Tri-Cities group thinks WA board about to cave after Inslee pushes for more wind turbines

Kennewick, WA — A Washington state council is considering lifting most proposed restrictions that would have about halved the number of turbines allowed in a proposed wind farm stretching 24 miles along the Horse Heaven Hills south of Tri-Cities.

The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) spent three years studying the proposal and hearing public comment before recommending to Gov. Jay Inslee approve the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center , with restrictions to protect endangered ferruginous hawks, Native American cultural resources and fly zones now available for aerial firefighting.

It recommended eliminating a substantial number of the ridge top turbines that would dominate the skyline view from much of the Tri-Cities.

But Inslee asked EFSEC to take another look, requesting a revised approval of the project “that appropriately prioritizes the state’s pressing clean energy needs.”

He said mitigation measures should be considered that would be more specifically tailored to concerns raised about the project rather than significantly limiting the project areas where turbines could be built as it recommended.

Scout Clean Energy has proposed the project have up to 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 141 turbines about 670 feet tall, plus solar arrays and battery storage.

EFSEC will discuss and likely vote on a new draft recommendation for the governor with fewer restrictions in a public meeting 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29. The governor had asked for the new recommendation by Thursday, Aug. 22.

Public comments may be submitted to the council through Sunday Aug. 25.

Turbines and endangered hawks

“EFSEC looks like it is giving into the governor’s demands,” said Paul Krupin of the nonprofit Tri-Cities CARES , or Community Action for Responsible Environmental Stewardship. “... Everything Scout wanted, EFSEC gave them.”

Scout Clean Energy told the Tri-City Herald it would defer any comment until after the Aug. 29 meeting.

The draft recommendations the council will consider would drop the mandatory exclusion area for turbines around active and historical ferruginous hawk nests from 2 miles to a limit of 0.6 miles.

The restriction was intended to increase the ability of the hawks to return to certain areas of historic usage.

Turbines built from 0.6 miles to 2 miles would need approval by a technical advisory group assembled by Scout Clean Energy.

Steps to reduce the likelihood of turbines hitting and killing ferruginous hawks might be taken, such as not operating turbines built in that area during daylight in the breeding and rearing seasons.

Inslee told EFSEC that the 2 mile restriction it proposed were “overbroad.”

Disturbance from agricultural and residential land has already caused a significant decline in the ferruginous hawk population on the proposed project site, the governor said.

More than 60% of the nesting territories of the ferruginous hawk in Washington state is concentrated in Franklin and Benton counties, which is considered the core breeding range in the state, according to the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2021 status review of the hawk.

It said that an average of 55 breeding pairs per year nested in the state between 1992 and 1995. But Inslee said that no ferruginous hawk has been seen nesting in the proposed wind farm project area in five years.

The draft recommendation to be considered by EFSEC does not say whether the proposed 0.6 mandatory restriction would eliminate any turbines from the project plan.

Scout Clean Energy has not made public exactly where the turbines would be put.

More wind turbine restrictions

The draft recommendation would ban any turbines from being built within a mile of Webber Canyon, which is southeast of Benton City.

“Webber Canyon has been identified by the Yakama Nation as an area of particular TCP (traditional cultural property) concern and prohibiting the siting of wind turbines in proximity to this area will reduce physical and visual encroachment on any TCPs associated with this geographic feature,” according to the draft recommendation.

Krupin said the Webber Canyon restriction appeared to eliminate possibly eight to 10 planned turbines.

The draft recommendation also would eliminate turbines within a quarter mile of wildfires since 2000.

That would be adequate to allow the state single- and twin-engine turboprops and helicopters used for firefighting by the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, the agency said. But it would not provide an adequate turning radius for federal DC-10s sometimes used to fight fires.

The chairman of the Allied Aerial Firefighters Association, David Wardall, said that wind turbines create a “no fly” zone that greatly increases the risk that any wildfire in or near a wind farm could not be quickly contained. To make air drops during a fire, three to four miles would be needed along flight paths and two to three miles perpendicular to flight paths to reduce the risks posed by turbulance downwind of turbines, he said.

The proposed revised restriction could possibly eliminate six to eight turbines from Scout’s original proposal, primarily near Benton City and along the Webber Canyon ridgeline crest, according to CARES.

“It looks to us like the governor is ignoring the science on wildlife, the protection of traditional cultural properties, the visual impacts and the aerial firefighting restrictions,” Krupin said.

Horse Heaven project commenting

The Horse Heaven wind farm is the largest proposed for Washington state, with the exception of a new plan to turn some unused federal Hanford nuclear site land just northwest of the Tri-Cities into one of the largest wind projects in the nation.

The EFSEC board includes a chairperson appointed by the Washington state governor and representatives from the the Washington state departments of Commerce, Ecology, Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources and a representative from the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

It makes a recommendation on energy projects to the governor, who can approve the council recommendation for the construction of the wind farm with restrictions, reject the application or direct EFSEC to again reconsider aspects of the project.

No public comment will be heard at the council’s Aug. 29 meeting. But comments can be submitted electronically through Sunday, Aug. 25 at comments.efsec.wa.gov/ or by email at comments@efsec.wa.gov .

The meeting is expected to be shown on tvw.org and on the EFSEC website .