The Coles County Board approved Apex Clean Energy’s 51-turbine Coles Wind project in a 6-5 vote Tuesday.
The decision came after years of debate, dozens of public meetings and 14 days of hearings where residents and Coles Wind representatives made their cases.
During the public comment period before Tuesday’s vote, residents and others shared their opinions. Supporters mainly cited economic benefits, especially for local schools, and the addition of new jobs. While others voiced concerns about health risks, property values and doubts that Apex would meet its promises to the community.
Rick Shook, who represents District Eight and voted against the project, said he has wrestled with the decision for years.
“I think that there’s some errors involved with the wind turbines. I don’t think we knew everything at once what was going on,” Shook said. “I think it was confusing even to me, even to the board. But we made our votes tonight.”
Apex submitted a 698-page special use permit application to the county in January.
Shook said he worries about Apex’s commitment to maintaining roads during and after construction.
“They’re supposed to take care of the roads when they’re working on putting them up. In case they have problems with them, they gotta work on them, they’re supposed to take care of the roads constantly and all that. Hopefully they do,” he said. “I don’t see them doing it, myself. I think they’re going to drop the ball on that.”
Michael Watts, District Three, voted in favor, stating his primary focus was ensuring the project met state law and county ordinances.
“What I’ve told everybody from the beginning of this whole process is that my job is to make sure that the application meets the statute, state law and Coles County’s ordinance pertaining to wind farms, and if it does that, then it should go forward because it’s the law,” Watts said.
Watts acknowledged the project would not please everyone in the community, but believes it will help the county remain financially stable.
“I think that clean energy overall is a good idea,” he said. “I also think this will help lower or at least hold property taxes to some extent. I’ve talked to people from other counties where they’ve actually been able to lower their property taxes because bringing energy projects in their counties. I don’t know if that is going to happen here, but I do think that it will help us at the county stay balanced, be able to pay our staff closer to what they deserve and keep them here.”
According to Apex’s website, the Coles Wind project is projected to produce enough energy to power 103,000 homes annually while providing tax revenue for the local government and schools and temporary and permanent jobs. The wind farm will be built across approximately 20,000 acres north of Charleston, bordered by Interstate 57 to the east and Illinois 133 to the south.
During public comment, James Dinaso, who spoke against the project, argued that the promised tax benefits would not materialize.
“I would be willing to bet, I come back in five years, those numbers they gave you is a bunch of crap. You’re not gonna get the money,” Dinaso said.
The Coles Wind project is part of a broader trend of wind energy development in Illinois which follows the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, passed in 2021, which aims to increase renewable energy while reducing carbon emissions and dependency on fossil fuels.
Apex has said it plans to start construction in 2026.
