25 May 2018

Evaluation of Known Memoranda of Agreement for Wind Turbine Facilities, Cherry County

Prepared by James E. Ducey, Valentine, initially in May 8, 2016; revised and updated November-December, 2017. Version 2.1. This is a draft document and subject to change as it is a paradox to determine the actuality of the records, despite a reliance on official government records since expressed details by the wind turbine proponents do not match the official county records.

This is an evaluation of land owners who have knowingly signed an agreement with Cherry County Wind LLC to allow development of wind turbine facilities on their property. The agreements officially filed within a Cherry county office would allow the development of wind turbines and have been reestablished by the controlling entity, Bluestem Sandhills LLC.

Details were derived from documents in Book 50 and Book 52 of Miscellaneous Agreements, kept in the Cherry county deed office. For those entities that had agreements filed in 2015, an “Amended and Restated Abstract/Memorandum of Agreement” was filed in late October, 2017.

The overall acreage for these entities is a sum of 352,010+ acres for the known agreements filed and available for public review at the county deed records office. There are fewer than fifty individual parties indicated by these documents.

It should be noted that for a couple of the ranch properties, the parcels indicated by the agreement are less than the overall extent of acreage indicated by the county GIS records, as available online in late November. In one instance, a parcel properties indicated with the agreement differs actual extent of acreage as denoted in county assessor records. There is one instance where the acreage parcels indicated in 2015 differ from those indicated in 2017 in the amended agreement. Note the examples where the enrolled acreage is less than 640 acres. Also indicated in this comparison is the enrollment of property owners that have an indicated address outside of Nebraska, obviously showing the involvement of absentee landowners.

Any consideration of these details is limited by the lack of legal records. It is obvious from comments presented in recent months during hearings in Cherry county meetings, that additional parties are associated with Cherry County Wind, LLC. There is an example to consider as associated with the Adamson family and their corporate entities.

It needs to be indicated that it is nearly impossible to derive any sort of accurate figure. There are sources
of errors which prevent an accurate tally. While reconsidering records associated with publicly-owned Board of Educational Lands and Funds, there were errors. Some of the parcels listed in the agreement were not indicated in the tally of parcels given in a legal document filed in December 2015. Another parcel is not indicated as a BELF parcel in the online county GIS details, though a legally filed agreement indicates it as such. Another parcel is shown by two versions of plat maps as being privately owned, though the section is listed as being owned by the BELF, according to documentation filed as associated with Cherry County Wind, LLC.

It also needs to be realized that changes in this information may occur, based upon details given with any amended and restated details of agreement as filed near the end of October, 2017. These documents have not been reviewed.

The reality is that it is nearly impossible to actually determine an accurate figure for land ownership. There are too many errors associated with the sources used to evaluate the details. This is problematic, as errors occur in the online record-base as provided by Cherry county, as well as the documents filed in the county courthouse. The base records may be accurate, but it would require an extensive evaluation to be completely accurate. Therefore this evaluation is an approximation.

Some of the areas indicated may not be suitable for development of a turbine facility. Based upon their small extent and configuration the property lines or distance from an occupied dwelling may not comply with zoning regulations. This can be determined further once the changes to the Cherry county zoning regulations are approved by the county commissioners.

There has to be other land owners involved with Cherry County Wind LLC, based upon the claims of the business entity. All of the following locales are within Cherry county.

