Update: Future of Tri-Cities skyline could be set at WA energy council meeting this week

Update: The Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council on Wednesday canceled its Jan. 24 meeting.

The EFSEC meeting has been reset for Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m. Click here for a link on the agenda to listen to the meeting.

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The future of the southern skyline of the Tri-Cities could be decided Wednesday, Jan. 24, at a virtual meeting of the Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.

The meeting agenda calls for the council to provide direction to staff on a recommendation to be made to Gov. Jay Inslee on the Horse Heaven wind farm project.

On Friday, 10 Washington state legislators sent a letter to council officials asking them to make final decision-making documents available to the public and to allow public comment on them before the council takes final action.

The top signatures on the letter were by Tri-Cities Republicans Sen. Matt Boehnke, Rep. Stephanie Barnard and Rep. April Connors. Other legislators represent the 9th, 14th, 15th and 16th legislative districts.

Once Inslee receives the council’s recommendation he will have 60 days to approve the application with changes recommended by EFSEC, to reject it or to send the application back to the council for more work, according to EFSEC.

The Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center is proposed to cover 112 square miles stretching from south of Finley to south of Kennewick to south of Benton City, although the developed area of the project would cover only about 10 square miles.

Scout Clean Energy is proposing up to 244 wind turbines that would be 500 feet tall or an alternate plan with fewer, but taller turbines. Then there would be 150 turbines with blades extending about 670 feet high, which is taller than the Seattle Space Needle.

Along with the nearby and smaller Nine Canyon wind farm, just over 100,000 residents of Benton County would live within six miles of a turbine, 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.

However, project has the support of unions whose members would construct the project.

Union officials have obtained a pledge that the contractor for the project would hire from Eastern and Central Washington unions, with an estimated 1,000 workers employed over the years of construction work. The project also would provide tax revenue to Benton County.

The council has made no indication that it will recommend the project not be built.

But at its December meeting it looked at different possible restrictions on the project, including to protect tribal cultural resources and the ferruginous hawks, an endangered species in Washington state with nests in the Horse Heaven Hills.

One option would eliminate half of the proposed turbines, including many of those most visible from the Tri-Cities. Three other options would require more limited changes to the Scout Clean Energy proposal for a project that would include wind, solar and battery storage.

The council also asked staff in December to provide it more information by its January meeting about aerial firefighting needs and restrictions on firefighting airplanes and helicopters near turbines by its next meeting.

Before Linda Lehman’s term as mayor expired at the end of 2023, she wrote in an op-ed published in the Tri-City Herald that said turbines on the ridgeline of the Horse Heaven Hills would threaten the safety of residents in Benton City, Kiona and Badger Canyon.

Boehnke and Barnard are sponsoring legislation in the Washington state House and Senate that would require applications for wind farms to demonstrate approval from fire officials of the location and height of turbines.

“We need government policies that consider the danger the siting of these utility-scale wind turbines poses when wildfires sweep through and destroy lives, homes, and property. Amending these procedures increases safety for the public in those areas that need and deserve adequate protection,” Boehnke said.

The EFSEC meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Information on watching the meeting is posted on the agenda at bit.ly/EFSECJan24meeting. Audio also is expected to be broadcast on tvw.org.

This story was originally published January 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.