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In a packed room Monday morning there was a public hearing for Invenergy’s new wind project in the area between Hoopeston and Rankin. The project is largely confined to Butler Township and will add approximately 81 wind turbines to the area. Each will occupy about an acre. The project, named Musketeer, will produce in the area of 300 megawatts. James Griffin is the attorney for Invenergy. He is a partner at Schain Banks, Ltd,
located in Chicago. The Hearing Officer is Scott Kains, an attorney out of Springfield whose function is to be sure the hearing is conducted in an orderly way and the public gets answers to their questions. Attorney Andrew Keyt of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen from Peoria represented the County. All three have experience in wind and solar energy law and permitting hearing such as this.
Lead developer Greg Vasilion with Invenergy gave an outline of the project. The project presented letters of support from landowners and testimony from Mayor Mark Eighner of Rankin, who is also the business manager for Hoopeston school district. He stated that the Village welcomes the new revenue stream, and the schools also benefits. Greg Vasilion stated that Invenergy will bring over $100 million in property tax over 30 years. Of that, $40 million goes to schools. Invenergy’s proposal is for a 300-megawatt project here. Invenergy has a 2500-megawatt wind farm already here. They will operate the project as well as develop it according to the testimony. The Hoopeston Area school district supported the project by resolution in
December 2023. The current project was initiated from a call from a landowner. Both Hoopeston and Rankin have agreements to support this development. As a point of interest, Vasilion noted that the airplane lights only operate when planes are in area with the help of monitoring technology to prevent 24 operation of the lights.