[Carpenter] My talk with Mark Templeton about wind energy/MPF

[Kevin N Carpenter]

Hi all.  Wanted to throw my 2 cents in and perhaps shift the 
conversation from strategic to tactical.  In my prior role at Monsanto, 
I found value in having 30 second "elevator" speeches prepared for 
selling my ideas. Such speeches were designed to grab the attention of 
the audience and serve as a basis of further conversation.

To that end, I'd suggest something like these:

Short: "Today, less than 2/10ths of 1% of Missouri's original native 
prairie remain.  These remnant communities are biologically diverse and 
have been recognized by the state as Conservation Opportunity Areas 
(COAs).  Nine of the states thirty-five COAs are grassland (e.g. 
'prairie') based.  Recent studies have shown that large wind farms 
negatively impact such areas.  We therefore request that these 9 COAs be 
protected from such wildlife questionable technologies."

Longer: "Fewer than 90,000 acres of Missouri's original 15 MILLION acres 
of prairie remain.  Thats less than 2/10ths of 1%!  Much of the 
remaining biologically diverse prairie has been recognized by the state 
and incorporated into the states Conservation Opportunities Areas 
(COAs), representing 9 of the 35 COAs.  Studies have shown that large 
commercial wind farms negatively impact the biodiversity of such areas - 
both from the presence of the wind towers themselves and the need for 
massive quantities of power transmission towers and associated 
infrastructure.  Given that a single typical 200-megawatt wind farm 
could negatively impact over 12,000 acres, we request that these wind 
farms be located beyond a reasonable buffer zone from the 9 grassland 
COAs to avoid the inherent conflict in goals.  Landowners in those COAs 
would, of course, still be free to install home class units for 
individual usage and potential feeding into the local power grid per 
existing state laws and incentive programs."

Prepared Statement (if given, say, 5 minutes of time to grab someones 
attention): "At least 15 million acres of Missouri, covering more than a 
third of the state, were prairie at the time of European settlement. 
Fewer than 90,000 acres remain - approximately 2/10th of 1 percent!  The 
bio-diversity represented within native prairies is 2nd only to tropical 
rain forest and indo-pacific reefs on the planet <reference needed>.  We 
are discovering new uses for this resource on a regular basis such as 
for potentially renewable bio-fuel feed stock, cap and trade carbon 
sequestering, and natural beef production.

Today these prairie fragments have been recognized by the state as 9 of 
the 35 designated Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs).  These COAs are 
being jointly managed by over 18 government and non-government 
organizations.  Planned large scale commercial wind farms are a threat 
to the bio-diversity within these prairie fragments.

We request that the state of Missouri protect the 9 grassland COAs from 
development of Wind Turbine or similar wildlife questionable commercial 
scale technologies.  This could be accomplished by place a very small 
portion of the state, including the COAs themselves and a reasonable 
buffer zone, off-limits for such development.  Doing so would have a 
huge positive impact to the states conservation efforts, while leaving 
99+% of the state open for creating the jobs and power America needs. 
Landowners in the protected zone would, of course, still be free to 
install home class wind units for individual usage and potential feeding 
into the local power grid per existing state laws and incentive 
programs.  These smaller units would have a minimal impact, since they 
are typically located near domestic housing and associated pre-existing 
infrastructure.

Talking points:

• Prairie is home to more than 800 native plants, thousands of native 
pollinators and other insects and invertebrates, and a diversity of 
vertebrate animals.
• Prairie plant roots, some growing as deep at 15 feet, sequester 
carbon, build rich soil, help with groundwater recharge and protect streams.
• Meat from cattle and bison raised on native tallgrass prairie is 
nutritious and delicious. Grazing by these animals provides excellent 
vegetation structure for wildlife. Cattle on prairie help cattle 
producers afford to keep prairie as prairie.
• Many plants that are hardy and water-efficient for our home and 
corporate landscaping are native to Missouri’s prairies. Our prairies 
are genetic reservoirs that can provide us with future resources to 
improve our lives
• According to Charles Pappas, planner with the Missouri Department of 
Natural Resources Energy Center, the trend among wind energy companies 
is to site at least 150 to 250 towers on at least 10,000 acres. We 
understand that a current project in northeastern Missouri may affect 
60,000 acres. Because so little of Missouri’s original prairie remains, 
we are especially concerned with prairie habitat fragmentation that 
could occur with wind power of this scale within any of Missouri’s nine 
grassland COAs, and most immediately in the Mystic Plains, Grand River 
Grasslands and Loess Hills Conservation Opportunity Areas in northern 
Missouri"

If we could agree to such simple messages, I believe we could unify our 
communication and present a much stronger front.

