Memorandum
Date: September 15, 2026
To: The Honorable Brad Rasmussen, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Benjamin Rickelman, Deputy County Administrative Officer
Subject: 10:00 A.M. - Consideration of Presentation of the Lake County Energy Strategy
Executive Summary:
This item presents the Draft Lake County Energy Strategy to the Board for initial consideration and direction. It was developed through the Ad Hoc Energy Policy Committee over the summer of 2026 in response to policy proposals, Committee research, and the projects now approaching the County. Large-scale energy projects have expressed interest in siting in Lake County, and formal exploratory applications are expected soon. The draft strategy document is currently in legal review; staff will return in October with a final document incorporating Board and public input. The strategy is a guiding document, not an ordinance: it creates no enforceable rights or obligations and does not supersede the Zoning Ordinance or General Plan, though elements of the Energy Strategy may later be carried into the planned Energy Element.
The accompanying presentation has three parts. Part I identifies five settled legal and financial limits on local government: the County cannot hold equity in or share revenue from private merchant generation (a public-purpose resilience asset remains permissible); it cannot buy power at cost and resell it; acquiring PG&E’s distribution system is not financeable at any modeled price and carries wildfire liability with no State backstop; a developer may elect State certification under AB 531, displacing County permits; and a fixed, formula-driven payment applied to every project reads as a tax under Proposition 26 and Sheetz. What remains is narrower but real: development and community benefits agreements, applicant-funded cost recovery, early participation in State proceedings, and the Energy Element.
Part II walks throug...
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