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* Current state law allows counties to establish standards for wind farms and windmills. But some townships in Douglas County have decided to impose their own rules and a company that wants to spend $340 million on a 200-megawatt wind farm is suing.
Illinois has 102 counties, so that patchwork of regulations is bad enough. But imagine the potential problems if 1,432 townships step in with their own rules.
Hard pass.
So, a bill was introduced in February and amended last month to make it clear that counties - and only counties - have the authority to regulate these things.
The House already passed the bill 95-12-1. The Senate passed it yesterday 43-7-1.
Illinois lawmakers have pushed through legislation that would keep townships from holding up wind farm construction in the midst of a court case over that issue in central Illinois.
The legislation would restrict regulation of wind farm establishment to the county or a municipality if the windmills are close enough. It would effectively remove townships from having any objection to wind farm construction.
Senator Chapin Rose, R-Mohamet, said that a township is fighting against a wind farm in his Champaign-area district and the bill was simply meant to squash that legal challenge.
“Instead of allowing those folks to have their day in court, we’re going to statutorily legislate an outcome for that court case,” he said Wednesday.
In an unusual move, Senators held a hearing on the bill when it was still in the House of Representatives, saying that they would discuss it, but not vote on it under the assumption that it would be sent straight to the Senate floor.
In a previous hearing, a representative with EDP Renewables, the company that is fighting the wind farm case in a Douglas County Court, said the suit was holding up the company’s progress on building a wind farm there, costing money and endangering the process in its entirety.
This is not a perfect solution and it is unusual that the General Assembly is stepping in during a court case and the process was unnecessarily rushed in the Senate. Also, some folks have serious gripes about what they view as lax county rules. Sen. Rose says the issue has sharply divided people in his district, and I do not doubt that.
But we need some semblance of uniformity and predictability here. State law already says counties should be in charge. Townships were given no explicit statutory role. If this is allowed to continue, other townships could very well jump in with their own rules.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 3:40 pm
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Small fact check, the Senate passed this yesterday 4/3/19, not today.
Comment by fact checker Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 3:44 pm
If only we could give the counties explicit responsibility over everything townships try to do
Comment by Can’t use Anonymous as my name Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 3:57 pm
Seems that townships have outlived their purpose in an age of instant communication and the ability to travel most counties within an hour. Services can be easily coordinated.
Comment by NeverPoliticallyCorrect Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:06 pm
I am a huge proponent of alternative energy strategies ( wind, solar etc. ) as a opposed to the destructive coal and gas industries.
I have been reading about this local controversy in the News-Gazette.
Chapin Rose appears to be trying to be both the judge and the jury in this local dispute that may have implications state-wide.
Sad
Comment by illini Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:07 pm
Wind farms are almost exclusively located on farm land. The agriculture community has ALL of the muscle in Douglas County.
Isn’t it just easier to take over the Douglas County Board with your own people and make the rules you want? This is about the Douglas County Board not playing ball with the land owners. The land owners have all of the juice, take over the unit of government.
There, solved it for you.
Comment by You Bet Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:10 pm
Townships should be merged into county government. That single action would eliminate approximately 20% of Illinois local governments.
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:24 pm
How much googling will it take to find Chapin Rose complaining about big government in particular and the many units of government in Illinois in particular?
Comment by Thomas Paine Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:38 pm
Are we not a representative democracy? The people in the township don’t want the farm. Case closed. This is only an issue when people with money don’t want to take no for an answer.
Comment by Papa2008 Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:41 pm
===Are we not a representative democracy?===
Yep. And the duly elected state legislature and the governor approved a law giving control to counties, not to townships. Some townships have defied that law. Townships are a creation of the state. Deal with it.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:44 pm
Townships should be gone. One township supervisor recently called her township the laughingstock of townships. that’s a very low bar.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 4:53 pm
The President of the United States says noise from wind turbines causes cancer. When will the GA deal with that?
Comment by Nick Name Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 5:01 pm
I have a feeling that the feds will step in at some point on alternative energy (after this current federal administration) and make it easier to site the wind farms, solar fields, and power lines that will be needed to convert to a renewable-based grid. In the meantime, common sense laws like this will help balance the public interest and make the process more predictable and uniform.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 5:54 pm
“Instead of allowing those folks to have their day in court, we’re going to statutorily legislate an outcome for that court case,” he (Rose) said Wednesday.–
He said that out loud? That’s some unusual candor.
–In an unusual move, Senators held a hearing on the bill when it was still in the House of Representatives, saying that they would discuss it, but not vote on it under the assumption that it would be sent straight to the Senate floor.–
Somebody hired the right lobsters. Like stuff through a goose.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 4, 19 @ 7:06 pm