Peoria Standard

Sen. Win Stoller (R-Peoria) recently shared information regarding a letter he sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) in a Facebook post published on Friday.

"Earlier this week, I sent a letter to the Governor requesting that he either veto or at the very least, amendatory veto House Bill 4412," Stoller wrote. "This bill will completely destroy local control when it comes to zoning for wind and solar farms. It also has the potential to be devastating to local economic growth plans throughout the entire state."

“I am writing to urge you to consider vetoing, or at the very least, issuing an amendatory veto to House Bill 4412, which is legislation that passed during the Lame Duck session and would create a statewide siting standard for wind and solar energy facilities," Stoller wrote in his letter. "As the legislation is written, current areas deemed as 'Enterprise Zones' were not carved out or exempted. As you know, these zones are thoughtfully created to encourage economic growth and development. Under House Bill 4412, renewable projects could still be placed in these zones if the new standards are met. This has created great confusion for economic development officials and community leaders who have spent years and millions of dollars developing these Enterprise Zones.”

According to FarmWeekNow.com, the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) opposes the omnibus bill, arguing that there was no required enforcement by the Illinois Department of Agriculture to implement Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreements. The IFB also argued that there is no requirement for a plan to develop and implement drainage to address water resulting from rainfall.

NPR reported that House Bill 4412 creates a setback requirement for blade heights and requires that occupied community buildings or nonparticipating residencies not experience over 30 hours of shadow flicker (moving shadows created by a turbine) per year.

The bill was initially filed by Rep. Kathleen Willis (D-Northlake) on Jan. 7, 2022, and was signed into law on Friday.