Eye On Illinois: In utility permitting process, local control is all about power

We believe in local control – until we don’t.

The struggle between taxing bodies is an eternal concern. Illinois’ last decade has offered textbook examples.

In 2019, with bipartisan support, lawmakers passed House Bill 2988, stipulating only counties – not townships – could enact wind farm zoning regulations in otherwise unincorporated areas. In early 2023, Democrats passed House Bill 4412 in lame duck session, granting state regulators power over county governments to restrict wind and solar farm construction.

That law didn’t just change new rules but negated old ordinances and gave counties 120 days to amend zoning rules to align with new provisions concerning setbacks, blade heights, sound limits and more. It also yielded the expected effects: residents pleading with county zoning board members to reject or modify proposals only for the counties to report their hands are tied.

Readers in these situations from McHenry and Bureau counties communicated with me directly, but paying attention to statewide news turns up similar stories from elsewhere. Last week the Rockford Register Star reported on the City Council Code and Regulation Committee voting unanimously to object to a 5-megawatt solar farm because its comprehensive plan calls for annexing those 32 acres for residential development.

City officials are on record saying their legal objection may be fruitless because the county may have to rubber-stamp the proposal while state law carpets over municipalities’ ability to review developments within 1.5 miles of corporate limits.

But state regulators don’t always get their way either. On Aug. 8, three Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court justices said the Illinois Commerce Commission wrongly approved a 780-mile section of the Grain Belt Express Line, which is part of a $7 billion high-voltage project stretching back more than a decade, part of an effort to link Kansas wind farms to Indiana.

To be clear, the appellate ruling (tinyurl.com/GrainBeltDenied) doesn’t substantially address the actual permitting laws for such projects but whether parent company Invenergy can pay for the work.

“Ultimately, there was not substantial evidence put forth to support the Commission’s finding that GBX is capable of financing the project,” wrote Justice James Moore. “The evidence put forward demonstrated that GBX lacked the funding at the time of the hearing, had no customers, contracts, government or bank commitments.”

Expect an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, but also look for this issue to influence U.S. Senate Bill 4753. That plan, from Republican John Barrasso, Wyoming, and West Virginia independent Joe Manchin, passed the Energy and Natural Resources Committee 15-4 July 31 and would, among many provisions, increase the federal government’s power to expeditiously permit such projects.

Dominoes keep tipping away from being able to ask a hometown elected official to take a stand. It’s all about power.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.