Bannock County Commission votes to ban large-scale solar and wind projects after packed public hearing
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POCATELLO — In front of a packed house, the Bannock County Commission voted to ban large-scale solar and wind projects Tuesday.
The commission opted to approved an ordinance effectively preventing these projects from occurring in the future after hearing from residents during a public hearing. A total of 18 people spoke in favor of the ordinance, and 28 people spoke against it.
Commission Chairman Ernie Moser and Commissioner John Crowder both voted in favor of the ordinance and Commissioner Jeff Hough voted against it. While the two commissioners voted to ban large-scale solar and wind projects, they made comments that seemed to leave the door open to future projects if they have more time to draft an ordinance they’re more confident in.
“We put this ordinance in because we’re at a deadline, and then we can adjust an ordinance because that’s what we’re doing right here today,” Moser said.
The deadline Moser referred to was the moratorium the commissioners put in place in September on large-scale solar projects, to give planning and development staff more time to draft an ordinance. If they didn’t have an ordinance by the end of the moratorium, companies could apply for a conditional-use permit.
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“I don’t think we’re in a position to do anything other then put in a ban, and then you can have all the discussions you want going forward,” Crowder said.
When Hough spoke, he explained that his main reason for voting against the ordinance was private property rights.
“If we allow the government to deny the opportunity for individuals to explore options, where does the insidious creep of government power stop?” Hough said.
Two companies – Balanced Rock Power and Hecate Energy – have been looking at bringing solar farms to Marsh Valley. Balanced Rock Power’s planned solar farm would have been around 2,400 acres and six landowners had signed a lease with the company.
Alex Pugh, director of development for Hecate Energy, said that they’ve had dialogue that they felt good about with the commissioners.
“We’re disappointed to see that the commission is ignoring all of the discussion that we’ve had to date and putting through a total solar blanket ban. It doesn’t make sense. Let’s find something that works for everyone,” Pugh said.
John Knight, CEO of Balanced Rock Power, also expressed disappointment with the decision.
“A ban on solar takes away private rights from landowners in the county who will no longer be able to use their land to diversify their income and is preventing solar from bringing much needed economic growth to the county,” Knight said.
The primary property holder for Balanced Rock was Lytton Bastian, a third-generation rancher, who planned on leasing his unproductive land. He expressed disappointment with the decision of the commissioners.
“The discussion that (the commissioners) had was very short, which signals to me that they already had preconceived notions that they were going to ban solar regardless of what was presented to them,” Bastian said.
Bastian went further to say that Moser and Crowder were motivated by keeping their seats in the upcoming May primary election.
“To me, this is a very somber kind of occasion where they’re more worried about their seats then they are their constituents,” Bastian said.
Larry Burden, a Downey resident who is running against Moser in the election, said he was happy with the decision the commissioners made, but doesn’t consider the fight over.
“It will be an ongoing battle. It didn’t end today. Even Commissioner Moser, he indicated we would just work on it in the future,” Burden said.
Knight said he still sees room for further discussion.
“We want to have continued discussions with the chairman and the community,” Knight said.
“There’s obviously a lot of concerns about solar projects and we feel like through dialogue, we can address those,” Pugh said.
Rebecca Falcon, a Downey resident of 29 years, was happy to see the ban put in place but does believe eventually the county will see solar power.
“At least the ban is in place right now. We know we’ll end up with some kind of solar at some point in the future, but hopefully not with these two crooked companies,” Falcon said.
Falcon also expressed disappointment in Hough for voting against the ordinance.
“We have tirelessly tried to educate them for eight weeks,” Falcon said. “These companies have been working in our area for three years and today was the first time we saw them actually turn out and explain what they do. He should take that as a reading that they’re not trustworthy.”