THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
 
ABOVE:  Steve Fourez, chair of the Vermilion County Wind & Solar Committee, is shown on his farm in the Fairmount area.  (Jennifier Bailey/The News Gazette)
 
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FAIRMOUNT — When Fairmount-area farmer Steve Fourez served on the Vermilion County Board from around 2006 to 2022, wind and solar farms were few and far between in the area.
“I was on the board when the first windmills moved in, 10-plus years ago, up across Collison and Potomac,” Fourez said.
At the time, the county board didn’t have a Wind and Solar Committee; Fourez now chairs it.
“We put together a set of standards at that time,” he said, involving developers meeting financial responsibilities, siting and other issues. In the wake of laws passed by the Illinois Legislature, those standards had to be reworked and reformed.
“That’s when it really got serious, and that’s when the permit requests started flowing in,” said the 70-year-old, who farms corn and soybeans on about 500 acres.
When Fourez left the county board in 2022, he told the chair that he had some background and history with wind and solar projects and would like to be involved if applications cranked up. He didn’t know he’d be appointed chairman of the committee.
 
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