Commission adopts decommissioning and financial-assurance language, adds trust-fund definition

The commission adopted decommissioning and site-restoration definitions adapted from the county's wind code and added a definition for an "irrevocable standby trust fund" to secure money for decommissioning obligations.

Grace DiBiase read proposed language requiring removal of facility infrastructure, restoration of soils and vegetation, and demonstration of adequate financial assurance. Commissioners moved to accept the wind-code wording for decommissioning and site restoration; motions were seconded and passed by voice vote. The commission also adopted a trust-fund definition and agreed to refine surety-bond text for clarity.

At public comment Julie Clarkson Gulick flagged that a prior sentence requiring decommissioning if a project is unused for "12 consecutive months" had been removed in an edit and urged that a trigger to prevent abandoned projects be retained. "The original language included a statement that if the, project is not in use for 12 consecutive months, it would be decommissioned and that's been eliminated," she said; staff acknowledged the concern and said the decommissioning section will be checked and legal review obtained.