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.