Wind energy company’s appeals raise questions about Wyoming’s tax, distribution approach

Property taxes are one of the main selling points that wind energy companies have used to convince counties there will be a payoff for accepting up-front impacts to local services.

But when the tax bill came due for Duke Energy this year, the company went back on its promise, according to Converse County officials.

This summer, Duke Energy filed appeals of the state’s property tax assessments on all four of its wind energy projects in Wyoming: Silver Sage and Happy Jack in Laramie County, Campbell Hill and Top of the World in Converse County.

Yet the state’s tax assessment was almost identical to Duke’s own estimates, which were presented in testimony to the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council leading up to the construction of its wind projects.

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER – Star-Tribune energy reporter

Full Story: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2cf0fccc-4bbf-5aa0-b177-1b5ba3216eb1.html