1ÅÝֱܽ²¥

The Oregon Supreme Court has now decided that the siting council can override the county’s 2-mile setback requirement as long as the wind project otherwise complies with the state’s land use goals.

Though the siting council must examine a local government’s “substantive criteria� for an energy facility, the council can still approve a project that doesn’t comply with all of them, according to the court’s ruling.

“Contrary to the county’s argument, such an interpretation does not render the local criteria irrelevant,� the ruling said. “Rather, it requires the council to consider those criteria in determining to ultimately approve a proposed facility.�

Lawmakers wanted to “ensure that local government interests are given robust consideration,� but gave the Energy Facility Siting Council the “ultimate decision-making authority� over facilities that comply with statewide planning goals, the ruling said.

The Nolin Hills Wind project was initially proposed on nearly 45,000 acres in Umatilla County’s exclusive farm use zone in 2017, but it was later expanded to 48,000 acres with a transmission line that passes through commercial, industrial and agribusiness zones.

The number of land use zones involved was among the legal arguments in the case, as it affected the siting council standards used to evaluate the project.

The project’s developer argued the impacts on agriculture would be minimal, as the footprint of the wind turbines amounted to less than 2,000 acres. That’s roughly a half-percent of the harvested cropland in the county, and less than 7% of the tracts on which they’d be installed.

However, the county wanted the wind turbine sites adjusted to meet the 2-mile setback requirement from rural homes. After the project was approved in August by the siting council, the county petitioned the Oregon Supreme Court to review the decision, alleging the council wrongly interpreted state law governing energy siting determinations.