family representative Kim O’Haco McReynolds read her letter of support to the board. In it, she explained her family’s support of clean energy as well as the desire to continue operating the cattle ranch that has been in her family for three generations. “For my family, this project creates a new opportunity to help us sustain our ranching operation. Which, as you can imagine is becoming more and more expensive and difficult to do. We decided that this project is closely aligned with our strong environmental stewardship. The turbines can coexist with our operation and provide additional revenue to help maintain the ranch.”
One of the concerns brought forth by District II Supervisor Jesse Thompson was the impact on the Hopi Tribe, which considers the area culturally significant. Unrein replied, “We have reached out to interested tribal agencies. We have done surveys that include nesting areas and flight paths of the eagles that make Chevlon Canyon their home. So far, the Hopi Tribe has not said they are fully against this project, or fully in support of it. We voluntarily sent letters to 11 potentially affected tribal agencies. They have expressed concerns. We will continue to have those conversations.”
Unrein explained that the environmental studies, including those affecting the collared eagle will continue over the next year. The approval of the special use permit allows S-Power to begin construction on the project which is slated to begin in 2020.
