Albany County Commissioners have been looking over an application to build another wind project, and this week they deemed the proposed 37,000-acre Rock Creek project application complete, and it’s now open for public comment.
Invenergy, the Chicago-based company that submitted the application, wants to build 106 wind turbines mostly in northern Albany County, although a smaller portion is in Carbon County.
Albany County Planner David Gertsch said he’s interested in how state agencies will respond.
"So that'd be my question," he said. "Just to see the reviews that we received back from from the different agencies, especially like the state agencies — Wyoming Game and Fish and [Wyoming Department of Transportation] WYDOT and some of those folks — to see what issues they may see, just to make sure that this is designed properly, and will have as little impact on the surroundings as possible."
Gertsch said this project hasn’t been as controversial as the Rail Tie Projectbecause, unlike that one, three other wind farms are already in the area and because few people live nearby.
"There's big ranches out there, but there's not a whole lot of just residential lots and cabins and houses like there is down south of town."
Gertsch said the project would potentially create 450 temporary construction jobs and 34 full-time positions and generate as much as $190 million in tax revenue over 30 years.
The public can submit their comments about the project to the Albany County Commission through December 7.
