Wednesday,June9,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
9
Solar moratorium lifted in Klickitat County
Jacob Bertram
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Klickitat County commis-
sioners voted to lift the mor-
atorium on solar develop-
ments subject to a condition-
al use permit at their regular
board meeting May 24.
The motion to lift the
moratorium was affirmative-
ly voted for in a unanimous
fashion, with the condition
that staff will undergo a “cu-
mulative impact analysis” on
potential solar development
projects, and that the board
of county commissioners will
work on recommendations
for the county board of ad-
justments to follow concern-
ing mitigation conditions
they would use to judge a
conditional use permit ap-
plication for solar industrial
project.
In the lead up to the
May 24 meeting the three
commissioners listened to
presentations, read through
hundreds of pages of wit-
ness testimony, and sat in
workshops presented by
the county assessor’s office
to examine how large-scale
industrial solar projects pay
taxes to the county.
At the beginning of the dis-
cussion, Commissioner Jacob
Anderson presented to his
fellow board members a list
of recommendations to give
to the Board of Adjustment
— a list of mitigatory actions
that would be relayed to the
BoA, who ultimately makes
judgements on approvals and
denials of conditional use ap-
plications following approval
by commissioners.
Anderson reiterated his
position that was wholly
against the enactment of
a moratorium on indus-
trial solar development,
his argument being that
the state’s environmental
process (through the State
Environmental Policy Act)
acted as a strong buffer
against citizen concerns on
the construction of solar
farms in the county – and
that should a moratorium
be enacted, solar develop-
ment groups may wind up
going through the state’s
energy development siting
process conducted by the
state Environmental Facility
Site Environmental Council,
potentially upending the
local processes of undergoing
an environmental impact
statement and approval of
a conditional use permit
application.
Following a conversation
on potential mitigatory fea-
tures established in recom-
mendations to be given to
the Board of Adjustment on
future decisions, namely set-
backs and decommissioning
bond rates, Board Chair Dave
Sauter argued that a morato-
rium should be in place if the
board agreed to create a new
ordinance directly targeting
industrial solar develop-
ments, voicing his position
that a moratorium would not
be “fair” to private property
owners “who are on hold” if
the board chose not to take
the path that would culmi-
nate in a new ordinance.
“I think we need to give di-
rection as to what the board
thinks might be too big for
any projects that might come
through,” said Commissioner
Dan Christopher. “I think
the guidance needs to be
publicly given to the plan-
ning director so that she’s not
making it up on the fly and
that conversations are not be-
ing held out of the public.”
While Christopher
pushed back on sentiments
expressed by the commis-
sioners do more harm than
good, he voted with the
board to lift the moratorium
on the grounds that at least
something will be done in the
future to examine mitigatory
acts placed on potential solar
development applicants —
namely, the “cumulative
impact analysis” and the list
of recommendations.
The vote did not finalize
the list of recommendations
— instead commissioners
will undertake a discussion in
coming weeks and eventually
vote on the final list.
A draft list of the mitigatory
actions recommended by
the board has not been re-
leased. Dave McClure will be
presenting to the board June
29 to talk further about the
cumulative impact analysis.
Oregon legislators near end of session
Gary A. Warner
■ By Oregon
Capital Bureau
"Sine die is imminent," de-
clared Senate President Peter
Courtney on Tuesday, using
one of the secret decoder
ring-needed terms of the
Oregon Legislature.
Translation: We're almost
through for 2021.
But not so close you can't
pop a last-minute bill into
the hopper, which Courtney
did Tuesday morning with
a bill to ban horse racing in
Oregon.
With just 25 days left before
the Oregon constitution
requires the Legislature to
shut down the 2021 session,
Courtney's dual actions
reflected the frenzy of some-
times contrary activity in the
House and Senate.
A day after Salem hit a
record 96 degrees, the House
and Senate were back to turn
up the heat on the pace of
legal manufacturing.
Gov. Kate Brown was
signing bills at a steady pace,
including a new concealed
weapons ban for the Capitol.
The announcement came as
the Secretary of State issued
a notification a proposed ref-
erendum for the 2022 ballot
that would undo the law.
The House had 78 bills and
resolutions scheduled for
a final vote on Wednesday.
House Speaker Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, called a dou-
ble session, with House
members called to the
floor at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Committee meetings began
at 8 a.m. with some sched-
uled to start as late as 5:30
p.m.
The Senate moved at a
more sedate pace, with just
16 bills handled in a morning
session. But it has 22 more
scheduled for Thursday.
Courtney used a quote
from Florence Nightingale,
the nurse and social reformer
born in 1820, to send the
message he wanted lawmak-
ers to cooperate on getting
through the session without
any more delaying tactics.
"I attribute my success to
this: I never gave or took an
excuse," Courtney said.
In an unusually late move,
two bills were introduced.
Senate Bill 871 would
essentially bar horse racing
in Oregon. Senate Bill 870,
authored by Sen. Jeff Golden,
D-Ashland, would revise
disclosures on campaign
finance contributions.
Courtney's office did not
explain how the bills might
be considered this late in the
session.
The legislation became
a blur on Tuesday and
Wednesday, as bills churned
out by the dozens. A tiny
sample of topics included
extending approval of take-
out cocktail sales, residential
rent assistance, extending a
moratorium on foreclosures
and scores of other issues.
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