Farmers in Mechanicsville may lose millions due to a wind turbine fire

Mechanicsville, Iowa – In less than a year and a half, a Mechanicsville farm has to clear up its third wind turbine fire.

All three were triggered by lightning strikes.

The proprietors of the land are now attempting to determine what comes next.

Wind turbines that aren’t producing electricity have to be torn down within a year, according to a Cedar County legislation.

Although the owners of the turbine are accountable for that, the landowner is accountable for any damage left behind.

The surrounding farmland was covered in turbine debris after the wind turbine’s blade collapsed to the ground.

“I’m not sure how you ever clean it up, especially considering how difficult it gets to clean up the longer you wait. The owner of the farm, Sally Freeman, added, “And since there’s so much still here, I don’t know what we’re going to do with it.

With this being Freeman’s third turbine fire, she has discovered the hard way that cleanup is an arduous task.

Freeman stated, “We don’t really know how they want to take it down, and we don’t really have a timeline yet.”

She also discovered that the cleanup performed by wind energy businesses isn’t flawless.

Freeman’s cornfield was covered in wires and fiberglass after earlier cleanups, and the large machinery that was used to remove the last turbine is still occupying space.

She can’t use the land because of all the fiberglass and trash in the field, which is a costly loss.

According to Freeman, “I would estimate it’s in the millions between like additional costs to us… additional costs to and damages to our soil.”

Parts of the building are still blowing off in the wind, and the fallen blade is still smoking days after the fire.

Freeman is concerned that the fiberglass fragments would shatter the farm’s machinery. She is already aware that the impacted area will not allow her to sell any corn.

“There’s probably at least 1000 acres that have been affected by these two turbines because of the storms that followed the fire and the fact that there’s now two fires on the same turbine, three fires in the same field,” Freeman stated.

Freeman stated that while she is not opposed to wind energy, legislation is necessary to expedite the cleanup process.