"If I have to look at them, I might as well get paid." "The guy told me I have to look at them, I might as well have one." "All my neighbors signed up, so I did too."
"My neighbor is getting one, if I have to look at it, I should get a check too."
The variations of this quote could go on and on. In the end, it comes down to one thing, Money. Everything with the High Prairie project, any wind project, always comes back to money.
The people who repeatedly state these things, are leaseholders. Leaseholders attempting to justify why they signed on the dotted line. Well, here is the reality: They were gullible, they were blinded by the idea of "free money," they failed to actual verify the sales pitch they were being told, and they sold out. They sold out themselves, their farms, their families, their neighbors and their community.
Saying that you figured you should get paid if your neighbor was getting paid or because you were going to have to look at them, does not justify the action. It will never justify the action.
People signed because they believed that the project was a "done deal." Again, they failed to actually do any research. This project would not have happened without the signatures of those people who were overcome with the desire for more money. The project, would be dead. The project was not approved by the Public Service Commission until October of 2018. Before the project could even be presented for approval, it took Terra-Gen over TWO YEARS to obtain enough signatures and acquire (as in land rights) enough land for the project. Even then, they did not have enough, it took another year for them to finish getting what they needed. Beyond this, the project was not permitted with Schuyler County, even though the commissioners did all they could to ignore Schuyler County's zoning that had been in place since 1990 (That's a conversation for another blog).
In an effort to avoid digressing too far, let's just lay it out. A little brutal honesty for those that think they can explain away their poor decision making skills: You. Made. A. Huge. Mistake.
Thanks for the destruction.
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