Of course, most of the above is stated in the formal letter sent to Jay 
Nixon, but I hope their brevity bring with it a simplified, and 
therefore easier to sell, message.

Thoughts?

Kevin

> I agree with Carol that what we need is cooperation with Alternative
> Energy suppliers and how Economically sound projects can also mean
> environmentally  sound projects, that support clean air and water, that
> conserve soil, and benefit wildlife.  Brian Obermeyer sent most of us
> information to a web site that Kansas developed in analyzing site
> locations for potential wind farms. This web site could be a  tool in
> analyzing potential sites in Missouri but in my own industrial experiences
> we use lessons learned meetings to constantly improve our relationships
> with our customers and the delivery of our projects.  Meeting with and
> soliciting the aid of participants in the Kansas projects and getting
> input on how this web site really applies to us could be the first step in
> making some informed decisions on our own state.  The big push on energy
> may overwhelm the logic of sound conservation of our few remaining
> “COA”.    I believe that a majority of these areas are in private land
> owners hands, and it may be difficult to convince them not to locate
> revenue producing opportunities on their land unless there are
> alternatives.  Many of the Northern Mo. properties around my 1100 acre
> farm in Putnam county are owned by absentee landlords like myself and many
> of those are out of state.  Their interests vary but most of them are
> trying to generate some revenue thru the normal practices of farming or
> cattle ranching, or just flipping properties to gain the appreciation
> which this part of the state has enjoyed for the past 10 years.  Marginal
> incomes will make them easy targets to convince to go with another source
> of revenue.
> We should not forget the ultimate customer in this case is the landowner
> and convincing them that prairie and wild life is a sound economic
> investment for not only the future generations but could have substantial
> returns in the near future.
> I know you are all very busy and have important duties to attend, and I
> don’t want to get too long winded but as the CEO of a $125 million
> company I have invested  considerable amount of my time and energy and
> money the past several years, and just want to share an outsiders view of
> this topic.  I have met with the scientists at the University of Minnesota
> Dr. David Tilman, and Dr. Clarence Lehman to discuss the value and
> potential of a bio diverse prairie and how it could benefit from
> economical development of that resource.  They have both spent over 20
> years studying this topic and I sent Frank and Steve a comprehensive study
> prepared for the Minnesota Governor they were involved with.  I have met
> with Dr. Peter Raven to discuss the global view of grasslands and the
> environmental Challenges confronting places like China and India and the
> rest of the developing countries.  The conclusions of these scientists and
> many others is that in order for wildlife and their habitat to survive in
> the ever decreasing resources with higher and higher demand being put on
> those resources we need to be able to use science and biology to place
> economic value on those few remaining places.  I have argued however that
> if we can thru science and biology develop economic models that place real
> market value on these places we can expand them and not just preserve the
> few remaining jewels.
> 
> I am neither a scientist nor a biologist and within the last two years I
> have immersed myself in trying to catch up from a kindergarten education
> in this field to  be at least smarter than a fifth  grader  and that is
> why I have read everything I can find, and visited with whoever will talk
> to me.
> 
> The point I am trying to make is that this needs to be viewed in the
> current and future economic opportunities as well as the environmental
> picture and the areas of concern may end up having much higher economic
> potential than just wind farms if viewed from the following
> considerations.
> 
> My company Roeslein and Associates and Abengoa are currently working with
> a very large Ethanol producer that hope to build a 16 million gallon
> facility in South Eastern Kansas and will be using biomass for a majority
> of the feed stock.  I have been trying to convince them to keep their
> options open to use prairie grasses for their feed stock.  Prairie grasses
