Energy Facility Siting Council To Meet July 27-28 In Hood River

Contact:Cliff Voliva, 503-378-3637 Rachel Wray, 503-589-0294

SALEM — The Energy Facility Siting Council’s site certificate amendment process rulemaking will be the focus of discussion at the next EFSC meeting on July 27-28 in Hood River. The meeting begins at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday at the Best Western Plus Hood River Inn, 1108 E. Marina Dr. Friday’s portion of the meeting starts at 8:30 a.m.

The main items on the Council’s agenda include:

• Montague Wind Power Facility (Gilliam County): The Council will receive an information update on the recent approval of the Montague Wind Power Facility Site Certificate Amendment 3. The Council issued a temporary order at its last meeting on June 23. No contested case requests were received and the temporary order was adopted as the final order and signed by EFSC Chairman Barry Beyeler on July 12. The order on the amendment allows for a larger turbine model with a wider rotor diameter, lower minimum aboveground blade tip clearance from 20 to 14 meters, and an increase in the individual turbine capacity from 3.0 to 3.6 megawatts.
• Wheatridge Wind Energy Facility Transfer Request (Morrow and Umatilla counties): The Council will hold a public hearing on transferring ownership of the facility from the current site certificate holder, Swaggart Wind Power LLC, to NextEra Energy. Following the hearing, the Council is anticipated to make a decision whether to approve or deny the transfer request.
• Site Certificate Amendment Process Rulemaking: The Council will hold a hearing on the rulemaking that proposes to reorganize Oregon Administrative Rules Chapter 345, Division 27 and rewrite rules governing requests for site certificate amendments. After the hearing, the Council will consider the proposed rules and all comments received, then decide how it wants staff to proceed or whether to take action on the proposed rules.

The full meeting agenda and materials are available on the Oregon Department of Energy website: www.oregon.gov/energy/facilities-safety/facilities/Pages/Council-Meetings.aspx.

The next EFSC meeting is tentatively scheduled for August 24 by teleconference.

To request an interpreter for the hearing impaired or accommodations for persons with disabilities, please contact the department at least 72 hours before the meeting at 1-800-221-8035 or fax 503-373-7806. TTY users should call the Oregon Relay Service at 711.