Torrington, WY (by Cindy Sheeley) June 20th, 2024 — The Goshen County Commissioners held their second June meeting on Tuesday, June 18. After departmental updates, the commissioners approved an amendment to the budget, updated the Planning Commission Bylaws, and adopted regulations for solar energy siting projects.

“On the topic of the draft proposal for the solar siting regulations that will guide Goshen County, not only now, but into the future, I would like to offer some thoughts and comments before moving further,” Chairman Michael McNamee said. “The draft regulations have been a topic of conversation for quite some time and will continue to be as long as the people of the county have differing opinions on how regulations should or should not be enforced. I’ve been inundated with information that either offer support for these types of regulations or argues against regulations basically of any kind.”

“We have all lost a lot of sleep over this,” he continued.  “At the forefront of the conversation has been talk surrounding some of the more controversial issues involved with the regulations, i.e. renewable energy versus fossil fuels, private land owner rights versus the effects decisions made by one landowner on the neighbors that surround them, the promotion of industry development in the county versus the statement that Goshen County is closed for future business and that those types of businesses need to look elsewhere.”

The commissioners agreed that while each of them may have their own personal opinions regarding these arguments, their opinions are not relevant to the decision they needed to make. As Goshen County Commissioners their duty is to promote public health, safety, morals, and a general welfare of Goshen County.

“With that task in mind, we shift our attention to what a final copy of these regulations looks like and how to arm the county to protect itself now and in the future,” McNamee explained. “We as commissioners have studied, taken advise from constituents, and have called on the advice of others in our area who have dealt with writing such regulations. But we’ve all continued to come back to the same thing, when considering the effectiveness of a set of regulations there is no one size fits all solution.”

“Each and every situation requires its own review and application of those regulations,” he continued. “Taking that into consideration, we go back to the current document, how it will be used and enforced in the future, and how it will impact the future development of commercial solar energy conversion systems. While we as commissioners agree that there are possible amendments that potentially need to be made to this document, we also agree that this draft provides a baseline from which we can begin all future conversations, as well as making it a tool that gives Goshen County a voice in how future projects approach the prospect of coming to Goshen County.”

The goal of these regulations at this time, is to provide a baseline for future projects without further delay. Depending on a project’s individual needs, the regulations can be reviewed, and changes may be approved. This will allow certain projects to be considered even if they are unable to follow the specific details outlined in the regulations.

“This group of commissioners looks forward to working with the planning and zoning commission, with our county attorney Eric Boyer, and with other county leaders to continue to morph this document as may be necessary in order to continue to promote industry and development in Goshen County while we uphold our duties to protect Goshen County and its people moving forward,” McNamee said. “Goshen County is, for a lack of better term, running second in the race to establish what will be rules and protocols when it comes to establishment of a working relationship between outside entities that are interested in coming into Goshen County and the county itself.”

“Finding ourselves in this position has created a condition of playing catch up,” he continued. “Playing from that position creates the need to make sure that we don’t allow further time to lapse before adopting the set of siting regulations. We are looking for insulation and protection from future vulnerably when considering the possibility of welcoming future projects of this nature.”

The commissioners unanimously approved to adopt the draft set of regulations on the following conditions. That the regulations can continue to be reviewed, that the board of commissioners have the ability to work with the planning and zoning commission and other county leaders to request and advise any necessary changes to the regulations as are necessitated by individual projects and site-specific conditions by industry standards and by any possible changes that could occur in state statutes.

The solar regulations that were approved can be found at https://goshencounty.org/welcom-to-planning-and-gis/.