Abbott Cattle Company Gordon (ranch in western Cherry county) 48,676 acres1 ( B
Taylor G. and Kerri Adamson Bluejacket, OK 1240 ( B
Todd M. Adamson Cody 2706 ( A
Jeanne K. Ang and Wayne R. Wright Spring Grove, IL 1431 ( C
William D. Barner and Donalee A. Berner Mullen (ranch in Cherry county) 1104 ( C
Board of Educational Lands and Funds Lincoln (prominent locale along Highway 83 in southern Cherry County, north of Thedford) 26,491 ( C
Bow & Arrow, LLC Auburn, AL 20,224 ( C
Broken Box Company (Rex Adamson) Cody 37,002 ( B
Glen Coble and Sons, Inc. (Matt G. Coble) Mullen 19,922 ( A
Don Cox Ranch Company Mullen 6167 ( B
Donald B. and Deborah S. Cox Mullen 640 ( B
Curtis Ranch, Inc. (Marie Wiese) Whitman (ranch west of the headwaters of the North Loup River) 6120 ( B
Donald D. and Jolene M. Grunhaupt Crookston 760 ( B
Reed Hamilton Ranch, Inc. (David W. Hamilton) Thedford 5733 ( B
Henderson Land and Livestock Company (Michael Henderson) Whitman (ranch to north in Cherry county) 11,372 ( B
Casey L. Henderson Hyannis (parcel in Cherry county) 640 ( B
Elmus M. and Tonya J. Henderson Whitman 7142 ( A
Larry and Carolynn T. Henderson Whitman 15,698 ( B
Mark E. Johnson Kilgore 447 ( C
Mark and Janelle Johnson Kilgore 615 2 ( C
Krajeski and Johnson, Inc. (John Johnson) Cody 2598 ( B
Krajeski and Johnson, Inc. Cody 2440 ( B
Robert B. Lord; Robert B. and Donna Mae Lord Lamar, CO 9001 ( C
Robert B. Lord, Wendy Fritzler and Phy Lord Lamar, CO 2454 ( C
Dean R. and Jennifer A. Marsh Kearney 1259 ( C
Robert J. Marsh; Robert J. and Peggy L. Marsh Mullen 1393 ( C
Wade W. Marsh and Kelly M. Marsh Minden 320 ( C
Lyn J. (DeNaeyer) Messersmith Alliance 8080 ( A
Matthew A. Miles and Carmen V. Miles Brownlee 1465 ( B
North LLC (Marian L. Nutter) Thedford 4683 ( C
Daniel W. and Shirley E. Osborn Mullen (ranch in Cherry county) 2836 ( C
Michael Don Peterson and Tammy J. Peterson Kilgore 399 ( C
Ivan R. and Phyllis M. Phillips Whitman 1829 ( B
Lyle D. and Twila F. Phillips Mullen 1888 ( C
John N. and Patsy L. Phipps Whitman 1680 ( B
Duane R. and Carolyn J. Porath Valentine 631 ( A
Powderhorn Ranch, Inc. (William W. Fischer) Nenzel 12,281 ( A
Ridenour Land and Cattle, Ltd. (Larry Ridenour) Mullen 7493 ( C
Rocking J Taylor Company (Taylor Adamson) Cody 3712 ( C
Rocking J Todd Company (Todd Adamson) Cody 16,140 ( B
S.K.K.B. Carpenter Ranch, LLC (Larry Ridenour) Mullen 5560 ( C
Fink-Sheer Inc. (Kevin Sheer) Elsmere 2989 ( C
Nancy and Robert Sinnett Valentine 2684 ( C
South LLC (Marian L. Nutter) Thedford 2863 ( B
Sunny Slope Ranch, Inc. (Adam Fischer) Valentine 9730 ( B
Three Bar Cattle Company (John W. Ravenscroft, a former county commissioner) Nenzel 26,694 ( C
James L. and Michalene R. Van Winkle (he has been a county commissioner for years with his tenure ending December, 2018) Wood Lake 657 ( A
Yeager Ranch Land, Inc. (Rex Adamson) Cody 4121 ( B

( 1 Acreage totals have been rounded to the nearest whole number
( A – total given with document
( B – summation of parcel acres given with document
( C – parcel acreage as derived from county GIS and other assessor records
( 2 Acreage total 615 with 2015 agreement and 447 acres in 2017 amended document

Known investors in Cherry County Wind LLC


March 2018 image courtesy of Tyler Rath, who developed the may based upon details indicated by this report.

It should be noted that this summary information does not conform to the acreage and membership details indicated by Cherry County Wind LLC, with additional unknown details that would be indicative.

1 comment:

Roy said...

This is a greeat blog

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