By Nicki Lock
The Taylor County Supervisors held a series of three public hearings on Thursday, July 23 on the placing of a moratorium on the acceptance, processing, and approval of applications for data centers, solar energy system, battery energy storage system, and mineral right development. This moratorium would be in place for 12 months and the Board can extend it in increments of six months at a time if needed.
At the 8:30 a.m. hearing, John Huff with MidAmerican Energy and Matthew Eberl with Apex were in attendance. Huff is a project outreach director with MidAmerican Energy. He offered his willingness to help the committee with the drafting process. Huff handed out some information on battery and solar energy to the Board of Supervisors. He also said he and some colleagues have drafted a battery ordinance and he would be glad to email that to the Supervisors as well. Matthew Eberl stated Apex has completed the application for Black Maple Wind Farm and they will be submitting it to the Engineer soon.
At the 12 p.m. meeting there were two in attendance, Jan and James Norris. They were just seeking more information. Patrick and Miranda Welch and Cindy Van Fosson came to the 5 p.m. meeting and they were also just looking for more information.
At The July 30 Board of Supervisors meeting, the supervisors will discuss with possible approval of Ordinance No. 40, an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium.
