State Senator Sandra Williams

The Ohio Power Siting Board says it may reconsider a ruling that developers say would effectively kill the state’s first offshore wind project

COLUMBUS - "Power Siting Board Chair Samuel Randazzo — facing questions at the board’s Aug. 27 meeting from two state lawmakers who sit on the siting board — said he hoped to have an order prepared for a vote at the board’s September meeting, though it isn’t yet clear what impact it would have on the May decision.

...The siting board had approved the Icebreaker project in May without Randazzo mentioning that deep in the 111-page permit was language allowing the state to order the turbines to shut down at night for eight months out of the year if it decides that sophisticated radar and bird collision detection systems are not adequate or if the wind farm kills more than 21 birds in 24 hours. Neither Crossman nor Williams were aware of the provision. They are non-voting members. 

[State Senator Sandra] Williams demanded that Randazzo explain why she and her staff did not receive the documents for the May vote until only hours before the meeting. “That is not the norm. That has not been the process since I have been on the board,” she said, 'especially with such a large and significant document.'"

-- John Funk, Energy News Network

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