Inslee’s push on Horse Heaven Hills wind farm is as divisive as ever | Opinion
First it was the dams. Now it's the skyline of the Tri-Cities.
This one-two slap at the Tri-Cities should cost the governor any goodwill he and his policies might have had in the Mid-Columbia region.
Remove the dams and the region loses vitally needed power that is not only green but also baseline power that's available any time, unlike wind turbines. The impounded Snake River provides recreation use a so-called free flowing river can't.
The governor - who once represented the the Tri-Cities in Congress - seems to have lost that relationship with his latest strong-arm action on the proposed Horse Heaven wind farm by pushing the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) to maximize energy production at the proposed Horse Heaven Hills wind farm. All it cost was any goodwill he and his policies might have had in the Mid-Columbia.
A brief recap. A few years ago, Scout Clean Energy rolled into town with plans to build hundreds of tall turbines on the Horse Heaven Hills ridge lines. It wasn't a popular idea locally.
Critics pointed out that the project would disrupt endangered species habitat, impinge on cultural resources important to native tribes, and mar the scenic vista now enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors to the Yakima Valley's many wineries.
EFSEC listened and produced a reasonable compromise that would allow fewer turbines and protect the most sensitive spaces while still permitting a lot of energy production. That wasn't good enough for Gov. Jay Inslee who sent the plan back to EFSEC with instructions to allow more turbines. This month, EFSEC obeyed.
The vote was surprisingly close. EFSEC split 4-3 on whether to gut the original compromise and embrace the governor's plan.
That narrow win reinforces just how divisive this project is. EFSEC members from the state Fish and Wildlife Department, the Department of Natural Resources and Benton County concluded that the plan was so bad that they'd risk Inslee's ire by voting against it. If only their colleagues had similar courage. EFSEC touts itself as an " independent state agency ," but apparently independence extends only as far as the governor lets the leash out.
If communities can't rely on the independent state energy siting body to provide independence and to protect local interests, there seems to be little point in having a public process at all.
EFSEC postponed its vote twice, at least once because one of the council's voting members couldn't attend the meeting. With such a close vote, one cannot help but wonder if vote counting and conversations among council members took place behind closed doors, skirting the edges of state open meetings laws.
No doubt Inslee's Puget Sound supporters cheered the news. They won't have to live with turbines towering over them, but the electricity will bolster the power grid that serves them. To help them understand the scale, the Horse Heaven Hills area to be developed would cover the Seattle area from Kent to Shoreline.
As the project goes forward, Scout Clean Energy has a lot of work to do building public trust and proving it can be a good corporate neighbor.
Instead, it dug itself deeper with a passive-aggressive, borderline threatening public response to the EFSEC decision. The company suggested that even the minimal protections that remain "threaten the viability of the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center, while sending a broader message that Washington isn't serious about permitting and building projects at the scale needed to achieve its climate goals."
Scout Clean Energy doesn't like that there will still be a technical advisory committee making some siting decisions for turbines. That could go in different ways.
If the advisory committee is just another rubber stamp for the governor, it will provide only cover for maxing out turbine construction. If, however, it takes its job seriously, it might protect some sensitive natural resources — and avoid litigation.
The next governor will have a lot of say in how that goes. Inslee is a lame duck. His successor will have the power to ensure that at least some oversight and thoughtfulness occurs before every turbine goes up.
