WA energy council delays for 2nd time vote on huge wind farm south of Tri-Cities

A decision on allowing the Horse Heaven wind project and any restrictions on the proposal has been postponed again.

The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council planned to vote Wednesday, Sept. 4, after delaying a decision last week so that all council members could be present.

No explanation was given for canceling this week’s vote. A call to EFSEC from the Tri-City Herald was not returned.

The meeting will be rescheduled, EFSEC posted.

The appointed council was expected to vote Aug. 29 on whether the project should be allowed with most of the turbines as proposed by Scout Clean Energy . It would stretch 24 miles along the Horse Heaven Hills just south of Kennewick.

The council makes a recommendation to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who has the final say.

EFSEC spent three years studying the project and heard public comments before recommending to Inslee in April that Scout Clean Energy be allowed to build the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center , but with about half as many wind turbines as it had proposed.

The project as proposed now by the developer, which is owned by a Canadian investment firm, would have up to 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 141 turbines about 670 feet tall, plus solar arrays and battery storage.

The initial proposed restrictions on the number of turbines based on where they could be sited was intended to protect endangered ferruginous hawks, Native American traditional cultural property and the skyline view from much of the Tri-Cities.

But Inslee sent the recommendation back to the council, saying the mitigation measures should be more specifically tailored to concerns raised about the project rather than significantly limiting the project areas were turbines could be built.

He requested a revised approval of the project “that appropriately prioritizes the state’s pressing clean energy needs.”

On Aug. 29 the council discussed revised restrictions that would allow many of the turbines it initially proposed restricting.

The new proposal would allow turbines to be built closer to some ferruginous hawk nests. The only restriction intended to protect Yakama Nation traditional cultural property would be a prohibition on turbines within a mile of Webber Canyon southeast of Benton City.