Washington Supreme Court should look closely at Horse Heaven project | Opinion

What is driver of wind farm plan?

As stated in the Tri-City Herald article of June 13, the approval process of the Horse Heaven Wind farm in Benton County is now before the Washington Supreme Court. After three years of study, the initial Washington state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) wind farm recommendation was rejected by then-Gov. Jay Inslee. He sent it back to EFSEC indicating tlhe needed a recommendation for approval “that appropriately prioritizes the state’s pressing clean energy needs.”

These pressing needs are ostensibly dictated by, for example, the now outdated Washington State Clean Energy Transformation Act passed in 2019 (which forced closure of the Centralia, WA coal-fired power plant), and an EPA Endangerment Finding (40CFR Chapter 1) that is based on climate change projections using climate models that overpredict global warming by a factor of two and concedes that the increase in risk of extreme weather events may be small.

One would hope that the Washington Supreme Court considers in its upcoming deliberations not only whether the law was followed, but that the approval process used adequately met the intent of assuring that building the farm is in the best interest of Washington state and Benton County residents, not the “pressing clean energy needs” of the former governor.

Craig Brown, Richland

Learn more about Duresky on here

Washington 4th District voters who are unhappy under the Trump administration and think the solution is to vote for the most reasonable Republican candidate to represent them should take a clear look at the past results of this tactic.

Rep. Dan Newhouse was that candidate in the last election and, through his votes and public stances, has enabled an idiotic war, destructive tariffs, inflation, illegal detentions and killings, and massive corruption in plain sight “like nobody has ever seen.”

Health care and nutrition support in the area is in danger of collapse even as the national deficit grows.

Candidates running for his seat should be asked to state for the record their views on these subjects. If they refuse or deflect then it’s all but certain they will serve Trump, not their constituents, not even MAGA.

John Duresky will talk plainly about these issues to anyone who will listen. He is dynamic and smart and, most importantly, he’s not beholden to Trump.

Visit his website and learn that he’s a veteran and a natural leader. He served for years as a project manager in the area until his position was cut by DOGE. He’s the kind of fighter this district and country need.

Greg Carl, Richland

Pick Duresky for love of the nature

To everyone who loves camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling or any other activity in the wilds of central Washington, vote for Democrat John Duresky for Congress this fall. That is, unless you want to see your favorite public lands carved up and sold off to billionaires.

Think I’m exaggerating? Read Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” It calls for liquidating 250 million acres of public land nationwide — that’s land that belongs to you and me — including 5.4 million acres right here in Washington. Even beloved treasures like the Alpine Lakes Wilderness are on the chopping block.

Republican lawmakers look at the places normal people like to recreate and think to themselves, “gosh, I wonder how I can exploit this for my donors?” It’s one reason they fired 1,000 hard-working National Park employees and 3,200 US Forest Service employees last year. Who needs caretakers when you’re planning to trash everything?

Contrast the relentless Republican land grab attempts with Duresky’s position. An avid outdoorsman himself, Duresky has pledged to keep public lands in public hands, address maintenance backlogs in our national parks and forests, and uphold environmental protections.

I am a proud public landowner, and Duresky has my vote.

Ken Bennett, Twisp

Hanford needs the feds and funding

Hanford remains one of America’s largest environmental cleanup efforts. Decades of plutonium production during World War II and the Cold War left behind radioactive and chemical waste that contaminated soil and groundwater near the Columbia River.

I chose to research this issue in my environmental geology class because my family has strong ties to the Tri-Cities area, and my grandfather, who still lives there and worked at Hanford as an electrical engineer.

It can be easy to think of Hanford as a problem of the past, but its environmental impacts are still being addressed today. Before researching this topic, I knew Hanford was important to the Tri-Cities area, but I did not fully understand the long-term environmental challenges it created.

Learning about groundwater contamination helped me understand why cleanup efforts continue decades after plutonium production ended. Because groundwater moves through sediments beneath the surface, contaminants can travel slowly over time, making cleanup a long and complicated process.

I encourage community members to learn more about Hanford’s ongoing cleanup and support efforts to protect groundwater and the Columbia River. Staying informed and sharing information with others are small ways we can all help protect our communities and natural resources.

Astrid Jarvegren-Uecker, Port Angeles

Keep safety first on summer days

June is Internet Safety Month. With more free time during the summer, it is important to have open conversations with your children about online safety. Encourage them to talk to a trusted adult if something online makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Help them understand that they will not be in trouble for speaking up.

These conversations provide valuable opportunities to teach them how to handle difficult online situations. Remind children that not everyone they meet online is who they claim to be. Some people may appear friendly and trustworthy but have unsafe intentions.

Teach them the difference between personal and private information. Private information, such as their full name, address, phone number, school or location, should never be shared online. Consider setting limits on screen time and having devices charged outside of bedrooms at night to support healthy sleep habits.

Review privacy settings on apps and social media platforms, and regularly check devices to ensure they are safe and age appropriate. Most importantly, encourage kindness, respect, and empathy in all friendships, both online and in person. For more information about internet safety, please contact SARC at 509-374-5391.

Denise Martin, Richland

An introduction of 4th’s independent candidate

Greetings to voters Washington’s 4th Congressional District. I’m Sverre Dean Bakke of White Salmon, located in the southwest corner of Washington 4th. I’m running as a write-in candidate for Congress, Farm-Labor Party, in the Aug. 4 primary election.

I launched my write-in campaign because I’m mad as hell about what’s happening to our beloved constitutional republic.

Like many of you, I know a little bit to next to nothing about the other candidates in the contest. I’m a former two-term Klickitat County commissioner and a longtime newspaper reporter, photographer and editor in Klickitat County.

As a population, we can ill afford to send a yes-person to Congress, just another politician bought off by the greedy, controlling plutocrats who call all the shots in Washington, D.C., who control and corrupt virtually every meaningful aspect of our daily lives through their cronies in our government’s three Article branches.

The corruption is staggering, but it can all be reversed by a Congress that stands up for the people it’s supposed to serve.

A vote for me is a vote for restoring independence, honor, integrity, decency, empathy, and accountability in Congress. I’m asking voters to write in Sverre Dean Bakke for Washington’s 4th District.

Sverre Dean Bakke, White Salmon