Emmons County approves conditional use permit for NextEra battery project after $3.96 million permit fee deal

The Emmons County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a conditional use permit for the Emmons County Logan Energy Storage Project, a battery energy storage facility proposed by NextEra, and accepted a negotiated permit fee of $3,960,000 to be paid in three milestone payments.

The vote, taken after extended discussion and public comment, was 4–1 in favor: Jim Gardner, Greg Miller, Aaron Maggard and Dan Materi voted aye; Jim Vandevors voted no. Commissioner Aaron Maggard made the motion to approve the conditional use permit on the terms discussed and the board carried the motion in roll call.

County and company officials said the $3,960,000 figure represents 3% of the project’s infrastructure cost for permit-fee calculations. A company representative told the commission that “the project cost then would be a 132,000,000 equating to a $3,960,000 perm application fee.” The company proposed a payment schedule of 10% at permit approval, 40% after Public Service Commission (PSC) approval for site compatibility, and the remaining 50% within…