Oregon Supreme Court, Judge Garrett, ruled in Umatilla County v. Department of Energy on a case involving a dispute over the approval of a site certificate for the construction of a wind energy facility in Umatilla County.

The Energy Facility Siting Council granted the certificate allowing Nolin Hills Wind, LLC, to place wind turbine facility within the two-mile siting criterion requirement between any turbine and a rural residence. Umatilla County sought judicial review of the council's decision, arguing that the council should have required Nolin Hills to comply with the two-mile setback ordinance.

The court determined that central to the case is the role of authority the county’s recommended substantive criteria has under ORS 469.504(5). This is a question of state tyranny squashing democratic rule of the people. This case sets a precedence for more abuse of rural communities to supply metro. Umatilla County isn’t the only rural landscape proposed to turn their landscape into junkyards.

When the Canadian developer submitted the Nolin Hills Wind Power Project revised proposal for 48,000 acres,350-megawatt wind farm, entirely zoned for exclusive farm use (EFU), the council acknowledged it did not comply with the county ordinance two-mile buffer. DOE issued a draft and final order recommending that the council find that the proposed facility complies with all applicable requirements, acknowledging the facility would not meet the ordinance requirement, but is not an “applicable substantive criterion.”

The Supreme Court affirmed the council's decision, concluding that the council was authorized to issue a site certificate for the proposed wind facility notwithstanding the failure of the proposed facility to comply with the two-mile setback rule. The court found that the council was not required to reject a proposed facility simply because it did not comply with a local criterion. Is it enough that the council has “big-brother” authority when it disrupts the daily lives of others?

ORS 469.470 requires the council to cooperate with subdivisions

“in the interests of the public health and the welfare of the people of this state, it is the declared public policy of this state that the siting, construction and operation of energy facilities shall be accomplished in a manner consistent with protection of the public health and safety and in compliance with the energy policy and air, water, solid waste, land use and other environmental protection policies of this state.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

This is not the first case the court ruled in favor of the council’s authority. In Friends of Columbia Gorge v. Energy Fac. Siting Coun., 368 Or 123, 125, 486 P3d 787 (2021), the court established the council oversees the development of large energy facilities that meet the statewide planning goals. A proposal near Harrisburg has residents protesting, which may be their next case. One of the complaints is that windmills have a 600-foot base and when they decommission them, the base stays.

Oregon has 51 windmill projects producing 3,415 MW of wind generation making up 11.6 percent of Oregon’s electricity generation consuming near one-third and exporting the remainder. Governor Kotek stated she wants to take the state off of hydropower and convert to wind and solar by 2040. How much farm land will that take away from crop production? It’s pushed by how fast they remove dams or shut their power off if they were built for flood control.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2024-04-23 16:32:01

Last Update: 2024-04-23 23:35:04