Wind farms vs. neighbors - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 38

apply pesticides, fungicides, or fertilizers onto rural land through a process
commonly known as “crop dusting.” When a wind farm is added to a
farming community, crop dusters must obviously be careful to avoid colli-
sions with the new turbines. However, wind farms also create another,
less visible risk that can be equally dangerous for crop dusting planes:
wind turbines create a wake of turbulent airflow behind them that can be
hazardous to small airplanes flying up to half a mile away.
Because of the additional risks associated with crop dusting near wind
farms, some crop dusting companies in the United States have been known
to charge as much as a 50 percent surcharge to crop dust near wind
turbines. 110 At least one wind energy developer has offered to directly
pay these surcharges in an effort to appease neighboring farmers. 111 Still,
opposition from crop dusting companies and from neighboring farmers
who rely on their services can create additional obstacles for wind projects
sited near farmland.
Above-ground transmission lines commonly associated with wind farms
can also disrupt crop dusting activities. Transmission lines are often buried
below the ground on the project site but are then brought above ground
once electricity passes through the project's substation and its voltage
increases. Some of these lines inevitably must cross through agricultural
fields under easements, and occasionally these lines get in the way of crop
dusters. A crop dusting company in Oklahoma, United States, recently
sued a wind energy developer because of concerns that a new 90-foot
transmission line for the developer's wind energy project would inhibit the
company's crop dusting flights.112 112 The transmission line was to be erected
relatively close to the company's private airstrip. Although the developer
held transmission line easements for the line and the FAA had already
approved it, the lawsuit created an unexpected obstacle to completing the
project.
A few possible strategies have emerged for dealing with conflicts between
crop dusting and wind farms, although none of them offer a panacea for
this problem. Ground-based crop spraying may be one means of mitigating
these conflicts, although many farmers prefer aerial spraying because it is
less damaging to crops. One way of avoiding the hazards of turbine wakes
would be for operators of wind energy projects to agree to shut of turbines
during crop spraying upon reasonable notice, although even that would not
eliminate the risk of collisions.
Given that wind energy projects are frequently developed in agricultural
areas, it is not surprising that many wind energy leases have provisions that
directly address the topic of aerial spraying in an effort to prevent it from
later becoming an issue of contention. These tensions are likely to only
continue as wind energy development moves increasingly beyond range-
lands and into farmlands over the next century.