203611 NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF DETERMINATION OF NONSIGNIFICANCE (DNS) FOR SEPA 25-16 Whitman County Revision to Chapter 19.61 - Commercial Wind Energy Facilities - in the Whitman County Code. Wind energy facilities are conditionally allowed in Whitman County's Agricultural District zone under Whitman County Code (WCC) Ch.19.06. SEPA review was performed on WCC Ch. 19.61 prior to its adoption in November, 2009. These provisions contain regulations and development standards applicable to commercial wind energy facilities. To obtain a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), an applicant must satisfy decisional criteria and demonstrate compliance with the regulations and development standards contained therein. Minor amendments were made to Ch. 19.61 in 2011, and scrivener's errors in Ch. 19.61 were corrected in 2021. This SEPA DNS is based on an Environmental Checklist prepared in relation to draft amendments to WCC Ch. 19.61 currently under review. Amending WCC Ch. 19.61 is a non-project action. A non-project action includes "[t]he adoption or amendment of comprehensive land use plans or zoning ordinances". WAC 197-11-704(2)(b). Non-project means that the activity subject to SEPA review is not a proposal for a development permit or approval. No development will be approved by passage of the amended ordinance. The effect of the proposed amendments will be the application of more rigorous development standards on commercial wind energy facilities in Whitman County than exist today. The revisions would not add or eliminate any land use districts (zones) in Whitman County where commercial wind energy facilities are conditionally allowed - they remain allowed with a CUP in the Agricultural District zone. In 2023, the Legislature passed and Governor Inslee signed ESSHB 1216 regarding Clean Energy Project Siting. Among other things, RCW 43.21C.535 required the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to prepare a programmatic EIS (PEIS) on utility-scale onshore wind energy facilities across the state, including in Whitman County. Ecology conducted an extensive outreach campaign across Washington to solicit and obtain Tribal, agency and public input; prepared a draft EIS; received and reviewed public comments thereon; and published a final utility-scale wind PEIS on June 30, 2025. The PEIS and its analysis of wind energy facility environmental effects at the programmatic level apply to all counties and all SEPA Lead Agencies statewide. Per RCW 43.21C.538, the PEIS must be used by SEPA Lead Agencies, including Whitman County, at the time a project-specific proposal is received, if ever. At that time, the PEIS shall be either unchanged, or modified with an addendum, by reference to, or through supplementation by a lead agency based on the facts of the project-specific proposal. Whitman County will consider the PEIS as part of its SEPA review of any future, site-specific wind energy facility proposed for development with a CUP in Agricultural District zone. Proponent: Whitman County, Alan Thomson, PO Box 430, 310 N. Main, 2nd Floor Public Service Building, Colfax, WA 99111, 509-397-4622, alan.thomson@whitmancounty.gov. Whitman County, as the SEPA lead agency for the proposal, is withdrawing the SEPA threshold determination of Non-Significance issued on November 27, 2025. A new threshold determination is being issued on January 8, 2026, and a new notice and comment period will be provided per WAC 197-11-340(3)(c). Date: January 2, 2026 Alan Thomson, County Planner