> as potential feedstock has economic value and other conservation,
> environmental and wildlife value.
> 
> The current cap and trade issues  related to CO2 could further effect the
> value of our prairie because Dr. Tilman’s studies have clearly shown the
> value of our prairie in sequestering CO2.  The DOE is spending million on
> technology to sequester CO2.  Our original prairie did a great job of that
> and didn’t need intervention from man to do it.
> 
> Dr. Lehman and his staff are currently studying the capacity of various
> prairie plantings to filter the numerous chemical that are prevalent in
> our drinking water and hope to have verifiable and measurable data in the
> next 12 months.
> 
> The ability of our prairies to not only prevent erosion but to provide a
> sustainable and highly productive planting to support wildlife and
> livestock has been demonstrated in numerous studies and articles including
> the Mother Earth magazine and our own Prairie magazine, as well as Dr.
> Tilman’s highly cited studies.
> 
> The benefits to wildlife are a whole other avenue of revenue and with the
> declining sales taxes in Mo. it should be looked at as a source of revenue
> that is comparable to other states.  The MDC just announced that they will
> not be replacing almost 130 people over the next two years as they retire
> because of lower revenue.  Mo. has some of the most liberal deer hunting
> opportunities in the country.  Our fees for non residents and residents
> are also some of the lowest in the country.  We need to bring those fees
> in line with surrounding states to help bring up our revenue.  Our sales
> tax has essentially subsidized the fees of non residents and allowed them
> to take advantage of our resources at a below market value price.  I also
> believe that if we truly want to bring our deer herd into check we need to
> rethink how we treat the marketing and sale of the meat.  Controlled sale
> of deer meat and other harvested surplus protein could be another valuable
> resource to depressed areas of the state.
> 
> I realize this last concept is controversial and brings back the thoughts
> of market hunting and how it affected our wildlife but I believe that if
> something is valuable it will be conserved and developing an economic
> model as well as a conservation and wildlife plan is intertwined.  Mo has
> extremely intelligent, and educated people that can and should do this. 
> The governor recently appointed a committee to form a energy policy and I
> believe it should include all forms of energy, including traditional, as
> well as the new proposed forms otherwise we will just have a local answer
> that may or may not consider all of the relevant issues.
> In conclusion I see this as a opportunity to really explore how energy at
> large will affect our most precious resources.  We have a unique
> opportunity in the current political and economic times to leverage for or
> against wildlife.  We need to consider and provide a comprehensive plan
> for the whole not just one part.
> 
> 
> 
> From: Max Alleger [mailto:Max.Alleger at mdc.mo.gov]
> Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 8:38 AM
> To: davitleahy at earthlink.net; wayne morton; paul.cox1 at usbank.com; Steve
> Mowry; Bruce Schuette; Bob & Doris Sherrick; Glenn Chambers; Bob Elworth;
> Page Hereford; Warren Lammert; George Nichols; Tom Noyes; Bruce Rogers;
> Bonnie Teel; Randy Washburn; Jon Wingo; Timothy R. Barksdale; galen
> hasler
> Cc: Steve Clubine; Brian Obermeyer; Frank Oberle; John Murphy; Rudi
> Roeslein; Kevin Carpenter
> Subject: RE: My talk with Mark Templeton about wind energy/MPF
> 
> As most of you know, Missouri has a nationally recognized Comprehensive
> Wildlife Strategy that places priority on geographically defined
> Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs) that represent the best potential
> places for ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation.  Six of
> these COAs overlay or expand on the Grasslands Coalition Focus Areas,
> which MPF originally helped define in 1999.  A good approach may be to
> frame requests in terms of protecting these special areas.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Max
> 
> From: davitleahy at earthlink.net [mailto:davitleahy at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 10:20 AM
> To: wayne morton; paul.cox1 at usbank.com; Steve Mowry; Bruce Schuette; Bob &
> Doris Sherrick; Glenn Chambers; Bob Elworth; Page Hereford; Warren
