Recommendation to governor

Our recommendation to the governor to approve or reject an application

Our Council votes on whether to recommend proposed energy facilities to the governor. The recommendation will include conditions for construction, operation, and decommissioning that applicants will need to comply with.

Steps in Final recommendation and governor's decision

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Draft Site Certification Agreement (SCA)
Recommendation to governor
Final Site Certification Agreement (SCA)

About this milestone

After full consideration of all measures taken to review the application, our Council will prepare a recommendation to the governor to either approve or reject an application for site certification.

A recommendation for approval will include a draft Site Certification Agreement (SCA) for the governor to sign. The draft SCA will include all environmental, social, economic, and engineering conditions an applicant must meet for construction, operation throughout the life of the project, and decommissioning and site restoration.

If our Council decides to recommend that the governor reject an application for site certification, we’ll provide a final order explaining our decision.

What we’ll provide to the governor

  • Administrative order with our recommendation, including recommended preemption to local land use regulations, if applicable
  • Draft Site Certification Agreement (SCA) for the governor to sign

Related steps

If the governor signs and approves the draft SCA, it then becomes a final SCA. A final SCA may include changes based on the governor’s feedback.

Laws related to Recommendation to governor

Laws

Recommendations to governor—Expedited processing—Approval or rejection of certi…
Issuance of a site certification agreement (Chapter 463-64 WAC)

Facilities at this step

No facilities at this step.

Completing this milestone

Milestone requirements

1. The governor has 60 days to consider our recommendation.

2. He can take one of the following actions:

  • Approve our recommendation and execute the draft SCA
  • Reject our recommendation
  • Ask us to reconsider certain details of the proposed facility and draft SCA

3. If we need to reconsider parts of the SCA, we’ll review the existing record of the application. We try to conduct reconsideration as quickly as possible.

4. If necessary, we may reopen the adjudicative proceeding to gather more evidence.

5. After a reconsideration, we’ll resubmit the draft SCA to the governor with any necessary changes.

6. The SCA will be binding upon execution by the governor and the applicant.

7. If the governor rejects the application again, his decision is final. However, applicants may submit a new application for the same site if they change the conditions or provide new information.