County staff outlines four responses to Alliant proposal and gives preliminary cost ranges

County staff walked supervisors through a table of options for responding to Alliant Energy’s Hub City wind proposal and gave high-level cost and feasibility guidance. Laurie Muskemens told the board that "none of the options are mutually exclusive," and that counties commonly combine approaches (for example negotiating a JDA while reserving the right to intervene). She identified these four response paths and summarized likely trade-offs.

On costs, staff said negotiation of a JDA could be relatively inexpensive in state context — "we thought it could be up to $20,000" — by drawing on existing template language and state resources. Intervention in PSC proceedings, by contrast, was estimated to range from about $75,000 to over $200,000 depending on the scope and expert witnesses required, and staff cautioned intervention rarely stops a project outright. For appeals after a CPCN, staff provided a preliminary litigation cost estimate in the $20,000–$50,000 range but said additional outside counsel estimates were pending.

Laurie pointed supervisors to comparative resources including the Badger Hollow joint developer agreement and work by Wisconsin Land and Water and the Center for Land Use Education as examples of favorable JDA language.

The presentation noted that a Farmers Union survey provided since the staff memo showed more support for the wind project among respondents but did not specifically ask about joint developer agreements.