WA state energy council finally votes on 24-mile wind farm along Tri-Cities skyline

The Washington state energy siting board voted 4-3 late Friday afternoon to recommend approval of a 24-mile-long wind farm along the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick with fewer limitations that it previously recommended.

The decision will be sent to Gov. Jay Inslee for a final ruling.

After three years of studying Scout Clean Energy’s plan to build the state’s largest wind farm by the Tri-Cities and an environmental study of the project, the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council voted in April to recommend the project to the governor.

But then it said the project needed restrictions that would eliminate about half of the the turbines proposed, unless at least some of them could be relocated within the project boundaries.

Inslee sent that recommendation back to the council, asking for a change “that appropriately prioritizes the state’s pressing clean energy needs.”

EFSEC approved a recommendation Friday that would still impact some turbines, but substantially fewer than in its April recommendation to the governor.

Scout Clean Energy has proposed the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center have either up to 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 147 turbines about 670 feet tall, plus solar arrays and battery storage.

The latest recommendation would have more limited restrictions on building turbines in areas with endangered ferruginous hawks , with traditional cultural properties important to the Yakamas and for aerial firefighting fly zones.

It could impact 12 turbines within 0.6 miles of all documented ferruginous hawk nests if Scout Clean Energy pursues its 222-turbine plan or eight turbines if it pursues it 147-turbine plan, according to EFSEC estimates.

Restrictions to protect traditional cultural properties or for aerial firefighting could impact 38 turbines in its 222-turbine plan or 26 turbines in its 147-turbine plan, according to EFSEC estimates.

That would bring the estimated turbines that would be eliminated or moved within the project to 50 of the 222 shorter turbines or 34 of the 147 taller turbines, depending on which plan Scout Clean Energy settles chooses to pursue.

The new proposal “maintains protections for wildlife, habitat, and cultural properties while also aiding the energy transition goals of our state,” said EFSEC Chairperson Kathleen Drew. “We thank the countless community members who provided input through this long and detailed process.”

Tri-Cities skyline, endangered hawks

Drew said earlier that the more limited new restrictions still would help to protect scenic views of the southern skyline seen from the Tri-Cities.

The project had drawn objections from some Tri-Cities residents and officials because as proposed it will dominate the southern skyline of the Tri-Cities.

Along with the smaller Nine Canyon wind farm near the proposed Horse Heaven wind farm, just over 100,000 residents of Benton County would live within six miles of a turbine under the Scout Clean Energy proposal, according to Tri-Cities CARES , a group opposing the wind farm as too close to the Tri-Cities.

That’s five times more than the estimated 20,000 who live within six miles of a wind farm across the rest of Washington state , according to the group.

Scout Clean Energy said in a statement that while EFSEC’s recommendation Friday offered a pathway to restore wind turbines and solar arrays, the recommendation was still problematic due to its handling of ferruginous hawk habitat that would leave some decisions to a technical advisory committee.

“We are hopeful that this will be taken into consideration as the decision makes its way to the governor, but remain concerned that inaction on this critical issue will 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,” the project developer said in a statement after the vote.

New Horse Heaven recommendation

The new recommendation made four changes from the original proposal sent to Inslee:

▪ The recommendation was revised from restricting constructing turbines within 2 miles of historic or current ferruginous hawk nests to restricting them just within 0.6 miles.

However, a technical advisory committee would consider whether any of the turbines in the remainder of the original 2 mile exclusion zone would still interfere with nest sites that are still viable and have adequate habitat available for the hawks. EFSEC would make the final decision on allowing individual turbines within that zone.

The two-mile buffer area that was earlier recommended to the governor would have not only protected ferruginous hawks, but also would have decreased impacts to Yakama Nation cultural resources, scenic views and aerial firefighting.

Scout Clean Energy called the technical advisory committee process an “unprecedented step of subjecting substantive pre-construction decisions about the siting of project infrastructure to an outside group that will not be convened for several months, leading to further delay and continued uncertainty.”

▪ No turbines could be built within one 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 properties) 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 new recommendation.

▪ Habitat mitigation would be required if turbines or other structures interfered with wildlife corridors. That could include bridges, road crossings and culverts.

▪ Turbines could be restricted within a quarter mile of wildfires in the last 24 years to facilitate aerial firefighting.

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. But it would not provide an adequate turning radius for federal DC-10s sometimes used to fight fires.

The firefighting restriction could impact several turbines proposed in the Benton City area.

Energy council vote

EFSEC was originally scheduled to vote on the new proposed recommendation to Inslee on Aug. 29 but postponed the vote until a seventh person eligible to vote could attend a meeting.

That tipped the vote to 4-3 to approve the revised energy project recommendation . The chairperson of the committee, representatives of the state Department of Commerce, the state Department of Ecology and the state Utilities and Transportation Committee voted in favor.

Those opposed were representatives of the state Fish and Wildlife Department, the state Department of Natural Resources and Benton County.

Lenny Young of the Department of Natural Resources said he had not supported the earlier recommendation to the governor because it did not have sufficient protection for traditional cultural properties and the second recommendation, which he also opposed, heightened his concerns. It puts a lot of land back into play, he said.

Stacey Brewster of the Utilities and Transportation Commission said that many comments received by the council as it considered the project commended the science-based consideration for ferruginous hawks protection.

She voted for the new recommendation because it allows more specific scientific evaluation of ferruginous hawk habitat that adds some flexibility while balancing the need for clean energy production, she said.

Inslee had asked the council to find mitigation measures 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 to him initially.

Tri-Cities CARES expects a quick decision from the governor after the Friday vote, said Paul Krupin of the group. Then it will have 30 days to decide if it can afford to file a lawsuit or could help another group that challenges the decision.