State Senator Sue Rezin, R-Morris, introduced Senate Bill 2595 on Tuesday, which aims to restore control over the locations of renewable energy projects to counties.
That power was stripped by House Bill 4412, passed through on a vote of 73-36 and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in Jan. 2023 according to a document from the Illinois State Association of Counties.
“Counties are permitted to regulate the siting of commercial wind energy facilities with standards that are not more restrictive than the requirements specified within the law,” the document states. “This includes unincorporated areas of the county that are outside of the zoning jurisdiction of the municipality and that are outside the 1.5-mile radius surrounding the zoning jurisdiction of the municipality.”
Under Rezin’s proposed bill, proposed commercial wind and solar energy facilities in an unincorporated area of a county that is within a 3-mile radius of a…
