A rural Idaho county banned renewables. It’s having second thoughts.

Bannock County, Idaho banned utility-scale solar and wind in a 2-1 vote in March 2024, a decision the man who set the ban in motion has spent the time since trying to undo. Jeff Hough, who cast the lone dissenting vote and is now commission chair, argued the ban violated the property rights of landowners who wanted to lease to developers.

This fall the commission will vote on a new ordinance permitting solar, wind, and nuclear development, positioning the county to capture growth as Idaho Power projects a 26 percent jump in electricity demand by 2030. Bannock sits near the Populus substation, a key grid connection point, and neighboring counties have already collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue from similar projects.

The county remains split between residents willing to lease land to developers and those who view it as selling out, though many in the latter camp support nuclear power instead. Nationally, nearly one in four U.S. counties now has some form of ban or restriction on clean energy development, up sharply since 2023, mostly in rural areas.

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