Whitmam County Commissioners issue moratorium on wind energy projects

Members of a community group opposed to plans for a large wind farm project near Kamiak Butte in Whitman County are celebrating a decision this week by county commissioners to place a moratorium on new commercial wind turbines.

Commissioners cited the need to update regulations on wind energy projects.

Save the Palouse, a nonprofit organization formed in opposition to the project, posted news of the six-month moratorium on social media.

“This is a huge step in the right direction, and we couldn’t have done it without all of your support,” a Facebook post read. “Thank you to everyone who has worked tirelessly to get us to this point.”

As previously reported by The Center Square, the proposed Harvest Hills Wind Project could provide power to 90,000 homes for 25 to 30 years as part of the state’s goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2045.

In a Thursday interview with The Center Square, Rick McNannay, president of Save the Palouse, detailed the group’s objections to the wind farm.

“One of the biggest issues we have is them saying there’s going to be this windfall of taxes coming in,” he explained. “That’s absolutely not the case. In the beginning, there is tax revenue, and then as the equipment gets older, that depletes, and citizens are expected to pick up the difference in those taxes because people become used to having that influx of money.”

McNannay said his group is also concerned about losing beautiful views across the county that draw people from all over the world.

“We’ve got a huge photography business going on in this area,” he said. “Every time you go around a corner and look out over the rolling hills, there’s somebody stopped taking a picture. There are photography groups that come from all over the world to take pictures here.”

The state trying to exert control is the biggest issue for McNannay.

“Olympia is telling our local government in Whitman County what is best for us here,” he said. “That doesn’t sit well with me.”

McNannay noted the recently approved Horse Heaven wind and solar project in the Tri-Cities, which moved forward despite community objections and an initial recommendation from the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to scale back the project's size.

As reported by The Center Square, Gov. Jay Inslee then pressed EFSEC to approve the initial much larger project, which may ultimately include 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 141 turbines about 670 feet tall. Plans also call for solar arrays and battery storage, stretching from Horse Heaven Hills just south of Kennewick for about 24 miles from Finley to Benton City in the Tri-Cities metropolitan area.

The project is likely to be delayed by a series of lawsuits.

“EFSEC isn’t even involved in our project at this point,” McNannay said, noting his organization has secured legal counsel, fearing the developer could go straight to the state to try and get the ball rolling despite the moratorium adopted this week by Whitman County Commissioners.

“We need to get control of our counties back to the county, and the more pushback each community gives the state,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll step back and decide they need to start taking into consideration what the counties want.”

According to the project developer’s website, “The Harvest Hills wind project will provide low-cost, reliable energy and create economic growth for Whitman County. The project will bring 200 megawatts of clean energy and is designed to integrate within existing farms and ranches, adding resiliency to the Washington energy system.”

This project is under development by Steelhead Americas out of Portland, Ore., the North American development arm of Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.

Despite the moratorium, developers are hosting a community meeting about the project on Tues, Feb. 4, at the Lewis Alumni Centre at Washington State University in Pullman.