County staff recommend negotiating with wind developer, a path most residents didn't ask for

By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review

Two months after Marathon County collected nearly 1,400 mostly negative survey responses about a proposed wind farm in its southwestern townships, county staff are recommending that the county sit down and negotiate with the developer.

The recommendation appears in a pair of memos dated Aug. 6 from the county’s Conservation, Planning and Zoning department and County Administration, included in the packet for Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting. Both memos reach the same conclusion: a negotiated agreement with Alliant Energy would do more for Marathon County than trying to block the project through the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

The committee meets at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, in the Courthouse Assembly Room, 500 Forest St. The agenda calls for a discussion of options on the Hub City Wind Project, including a panel discussion with municipal officials from other Wisconsin communities. The committee then plans to go into closed session under the exemption for public business requiring confidentiality for competitive or bargaining reasons. The stated topic is strategy for the county’s engagement with Alliant Energy, including, the agenda says, “how to address resident and municipality concerns regarding potential project impacts.”

The staff recommendation lands at a point in the process that will be uncomfortable for many of the residents who participated in the county’s spring outreach. The county’s online survey, which closed June 19, drew 1,395 responses. A draft report presented in late June found most participants saw no benefits from the project.

At that meeting, Marathon County Board member John Robinson, who chairs the advisory committee that gathered the input, described the group’s role narrowly. “Our (job) is not to pass judgment on the merits of the project, but rather collect the information,” Robinson said.

The Aug. 6 memos answer the question that framing left open. They recommend the county use the advisory committee’s report to identify and prioritize the concerns that would go into an agreement with Alliant — in other words, to treat the public’s objections as a list of items to negotiate over rather than as a verdict on whether the project should proceed.

Staff do not present that as an easy sell. The outreach memo acknowledges the local resistance in the same sentence in which it makes the recommendation.

“While some Marathon County community sentiment for JDAs has not been popular,” the memo states, other Wisconsin communities “consistently identified negotiated agreements as the most effective tool available” for issues outside the county’s regulatory authority.

What staff learned about fighting it

At the Executive Committee’s direction, staff spent the summer researching the other option: intervening in the PSC’s review.

Under Wisconsin law, energy projects generating more than 100 megawatts are regulated by the PSC rather than by local government. Alliant’s Hub City Wind Farm is a proposed 150-megawatt project of 28 to 38 turbines across the towns of Day, McMillan, Eau Pleine, Cleveland, Green Valley and Brighton. The company has said it intends to file a formal application with the PSC in late 2026, with construction potentially beginning in 2028 or 2029 if approved.

Individuals and organizations can seek party status in that proceeding, typically within 14 days of the notice opening the docket, according to the intervention memo. Approved intervenors can submit testimony, question witnesses and file briefs.

But PSC staff told the county they were not aware of any intervention that has resulted in the commission declining to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity, the approval a project like Hub City requires. PSC staff also said they were not aware of any county that has applied for or received intervenor compensation, the financial assistance available to eligible participants.

Intervention “requires significant time and resources,” the memo states, and there is “no guarantee” it alone produces concessions or improved mitigation from the applicant. Staff’s assessment is that intervention is best used as leverage after negotiations break down, not instead of them.

What other counties told the county

The second memo summarizes responses from Columbia, Iowa, Kenosha and St. Croix counties and the Town of Saratoga in Wood County. Staff said repeated attempts to reach Portage County were unsuccessful.

Every jurisdiction that responded had used a joint development agreement, memorandum of understanding or operating agreement as its primary tool. The consistent message was to engage before a developer files with the PSC, while there is still room to influence turbine placement, setbacks and access roads.

Kenosha County’s planning and development director, Andy Buehler, put the timing plainly in his written response. “We were engaged when they were listening, which was before the PSC filing,” he wrote, recommending that communities reach agreements before a developer files.

Iowa County approved a joint development agreement with developer Invenergy on July 22 after three to four months of negotiation, covering road maintenance, school funding and communication expectations. County Administrator Clinton Langreck offered a blunt caution about what such agreements can and cannot do.

“Voting ‘no’ on an operations agreement doesn’t stop the project from happening even if you do not agree with building large solar/wind projects in your county,” Langreck wrote.

The Town of Saratoga reported that its developer voluntarily paid for a historical society sign, purchased firefighting equipment and drilled an on-site high-capacity well for fire protection.

Columbia County, notably, is negotiating with the same company Marathon County would be. Staff there reported recently sending Alliant Energy a draft operating agreement for a wind project in that county and awaiting the company’s feedback.

The counterexample

One response in the packet cuts against the recommendation.

St. Croix County hired outside counsel and spent months negotiating a joint development agreement with Xcel Energy over a proposed 300-megawatt solar facility paired with battery storage. On May 20, according to the county’s response, the PSC stated it had no position on whether a developer chooses to pursue such an agreement. Shortly afterward, Xcel told the county it was no longer interested in continuing negotiations.

Asked to name the advantages and disadvantages of its approach, St. Croix County listed one of each. The advantage was that it stood up against the project. The disadvantage was losing everything the agreement would have delivered — emergency management provisions, road use standards, decommissioning requirements and setbacks.

The case illustrates a limit on the strategy staff are recommending: a negotiated agreement requires a developer willing to negotiate, and the PSC will not require one to be.

The packet contains no draft agreement for Marathon County, no list of what the county would ask Alliant for, and no indication of whether Alliant has agreed to negotiate.

What’s at stake financially

Alliant’s public materials describe the project as generating up to $5,000 per megawatt annually under Wisconsin’s utility shared revenue program, split between the host county and towns. At the project’s assumed 150-megawatt capacity, the company estimates roughly $22.5 million over the life of the project. Landowners hosting turbines receive separate lease payments.

Also on Thursday’s agenda

The committee will also hear from ice arena user groups on facility planning and fundraising, continue work on the 2027 budget including a review of mandatory and discretionary programs, and receive a presentation on the LifeWork$ pre-employment program.

The committee will also take up new position requests and reclassifications for 2027. Administration is bringing forward a single reclassification, from senior administrative assistant to office manager, with an estimated impact of $2,143.47 that the memo says would be covered within the existing departmental budget. The county board directed on July 28 that the proposed budget not include new positions requiring additional levy beyond budgeted compensation increases.

Wausau Pilot & Review will continue reporting on the county’s approach to the Hub City Wind Farm.