A fourth-generation farmer in North Dakota, George Wolff, receives lease payments from Ørsted for hosting turbines on his 3,500-acre property as part of the Badger Wind Farm project. The project, which was brought online in January and generates 250 megawatts of power, is the largest economic development project in Wishek's history, expected to bring in tax revenues for the county. However, many residents have expressed regret and resentment towards wind power, citing concerns about the visibility of turbines in their once open landscape. The sentiment is part of a larger trend in rural America, where some communities are reevaluating their relationships with commercial-scale clean energy.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
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George Wolff offered a cautious greeting through the window of my rented F-150.
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He was fresh from tending livestock, which explained the dried mud on his forehead and shirt.
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which → tend → forehead
His boots and jeans were soiled with barnyard muck, his ballcap tipped back to cool his brow.
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ballcap → soil → brow
It was a warm, breezy May day in Wishek, North Dakota, with wind speeds hovering around 20 miles per hour, gusting to the low 30s.
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Angus cattle foraged on a hillside pasture behind Wolff’s barns.
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cattle → forage → barns
Two John Deere tractors sat idle off the driveway.
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tractors → sit → driveway
Planting season was over, but a dry spring had slowed the arrival of this year’s wheat, corn, and soybeans.
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spring → slow → wheat
“What can I do for you?” asked Wolff, a fourth-generation farmer.
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The answer was about a half mile behind him, rising above his land like an enormous pinwheel.
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The 92-turbine, 250-MW project was brought online in January by the Danish energy giant Ørsted and is the newest such installation in North Dakota, which ranks ninth in the US for producing wind energy.
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which → bring → energy
In exchange for hosting turbines on their property, Wolff and other local farmers and landowners receive lease payments from Ørsted—and the county will see an influx of tax revenues based on the project’s annual generation.
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county → host → generation
But for many in Wishek, early optimism about the economic benefits has given way to regret and resentment, according to Larry Wald, a lifelong resident and the city’s former mayor and council member.
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optimism → give → Wald
“We used to live in open country, right?” Wald said.
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Wald → use → country
“Now, these towers are the first thing you see when you come into Wishek and the last thing you see on your way out.
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you → see → way
This notion—that the costs of wind power outweigh the benefits—is not unique to Wishek or McIntosh County.
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costs → outweigh → Wishek
Large swaths of rural America are reevaluating their relationships with commercial-scale clean energy.
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swaths → reevaluate → energy
While states such as California and Iowa are retooling their energy economies around carbon-free power, others are tapping the brakes as renewable energy development faces withering attacks from conservatives.
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development → retool → conservatives
In North Dakota, many have soured on wind power after embracing it for most of the last 20 years as part of the state’s “all of the above” energy policy.
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many → sour → policy
Once a common thing, newly completed projects like Wishek’s Badger Wind Farm have become rare.
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projects → complete → Farm
Anchoring a Wishek park is a 9-foot-tall concrete statue of Barney the Badger, the town mascot, with a bright blue varsity sweater emblazoned with the letter “W.”
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statue → anchor → letter
The statue helps explain Badger Wind Farm’s name, and is but one example of the kind of small-town charm that suffuses Wishek.
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that → help → Wishek
Lila Raile, another lifelong resident, is among those who feel that charm is at risk because of the wind turbines.
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charm → feel → turbines
Her recently built “dream home,” atop a low hill about a mile west of Wishek’s town center, is surrounded by turbines—a backdrop she never imagined just a few years ago.
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“Welcome to my nightmare,” Raile said in an email before my visit to her home, which used to offer views of rolling farmland.
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which → welcome → farmland
Raile said the installation has fundamentally changed the agricultural character of Wishek, where farming has sustained generations of her own family.
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farming → say → family
She blames Ørsted for what she characterized as a dollar-waving appeal to landowners.
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she → blame → landowners
But she also blames county and state elected officials for leaving the community to fend for itself against a multinational energy company.
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she → blame → company
“They claim to protect rural communities from these outside energy companies, but people around here don’t feel protected at all,” she said.
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Wald said much of the local ire is directed at absentee landowners who signed leases with Ørsted.
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who → say → Ørsted
Many of them inherited land, he said, but have no personal connection to Wishek.
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he → inherit → Wishek
“When [Ørsted] came looking for land leases, it was like light in their eyes,” Wald said of the nonresident property owners.
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Wald → look → owners
“They were going to get their $10,000 per lease, or whatever it is, and never have to look at these towers.”
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Ørsted declined a formal site visit or an interview.
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Even Wolff, whose two turbines sit at the eastern edge of the wind farm and are not visible from the town center, says county officials could have mitigated the Badger project’s visual impacts through more robust planning and zoning.
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“I understand why there’s a lot of strong feelings about the turbines,” he said.
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“They should have stayed further away from some of the nonparticipating residences, particularly the ones close to town.”
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They → stay → town
Wishek had no siting authority over the Badger turbines.
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It did, however, receive $150,000 in direct goodwill donations from Ørsted, according to the city auditor.
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The money went toward constructing a new firehouse and public swimming pool and making repairs to the community center.
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money → go → center
…and 58 more, not listed.
