Klicker bill has hearing today
By Terry Murry on Friday, January 21st, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
OLYMPIA – A public hearing is scheduled for today (Friday) at 10 a.m. on legislation introduced by Rep. Mark Klicker (R-Walla Walla) to promote equity in siting for alternative energy facilities. House Bill 1871 will be heard by the House Environment and Energy Committee.
“Too many rural communities are being forced to house alternative energy facilities, but are seeing nothing in return,” Klicker said. “It’s time to revisit the process to determine where these sites are located and who is benefiting from them.”
The bill would establish a short-term moratorium on the siting of alternative energy facilities that would end Dec. 1, 2023. It would also establish a legislative task force to investigate possible solutions to the current inequity between clean energy producing counties and clean energy consuming counties.
The task force would also consider how that inequity might expand dramatically with the current approval process that considers each project in isolation rather than as part of a cumulative impact that will occur over decades.
