Supreme court rules against Umatilla County
By Terry Murry on Friday, April 19th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – The Oregon State Supreme Court has ruled that the Energy Facility Siting Council had the power to ignore Umatilla County’s two-mile setback requirement from residences for windmill facilities. The county had challenged the council’s action all the way to the high court.
The ruling came in relation to the Nolin Hills Wind LLC to be located four miles south of Echo. That facility is to be located on over 48,000 acres of private land primarily zoned exclusive farm use. It is south of Interstate 84 about 10 miles west of Pendleton.
The county was notified it lost its appeal Thursday. Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer said the failure to respect Umatilla County’s requirements for such facilities sets a bad precedent, but there are ways around the ruling involving tax incentives – or a lack thereof.
“For instance, if a company wants to put in windmills, we can tell them they have to follow our ordinances or we will not be giving them any incentives on their project,” he said. “Of course that will be a decision on a case-by-case basis, but that will be my stance on all cases. You must follow our approved ordinances, period.”
Here is the Oregon Supreme Court media release regarding its ruling:
