County won’t give up on windmill setback rule
By Terry Murry on Friday, December 6th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News Featured Stories More Top Stories
UMATILLA COUNTY – Umatilla County went all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court in an attempt to protect its two-mile setback requirement from residences for windmill facilities. Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council chose to ignore that requirement when it approved the Nolin Hills Wind LLC that was to be located four miles south of Echo.
Before the council flexed its muscle as a state agency, other windmill developers respected the setback. Umatilla County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Shafer said the county will soon be seeking help from Senator-elect Todd Nash (R-Enterprise).
“Senator-elect Nash has some legislation going forward that will allow what we tried to do to stand,” Shafer said. “We didn’t get it done through the courts, so we’re going to try a legislative fix.”
Shafer said that Nash, who is currently a Wallowa County commissioner, understands that acres of wind turbines can negatively impact residents who are their neighbors. A similar conflict is now going on in Washington state where three lawsuits have been filed against Gov. Jay Inslee’s approval of a large wind turbine complex in Horse Heaven Hills. Suits challenging Inslee’s ruling are from Benton County, Tri-Cities CARES, and the Yakama Nation.
