By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item
SUNBURY "” Debate over a proposed wind farm has ended with Northumberland County commissioners signing a 29-year lease with a Sunbury firm that more than doubles the amount the county had been slated to receive under the original contract.
The deal will allow Penn Wind LLC to set up three wind turbines on county land in Coal and East Cameron townships.
In exchange, the county will receive 6 percent of the profits, or potentially $3.98 million over the life of the contract.
"It's admirable on the part of the commissioners that they took some time to understand what's in the lease," Penn Wind CEO Justin Dunkelberger said Tuesday.
All three commissioners, Frank Sawicki, Vinny Clausi and Kurt Masser, approved the deal.
It's been three years since the former board of commissioners, composed of Sawicki, Masser and Samuel Deitrick, signed an agreement to lease Penn Wind land for developing a wind farm for generating electricity.
Under the deal, the firm was to pay the county a guaranteed $56,000 a year.
When it came time last December to renew the lease, Clausi balked and demanded a better deal for taxpayers.
Contentious negotiations followed for the next several weeks, but the two sides were able to compromise.
At Tuesday's public meeting, Clausi said he was pleased that the county secured 6 percent of the gross profits from the wind farm.
"I was the troublemaker," Clausi said, adding "I welcome Penn Wind on board. I only fought for what I though was right for the taxpayer. I hope there are no hard feelings."
Dunkelberger said the two sides "have come a long way from a few months ago."
The next step is for Penn Wind to settle deed and title issues and review the project with its California-based investors.
The $30 million project is expected to require 10 full-time and 75 part-time positions in design, management and maintenance.
n E-mail comments to mmoore@dailyitem.com.
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$4M wind farm pact done
County doubles potential income
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