(The Center Square) – The Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, dealt a blow last week to a Colorado company that plans to build what would be the state’s largest wind and solar project.
The Horse Heaven Hills project was initially permitted by then-Governor Jay Inslee for up to 222 windmills, more than 5,000 acres of solar panels, and large battery storage facilities across 24 miles of mostly farmland from Finley to Benton City in the Tri-Cities metropolitan area, the conjoined cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland in southeastern Washington.
Last year, EFSEC reduced the scope of the Horse Heaven project to protect endangered ferruginous hawks and their habitat by creating a buffer zone around their nests. EFSEC also aimed to address other public concerns, such as visual impacts on the Tri-Cities skyline, wildlife migration corridors, and impacts to cultural resources.
Then-Gov. Jay Inslee then requested EFSEC to revisit these mitigation requirements to allow for a larger project, prioritizing clean energy needs over the stricter safeguards.
EFSEC approved most of the original project, nixing only about three dozen proposed turbines.
As reported by The Center Square, in December, a citizen group called Tri-Cities C.A.R.E.S., Benton County and the Yakama Nation filed separate lawsuits against the project.
Fast-forward to a meeting last week in which EFSEC members, who are mostly state agency employees, indicated they are inclined to prevent Scout Clean Energy from putting windmills, solar panels, or batteries within two miles of five ferruginous hawk nests within the center of the project zone. EFSEC has agreed on 1-kilometer buffers for 39 additional nests.
On Tuesday, Paul Krupin with Tri-Cities C.A.R.E.S. told The Center Square that while it’s encouraging to see EFSEC again potentially scaling back the project, he has not seen details of exactly what that will look like. He contends EFSEC has not addressed many of the additional concerns raised by community members, including quality of life and the anticipated loss of property values in the region.
“We don’t know what the council’s going to do. How many turbines, and where are they? They have not told us, and so we don’t know what the council is voting on, and we don’t have any way to really evaluate the true impacts,” he said. “It’s a [mysterious] process.”
Krupin added that EFSEC has failed to address firefighting concerns.
“Between Benton City and Kennewick and up in Canyon Lakes, we have fires here. We need these 727s and DC-10s, so that’s what we’re fighting for,” he said. “And if Scout gets to put those turbines on the ridgeline for 25 miles, there’s 100,000 people within four to six miles of the visual site of all these, and experts predict a 20 to 30% drop in real estate value, which will be devastating. They [EFSEC] are only listening to the governor, and the company talk about economic viability without taking economic harm into account.”
Krupin also raised concerns about a recent change by EFSEC during a June meeting. Members agreed to give Director Sonia Bumpus sole authority to approve nearly two dozen plans and projects overseen by EFSEC.
“Implementing this policy will contribute to timely completion of the plan review process and is consistent with EFSEC’s past practice of delegating certain review and approval authorities to the EFSEC Director. The adoption of this policy formalizes the delegation of this authority to the EFSEC Director and specifies the type of plans to which this delegated authority extends,” noted EFSEC Policy 16-01 document dated June 25.
“You can’t do that without going through official rulemaking,” Krupin said. “The Legislature needs to give you the authority. You can’t give that authority to yourself.”
In August, Tri-Cities C.A.R.E.S. and Friends of the Columbia Gorge filed a petition for judicial review against EFSEC over its policy change, which Krupin argued was made to expedite projects before federal tax dollars evaporate.
“President Trump came out with directives to minimize wind turbines and solar nationwide, and it basically says you have to begin construction by July 4th, 2026. You have to begin construction in order to get the tax credits that these companies need to build and operate, so they’re racing to get these things going,” Krupin said. “Now EFSEC has this new policy, and how do you think they are going to approve all these permits without any oversight whatsoever, and without any public knowledge and engagement whatsoever? I’ve never seen a process like this. I mean, never on earth did I ever imagine that I would see something like this.”
Chad Thompson, Scout Clean Energy’s media contact, emailed a July response letter sent to EFSEC, which said in part, “While ferruginous hawks are listed as endangered in Washington, they are fairly common across their range, which encompasses the western U.S. and Canada. Their rarity in Washington is a function of geography as much as anything, as they are only in the state during the breeding season, and migrate to other parts of their range during the non-breeding season.”
EFSEC responded to a question about the modified site proposal following initial publication of this article.
“Following Council discussion, staff indicated a draft resolution will be developed that the Council can discuss and vote on at a future meeting. These steps may impact the project proponent’s site map. We have not received updated site plans to reflect this discussion,” Karl Holappa, EFSEC public information officer, emailed The Center Square.