> Lammert; George Nichols; Tom Noyes; Bruce Rogers; Bonnie Teel; Randy
> Washburn; Jon Wingo; Timothy R. Barksdale; galen hasler
> Cc: Max Alleger; Steve Clubine; Brian Obermeyer; Frank Oberle; John
> Murphy; RRoeslein at ROESLEIN.com; Kevin Carpenter
> Subject: Re: My talk with Mark Templeton about wind energy/MPF
> 
> Wayne,
> 
> MOBCI also sent a letter on this topic to the Governor, in fact before MPF
> did.
> 
> Telling Director Templeton what we don't want is not what he is looking
> for. He needs guidance on the best places to put wind farms to benefit
> wind industry AND to protect grasslands. That's what he is looking for,
> and we have an opportunity to give this to him, if we can pull the people
> together who can help us with this information.
> 
> Carol
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wayne morton
> Sent: Sep 20, 2009 5:41 AM
> To: "paul.cox1 at usbank.com" , Steve Mowry , Bruce Schuette , Bob & Doris
> Sherrick , Glenn Chambers , Bob Elworth , Page Hereford , Warren Lammert ,
> George Nichols , Tom Noyes , Bruce Rogers , Bonnie Teel , Randy Washburn ,
> Jon Wingo , "Timothy R. Barksdale" , galen hasler ,
> davitleahy at earthlink.net
> Cc: Max Alleger , Steve Clubine , Brian Obermeyer , Frank Oberle , John
> Murphy , "RRoeslein at ROESLEIN.com" , Kevin Carpenter
> Subject: Re: My talk with Mark Templeton about wind energy/MPF
> Hi,   I just had another thought. MOBCI had the conference on the dangers
> to birds [and bats and small mamals] from wind turbins in the wrong places
> and it is a group of 45+ organizations in MO. This would sure prove that
> other groups are interested in not haveing turbins in COAs and other
> sensitive areas. Just an idea.     Wayne
> 
> --- On Sat, 9/19/09, davitleahy at earthlink.net <davitleahy at earthlink.net>
> wrote:
> 
> From: davitleahy at earthlink.net <davitleahy at earthlink.net>
> Subject: My talk with Mark Templeton about wind energy/MPF
> To: "paul.cox1 at usbank.com" <paul.cox1 at usbank.com>, "Steve Mowry"
> <stevem4444 at aol.com>, "Bruce Schuette" <basch at centurytel.net>, "Bob &
> Doris Sherrick" <bjdjsher at fairpoint.net>, "Glenn Chambers"
> <glennchambers at mac.com>, "Bob Elworth" <bobelworth at aol.com>, "Page
> Hereford" <page at herefordprinting.com>, "Warren Lammert"
> <lammertwarren at att.net>, "Wayne Morton" <wayne2946 at yahoo.com>, "George
> Nichols" <georgednichols at att.net>, "Tom Noyes" <tandlnoyes at aol.com>,
> "Bruce Rogers" <cityeldo at centurytel.net>, "Bonnie Teel"
> <prairieview at klmtel.net>, "Randy Washburn" <wrwashburn at socket.net>, "Jon
> Wingo" <djmaint at aol.com>, "Timothy R. Barksdale"
> <birdman-hd at 3riversdbs.net>, "galen hasler" <hasler at mchsi.com>
> Cc: "Max Alleger" <Max.Alleger at mdc.mo.gov>, "Steve Clubine"
> <Steve.Clubine at mdc.mo.gov>, "Brian Obermeyer" <bobermeyer at tnc.org>, "Frank
> Oberle" <foberle at nemr.net>, "John Murphy" <John.Murphy at mdc.mo.gov>,
> "RRoeslein at ROESLEIN.com" <RRoeslein at ROESLEIN.com>, "Kevin Carpenter"
> <kevinc at mysticplains.org>
> Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009, 2:05 PM
> Dear MPF BOD:
> 
> Today, at a Mo. River cleanup event in Jefferson City, I had the
> opportunity to meet and talk one-on-one at some length to DNR Director
> Mark Templeton about MPF and your letter to the Governor (and copied and
> routed from the Governor and from MPF to him) about wind energy facility
> siting and grassland COA protection.
> 
> Mr. Templeton is very approachable and interested in the topic and
> understands our concerns. What he needs are examples from other states
> about what can work in regard to protecting our grassland COAs and also
> benefiting wind energy. He needs to see that we are working with other
> groups.
> 
> I asked him if he would meet with us--he said yes. He is very open and
> agreeable to this.
> 
> So, if you want to pursue this, I will help you coordinate an effort to
> bring players from different groups together. I'm copying Brian Obermeyer
> of Kansas TNC on this message--Brian, can you help us?
> 
> Let me know if you want to me coordinate an effort.
> 
> I also invited Mr. Templeton to our Oct. 10 event. His family had prairie
> in Wisconsin and he would love to meet you all.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Carol
> 
> Carol Davit
> Communications Coordinator &
> Missouri Prairie Journal Editor
> Missouri Prairie Foundation
> 573-893-5446
> www.moprairie.org
> Protecting Native Grasslands
> 
> 
> 
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