Many Benton County, Wash., residents believe they do not have a voice in the fate of a controversial renewable energy project proposed for a large site south of the city of Kennewick.

They say that’s because the recommendation on whether to proceed with the Horse Heaven Hills Clean Energy Center rests with a board of state government appointees who are aligned with Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s climate change agenda, which includes pushing for alternative power sources.

That belief was evident Wednesday at a public hearing for the project before the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), a board of representatives from several state agencies.

“The outcome is predetermined,” said Dave Sharp of Tri-Cities C.A.R.E.S. (Community Action for Responsible Environmental Stewardship). Kennewick is one of the three interconnected Tri-Cities that also include Pasco and Richland.

“Odds of being denied are slim,” said Pam Manelli of Tri-Cities C.A.R.E.S.

Barbara Buckmaster, a farmer at the foot of the Horse Heaven Hills, said, “People are mad and they are angry. They do not want their skyline to look like an industrial site. … Let the community decide what is best for us.”

“Final approval should rest with Benton County,” said local resident Samuel Dechter.

Developers of solar and wind farms and other alternative energy sources in Washington can pick one of two paths to obtain government approval. One path is getting approval from the host county, while the other is to earn a good recommendation from EFSEC, which then goes to Inslee, who makes the final decision. Individual developers have been selecting paths based on which presents the best chances for approval of a project.

When questioned by NetZero Insider this past spring, Inslee said he won’t rubber-stamp such projects despite his green agenda. (See Inslee Approves 160 MW of Solar in Central Wash.)

Inslee has been crusading against global warming for at least a couple decades, even basing his short presidential candidacy on combating climate change.  In 2016, the state’s Ecology Department developed regulations calling for the state to rely on 100% carbon-free power by 2045. A major plank of achieving that goal is solar and wind power. In 2019, the Legislature passed legislation ingraining that goal into law.

Heavy Opposition

The carbon-free power target has sparked a surge of solar farm proposals in Washington.

With the Horse Heaven Hills project, Colorado-based Scout Clean Energy has proposed building up to 224 wind turbines — about 500 feet tall — on 112 square miles of mostly private land. About 294 acres of that land also would hold solar panels, and the project will also include battery storage. The project has a combined nameplate capacity of 1,150 MW, roughly the same as the Columbia Generating Station (CGS), a commercial nuclear reactor just north of the Tri-Cities.

If built, the wind project would be the second in Benton County. Richland-based Energy Northwest, which owns and operates CGS, operates 63 wind turbines several miles to the southeast of the northern face of the Horse Heaven Hills. Completed in 2007, that site covers about eight square miles and produces about 96 MW.

Energy Northwest’s turbines are not controversial, but they cannot be seen from the Tri-Cities. Scout’s turbines would be visible, a major factor in Benton County residents opposing the project. The location is also a nesting area for ferruginous hawks. Last year, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission downgraded the status of ferruginous hawks from threatened to endangered. (See Climate, Turbines Help Land Hawk on Wash. Endangered List.)

Up to 69 of the proposed turbines would be too close to the nesting areas, which need a two-mile buffer zone from the structures, Trina Bayard, director of bird conservation at Audubon Washington, said at Wednesday’s hearing.

“It’s too close to our homes. It’s too close to ferruginous hawks,” Manelli said.

Overall, 18 people spoke against the project on Wednesday and three supported it as a job creator. Supporters cited the economic benefits from building and operating the turbines.

“It’ll provide family-wage jobs,” said Rylan Grimes of the local chapter of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said 118 people spoke against the Horse Heaven Hills project.