(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Worth County in a lawsuit over its wind farm moratorium and ordinance. Worthwhile Wind began developing plans in 2018 to build 55 wind turbines in Worth County at an estimated cost that could exceed 300 million dollars. Two new supervisors were elected to the three member board after public complaints about the turbines already in the county.
That new board then adopted a temporary moratorium on construction of wind energy systems in 2021, and in 2022 passed the first ordinance to regulate wind systems. Worthwhile Wind sued the county saying the work it had done predated the moratorium and ordinance and their project should be allowed. The Iowa Supreme Court says Worthwhile never filed a permit application, so it wasn’t a case of the supervisors delaying the permit until they could pass the ordinance.
The court ruling also says Worthwhile had spent less than one percent of the total cost of the project, and the project remained largely undefined when the moratorium and ordinance were passed. Justice Matthew McDermott wrote a dissenting opinion, saying: “The majority today blesses the county’s about-face and effectively kills the project despite its advanced stage. In my view, the facts here easily establish that the developer has a vested right under our precedents to finish the project.”
