“Cornhead” announces a victory …
… of the legal variety. Here’s the link, and here’s an excerpt:
I’m a solo practitioner in Omaha. I was hired as the Special Knox County Attorney to represent it in a federal court lawsuit. …
The Knox County industrial wind farm is the flagship project for National Grid Renewables. The projected cost is $1.3 billion. North Fork Wind intends to build 150 plus wind turbines over 600 feet in height. North Fork Wind spent – exclusive of attorneys’ fees – $19.3 million developing this project. Local landowners are projected to be paid $5.8 million per year. Knox County political subdivisions are to receive $2.8 million per year. These are big numbers.
On March 14, 2025, Senior United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard mostly granted my motion. After his ruling, I doubt that the industrial wind project will be built. The full 40-page memorandum and order can be found at PACER, docket 4:24-cv-3150.
Thanks again to Neo for the link to my sad and seldom visited website.
This case is nationally significant and many counties will now ban solar and wind. See footnote 6.
DDB
That section of the Niobrara river looks very nice – it’s a good thing Knox County is trying to preserve it. Would really like to see it IRL.
Congratulations to Mr. Begley!
Sparkee:
The prime part to canoe or tube the Niobrara is between Valentine and Rocky Ford. It is a nationally protected river.
But if you visit, do NOT go past Rocky Ford. I could have been killed if I would have gotten sucked down the Norden Chute.
Congratulations Cornhead!
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody no good.”
The ‘no goods’ lost one for a change.
More winning! Good job, Mr. Begley!!
Well done, Cornhead!! I hope your victory, and your post, get national attention so other counties can take advantage of the idea and your successful arguments.
Oh, and good luck to Creighton against Auburn this evening.
Kudos indeed!!
Yes, this is awesome, Cornhead!
Congratulations!!
I’ll be sharing it, with hopes that in a few good ripples, it reaches very relevant eyes!
Well done!
I love starting my day with good news.
Congratulations, Cornhead!!
Congratulations! But can we get just a little more backgound? The few counties in my state – Hawaii – would jump at the chance to get some ‘free’ money from the wind farm scam even though they are extremely unpopular with voters. I’m wondering if your county authorities were elected on a pledge to resist wind development?
Congrat’s on the win… and on such short notice.
Cornhead’s blog would be an excellent addition to our hostess’s blogroll.
Neo? Neo…?
Great job by Cornhead. David against Goliath indeed!
@ Kate & Marlene
The excerpt Neo posted, although it whetted my interest, left out the essential part to start those ripples going to other counties.
The best example for the other lawyers, and counties, is that a well-prepared advocate can go up against the Big Money Firms and win when his case is legally as well as economically correct.
“Over the years, I learned how inefficient solar and wind energy are and how it raises prices for consumers. People like the fantasy of “free” power. I think most people are poorly informed about the economics of Green energy.”
It’s only “free” if you totally ignore all the negative aspects, and the MSM has been very helpful in keeping those out of the public’s view.
“I, David D. Begley, personally stopped the federal government from spending $390 million that it doesn’t have and would have to borrow and add to our $37 trillion debt. I’m no Elon Musk, but I did what I could. You are all welcome. Glad to help.”
If more people had been able, and willing, to do the same thing, we wouldn’t need Musk and DOGE now.
See Neo’s post on the Epitome of Government Waste.
Excellent comment, AF; but on second thought, I wonder: is it truly government WASTE? Or is it government THEFT? Government larceny.
True, it may at one time have been “negligence” but I think it’s been converted—seamlessly?—to a racket; to actual criminality…such that the more innocuous phenomenon of “waste”, bad enough as it is, has in its latest incarnation been used, intentionally, to COVER UP—there’s that “methodology” again!—the far more serious (and now ubiquitous) felony.
(Just another Democratic Party—RESISTANCE, TRANSFORMATIONAL—tactic that’s gone viral…)
True, one might object that both parties are guilty of such corrupt practices; but the Democrats seem to have turned it into an art form—or rather a raison d’etre…
As long as wind and solar are not receiving public subsidies, not sure there’s any proper complaint against them.
Cornhead, and Neo, thank you so much for this information. I will pass it on to my county Supervisor tomorrow. Here is a brief summary of what we are facing, even with overwhelming opposition to the project:
“The Project:
The Fountain Wind Project, a proposed wind energy facility, is located 1 mile west of the existing Hatchet Ridge Wind Project and 6 miles west of Burney, in eastern Shasta County.
“Shasta County’s Opposition:
Shasta County supervisors [in unanimous votes] have repeatedly rejected the project, citing concerns about wildfire risk, potential impacts to the Pit River Tribe’s sacred lands, and concerns about the project’s potential to impede aerial firefighting efforts.
“Local Ordinance:
Shasta County has a local ordinance that bans large-scale wind farms, which the county has used as a basis for its opposition to the project.
“California Energy Commission (CEC):
The California Energy Commission (CEC) is now considering the project, potentially overruling Shasta County’s decision under Assembly Bill 205 (AB 205) which allows the state to consider approving projects that the County has rejected.
“Legal Action:
Shasta County, along with the Pit River Tribe, filed a lawsuit against the CEC to challenge the CEC’s consideration of the project, but the lawsuit was paused in October.”
Cornhead: I just emailed your website info to the Stop Fountain Wind Project in Shasta County, CA. Their phone 530-225-5561 or StopFountain(dot)com
@Art Deco:As long as wind and solar are not receiving public subsidies, not sure there’s any proper complaint against them.
If that were ever the case, I don’t think there would be either, but they don’t produce commercially competitive power. And it’s a little worse than just being subsidized. In the Pacific Northwest in 2011, BPA was forced to put wind power on the grid even though there was already a glut, in which case someone else had to be paid to take the surplus. If the power was not put on the grid, wind farmers couldn’t get tax credits, and that’s the only thing that makes their business model work:
The glut of power is seasonal; the peaks of wind and hydro generation in the Pacific Northwest occur at about the same time every year, and for the same reason. The wind energy is simply not needed in the area where it can be generated, and the tax incentives don’t allow the power to be stored by pumping water back into reservoirs, and there isn’t a cheaper method of storage at scale.
A lot of people get that wind is erratic and when you don’t have enough wind power you have to backstop it with something else. What fewer people realize is that wind over-production requires something on the grid that can be shut down.
The easiest things to shut down and restart are hydro and natural gas generation. So wind power displaces hydro from the grid when it’s running, and is backstopped by natural gas when it’s not, for a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
All because of the incentive structure for wind power…
Niketas, re: Art Deco
” … As long as wind and solar are not receiving public subsidies, not sure there’s any proper complaint against them.”
“If that were ever the case, I don’t think there would be either, but they don’t produce commercially competitive power. And it’s a little worse than just being subsidized. ”
Yes good points in your longer comments, Niketas.
Likewise,in Dem controlled big cities like Austin, TX, the subsidies are baked in, and have been for nearly 20 years — at least!
Btw, Austin is having power outages routinely during weather disturbances — meaning not only big storms, but even gusty winds.
Most often, we never get an explanation.
The Other Chuck:
That’s what I was hoping and why I wanted to get the word out about the Knox County case.
DDB
BRAVO ZULU, CORNHEAD!