A Minnesota man is facing jail Thursday as the deadline set by a Hennepin County judge to remove a turbine he built on his own property has passed.
This long-running dispute over wind turbine has led a judge to order the Orono resident, Jay Nygard, to remove the wind turbine he built four years ago by February 11th, or else he and his wife will spend six months in jail and pay a $250 fine.
What’s all the fuss about a wind turbine? The judge says that it’s a “nuisance.”
Now, Nygard says that he has complied with every last thing in the court order… except for removing the actual turbine. That, he says, he does not intend to do.
He has paid the court judgment and he’s even shut down the turbine itself. But he does not see any reason the non-operating turbine itself should have to be physically removed from his own private property.
“I don’t want go to jail over this. These are my rights. She doesn’t have the right to trample them,” Nygard explained.
But Nygard’s neighbors, Penny Rogers and Peter Lanpher, say that the 29-foot turbine’s blades come across a fence onto their own property. They also claim that the turbine is very loud and reflects the sun onto their property.
“If you sit on their deck, it is almost like you could reach out and touch it,” Tennant explained.
In response to the Nygards’ turbine, the city passed an ordinance banning them altogether. But a district judge ruled that while they could restrict turbines, they were not legally allowed to ban them.
Nygard’s lawyer, Erick Kaardal, says that the family is prepared to go to jail if need be, because green and alternative energy is a right.
“He is ready to serve based on principle,” Kaardal explained.
The latest word that he have received is that an appeal hearing has been scheduled for March 4th. Stay tuned for the latest on this story!