1. Magic Valley, Idaho – It’s never a dull day for the Lava Ridge wind project.
- Trump’s executive order also put a moratorium on the wind project site and essentially invalidated its environmental review under Biden. As we’ve explained, the project got permits in the final days of the previous administration.
- But opponents to the project – most notably Senator Jim Risch – got the president to turn this into a Keystone XL-style situation. Idaho Governor Brad Little yesterday issued an executive order instructing state regulators to comply with anything Trump’s folks do to stop the project, an executive order of his own he jokingly dubbed the “Gone With The Lava Ridge Wind Act.”
- Lava Ridge has been crickets since Trump’s order and its developer Magic Valley Energy has not issued a public statement. The most recent statement available on their website is still about its permits being approved under Biden.
- I’ve tried to get in touch with them via the most recently-listed media contact for the project all week over phone and email – most recently this afternoon – but have had no luck. (Amy, please call me back.)
2. Multiple counties, Ohio – Regulators in Ohio issued final decisions for two contested solar projects, clearing the way for one while all but stopping another.
- Savion’s Clear Mountain Energy Center solar-plus-battery project in Clermont County, Ohio, was approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board last week.
- But Samsung’s Richmond Solar project in Union County was rejected by the OPSB, citing local opposition to say it did not serve “public interest, convenience, and necessity.” The project would also include battery storage if constructed.
- OPSB also denied a petition for a rehearing for NextEra’s Circleville Solar project in Pickaway County, which had previously had its approval denied by the regulator.
3. Pender County, North Carolina – A solar project that was rejected late last year by the North Carolina Court of Appeals will be reconsidered by the same court, after the Democrat vote that decided the case was replaced by a Republican.
- At the end of last year, the appeals court ruled Coastal Pine Solar had failed to demonstrate a solar project it proposed in Pender County sufficiently complied with a local restrictive ordinance. The ruling was not split, but it seems the new composition of the court means there’ll be a second go at the case.
4. Lancaster County, Nebraska – in We have good news for solar in Nebraska, where county commissioners have approved a massive NextEra solar project.
- Commissioners cleared the Panama Energy Center solar project despite considerable local activism opposing its development. They said the decision to approve it was only possible after at least some concessions to the concerns in the community, including a vegetation management plan.
5. Montgomery County, Alabama – Another solar project – Silicon Ranch – also got approval this past week from the local Board of Adjustments, meaning a Meta data center is now poised to receive renewable energy.
- Activism against the project is quite pronounced, as we’ve been covering closely in The Fight. I’m anticipating a little more noise in the coming weeks about how to stop this project in spite of the local approval.
Here’s what else we’re watching ...
In Kansas, landowners are suing to stop a NextEra solar project in Jackson County.
In Oklahoma, a Woodside-backed hydrogen project has been paused citing the Trump administration’s changes in policy.
In Nevada, the Bureau of Land Management cleared the way for the Rough Hat solar project days before Joe Biden left office.
