AN ACT to create and enact a new subsection to section 49-22-13 and a new subsection to section 49-22.1-10 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to public hearings for energy conversion and transmission facilities; and to amend and reenact sections 49-22-03, 49-22-16.4, and 49-22.1-01 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to public hearings and light-mitigating technology systems.
SB 2116 revises North Dakota’s energy facility siting laws in chapters 49-22 and 49-22.1. The bill updates definitions for electric and gas/liquid energy conversion and transmission facilities, including clarifying what counts as construction, repowering, utility-scale energy storage, temporary transmission loops, and certain short pipeline exemptions. It also adds a new authority for the Public Service Commission (PSC) to hold technical hearings on applications, either on its own motion or at the request of a directly interested person, with parties allowed to present evidence and examine and cross-examine witnesses.
The bill also changes how public hearings and waiver/extension decisions are handled for wind energy light-mitigating technology systems. It keeps the requirement that qualifying wind facilities be equipped with functioning light-mitigating technology and confirms that the PSC may grant waivers or extensions after a public hearing based on technical or economic feasibility. In addition, the bill makes parallel changes in the gas and liquid siting chapter to align hearing procedures and construction exclusions with the updated electric-facility provisions.
SB 2116 affects the North Dakota Century Code provisions governing siting and permitting of major energy infrastructure, including wind generation, electric transmission, gas and liquid transmission, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and utility-scale energy storage. It expands and clarifies PSC procedural authority, especially by expressly authorizing technical hearings and by refining when certain work can proceed without full siting authority if exclusion or avoidance areas are not impacted or if the PSC approves limited impacts. The bill also preserves and clarifies the light-mitigation requirements for wind facilities and the owner’s responsibility for related costs.
The bill appears to have been generally well received. It passed the Senate unanimously, 47-0, and passed the House with a strong majority, 75-9, indicating broad bipartisan support for the PSC-requested procedural and definitional updates. The voting pattern suggests the legislation was viewed as a technical or administrative refinement rather than a major policy shift, though the House vote shows some dissent.
The main points of potential contention are procedural and regulatory rather than ideological. The new technical-hearing authority and the rule that an avoidance-area impact is deemed approved if the PSC does not act within 30 days could raise concerns about due process, agency workload, or the speed of approvals. The bill’s treatment of avoidance areas, siting exemptions, and wind-light mitigation waivers may also be sensitive for landowners, environmental interests, and project developers, but the available record shows limited overt opposition and no committee transcript debate in the provided materials.