Tri-Citians, your voices & dollars are needed if you want to protect Horse Heaven Hills | Editorial
Tri-Citians are running out of options to ensure responsible green energy development on the Horse Heaven Hills.
They can financially support a lawsuit against the wind farm that will soon sprout on the southern horizon, and they can encourage Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson to intervene.
Tri-Cities CARES has led the fight against the wind farm that would mar scenic vistas, disrupt endangered species habitat and encroach on culturally important Indigenous spaces. This week, the group decided to take legal action.
The nonprofit always has been a grassroots, shoestring operation. It lacks the funds to pay for lawyers and other costs associated with litigation. We urge residents who are dismayed about a project that will loom over their community to donate or to pledge financial support if they can.
No one wanted it to come to this, but Gov. Jay Inslee and the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) have left the community no choice. EFSEC had initially recommended a more-balanced approach, but after, Inslee rejected it.
The Yakama Nation and Benton County could also join the lawsuit. We hope that they do. Their participation would leave no doubt that opposition to the project as currently construed is unified and broad.
Meanwhile, Tri-Citians should send emails, make phone calls and otherwise lobby Ferguson to get involved. The incoming governor acknowledged on the campaign trail that the Horse Heaven Hills project didn’t receive the public review it deserved. Once he’s sworn in, he can rectify that and score an early win for his nascent administration.
During his endorsement interview with the Tri-City Herald, Ferguson, who is currently the state attorney general, said that his office concluded that there was insufficient stakeholder outreach and communication in the Horse Heaven Hills review.
“As a state we’re moving to a clean energy economy. That’s going to happen. It needs to be done in a way that the siting and permitting is thoughtful and fair for all sides, where voices are being heard and being respected,” Ferguson has said.
He continued, “If I’m elected governor, I’ll make sure that whatever power the governor does have on that is being exercised in a way that moves us forward on the clean energy economy but is making sure we’re doing that in a way that respects tribal sovereignty, … the rights of folks in that community who may be impacted by it and of course the long-term goal of the state to address climate.”
Ferguson can make good on that by facilitating a reconsideration of the project outside of the courtroom. It would be a powerful early win if he brings industry, the community and state agencies to the table and mediates a better plan.
Dave Upthegrove, the newly elected state public lands commissioner, could be a helpful ally in reaching that goal.
The public lands representative on EFSEC voted against bowing to Inslee.
During his endorsement interview, Upthegrove said he did not know if he would have done the same because he was not “briefed up on all the details of it.”
Fair enough, but now that he has won the election he ought to spend some time getting up to speed on what’s going on with the Horse Heaven Hills. Managing public lands isn’t just about timberland on the other side of the mountains.
Tri-Citians are not advocating for the termination of the project. Rather, we want responsible development of green energy in the region.
There are better places to build wind farms, to be sure, but even on Horse Heaven Hills, it’s possible to do it right, just not at the scale that Scout Clean Energy and Inslee want.
Donations to the nonprofit Tri-Cities CARES may be made at tricitiescares.org/donations or by mailing a check to Tri-Cities CARES, 1360 N. Louisiana St. #A-175, Kennewick, WA 99336.