Editorial | Move forward with scale-down Horse Heaven Hills wind farm compromise
A scaled-down version of the Horse Heaven Hills wind turbine project is headed to Gov. Jay Inslee.
Proponents and opponents continue to pick at the details, but the current iteration of the plan strikes a reasonable compromise between developing desperately needed green energy and the impacts of the project on the Tri-Cities.
The governor should sign off on it.
The original plan was an outrageous overreach, at least for anyone who looked beyond megawatts. Scout Clean Energy, the Colorado-based company behind the project, had proposed building hundreds of turbines that would reach hundreds of feet into the air.
They would have marred the scenic horizon for much of the region. More than 100 would have been visible from downtown Richland.
While some people might find the spinning blades high atop towers attractive, even soothing, a lot more don’t appreciate having natural vistas overrun by human energy demands. It was hardly the sort of first view the region wants to present to tourists coming here to sip wine or hike.
Scenery wasn’t the only problem, perhaps not even the greatest problem. The project’s turbines, solar panels and energy storage systems also would have impinged on habitat for the endangered ferruginous hawk, as well as valued Native American cultural resources.
The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) had the unenviable task of weighing those challenges against the state’s push for clean energy. Washington is shifting away from fossil fuels and, with foolhardy haste, away from hydropower.
It needs more wind and solar power projects to make up for the energy lost to fighting climate change and salmon habitat restoration.
In January, the council heeded local concerns and limited where turbines could go along the 24 miles of the Horse Heaven Hills in order to protect views, Native American cultural resources and ferruginous hawks. Last week, a divided council ratified that decision and will soon send its formal recommendation to the governor.
Local residents who challenged the project should count this as a victory and deserve thanks from the entire community.
Hard, relentless advocacy by Paul Krupin, Dave Sharp, Pam Minelli, Karen Brun and other members of Tri-City C.A.R.E.S ensured that state officials could not ignore local concerns, which is what many people feared would happen when Scout first proposed the project. EFSEC listened and endorsed a compromise.
Some project proponents aren’t happy with that compromise. They point to the need for more clean energy, worry about the feasibility of a smaller project and note that it will now create fewer jobs.
EFSEC still recommends allowing a substantial wind power project on the site. No, it might not be the biggest one in the state as originally proposed, but it’s not small.
Naysayers on both sides now will lobby the governor, hoping to sway him closer to their side.
Inslee, who has made combating climate change a cornerstone of his time in office, might want to lean toward more turbines and therefore more clean power. He should remember the many months of contention that led to the current compromise plan before upending it.
Other projects will come along in better places. Washington cannot meet all of its electricity demands in an instant. Indeed, much of the power generated at Horse Heaven Hills could flow out of the state.
Long-term strategic planning and careful consideration of the specifics of each project will end with a much better result, one that fits the character of the region and the state.
Inslee has an opportunity with Horse Heaven Hills to demonstrate that he is able to build consensus around a plan that doesn’t give everyone what they want but successfully lands in the middle where everyone can walk away with something.
