Horse Heaven Wind & Solar Project
Introduction
The Horse Heaven Wind & Solar Project has risen to the top of our initiative list because the project will have a profound impact on wildlife and habitat, a large segment of the population of the Tri-Cities, and Benton County’s ability to manage future growth in the county. The decision of the project developer to by-pass the county elected officials requires increased effort to educate the general public. Our public outreach will encourage citizens to first become knowledgeable, and, second, how to provide public comments to the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Committee (EFSEC).
A Legacy of Clean & Renewable Energy
We are not anti-clean energy. In fact, we are proud of our region’s clean energy legacy. We are a net exporter of clean energy and currently 93% dependent on clean energy sources such as nuclear, hydro-electric, wind, and solar. The Tri-Cities is also the location of one of the largest geothermal housing communities in the United States. We simply oppose this location due to its potential catastrophic affects to the fragile shrub-steppe ecosystem and the diversity of plant and animal life dependent on it.
This is an initiative to ask for fair-siting of the Horse Heaven Wind, Solar, and Battery Storage Project (HWSB), which runs afoul of local conservation efforts. The project would place 244 smaller, or 150 larger (Space Needle Size) wind turbines, solar arrays and infrastructure right on top of an area of vital conservation importance. The project will run East from the Columbia River in Finley, West all the way to Benton City about 27 contiguous miles. The sheer size of this project makes it a clear threat to long established conservation efforts.
In addition, wind projects are generally located in more remote rural areas. This project is sited along the boundaries of a rapidly growing metropolitan area of more than 300,000 residents. Noise, vibrations, flashing red lights and shadow flicker from nearby wind turbines raise concerns for human health. Increased dust, possibly ladened with chemicals from farming and turbine blades, created by over 100 miles of new gravel roads in the project boundaries is also a possible risk to human health, valuable crops, wildlife and road safety. The increased fire danger posed by 500 to 671 foot tall wind turbines placed in dry wheat fields, near dwindling shrub-steppe and numerous homes is frightening. Simply put, this enormous wind project is poorly sited. It’s being proposed for the wrong place.
A History of Conservation
The Tri-Cities has a long history of cooperation with the Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) preserving habitat connectivity in the Horse Heaven Hills. The Horse Heaven Hills are scientifically significant to this connectivity and their function as part of a 3 State Arid Lands Initiative. We hope you will click the links provided and read more about the important historical efforts to preserve, conserve, and restore vital shrub-steppe habitat. Many well known environmental groups, such as Conservation Northwest, have worked in cooperation to conserve our shrub-steppe. In addition, the Horse Heaven Hills are treaty lands. The 1855 Treaty with the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes, the Director of Natural Resources in his public comments to EFSEC, asserts that their Traditional Use Study (TUS) ought to carry the same weight as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (see their public comments under References). The Yakama Nation also has traditional and cultural interest in the Horse Heaven Hills (see their public comments under References). Given the level of historical cooperation by both private and public organizations to conserve the Horse Heaven Hills, it is unfortunate that the Developer, Scout Clean Energy, chose to bypass local decision-making by going directly to EFSEC (Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council). By doing so, they have bypassed local conservation efforts and the stakeholders involved. We’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but either they did not do their homework when they decided on this location for their solar and wind project, or they are simply treating conservation as an after thought not a priority. It only takes one glance at WDFW’s Priority Habitats & Species Map, and exploration of their work on the Arid Lands Initiative to realize there is a diversity of plants, animals, and pollinators at risk and endangered in the Horse Heaven Hills. The Ferruginous Hawk is just one such priority species that was recently listed as endangered by WDFW. Check out more on our Conservation Page.
The Science
WDFW’s Statewide Technical Lead on Wind and Solar, in letters to EFSEC, said the following regarding the siting of this particular project:
“…The immense size of the HWSB along the Horse Heaven Hills ridgeline and the subsequent landscape-scale impact to an important habitat and ecological connectivity will be difficult if not impossible to mitigate. It is important to note that the lineal Horse Heaven Hills represent some of the last remaining functional and uninterrupted shrub-steppe and natural grasslands in Benton County… Development within this ridge will result in further fragmentation and isolation of shrub-steppe and grassland habitat as well as loss of function and value to wildlife.”
WDFW dives deeper into the scientific analyses that The Arid Lands Initiative Core Team produced. These are The Spatial Conservation Priorities in the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion and The Washington Connected Landscapes Project: Analysis of the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion. These analyses show the scientific significance of both the North-South, and East-West habitat linkages, which WDFW points out, encompass the entire HWSB project site. In summary, WDFW recommends scaling back the project to solar only and moving it further to the southwest away from the ridgelines. And we support this fair siting alternative.
The Law
SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) is clear, where energy projects and local conservation efforts conflict, every effort ought to be made to consider all reasonable alternatives:
SEPA requires consideration of reasonable alternatives that will feasibly meet the proposal's objectives at a lower environmental cost or decreased level of environmental degradation. See WAC 197-11-440(5)(b). The "required discussion of alternatives to a proposed project is of major importance, because it provides a basis for a reasoned decision among alternatives having differing environmental impacts." Weyerhaeuser v. Pierce Cty., 124 Wn.2d 26, 38 (1994).
We encourage you to read more about the Horse Heaven Wind, Solar, and Battery Storage Project to understand why organizations such as the WDFW are opposed to this site alongside local communities and other stakeholders. READ MORE
The Latest
EFSEC issued their Draft EIS December 15, 2022. At that time a 45-day public comment period during the winter holiday season began. We hope that you will submit your comments to EFSEC before midnight on February 1, 2023, participate in public comment meetings and continue to put pressure on Benton County Commissioners and your Representatives to act in defense of Conservation.
Thank you to all those who attended the public meeting, spoke, and wrote into EFSEC regarding the DEIS. The DEIS Public Comment Period has now closed, but the adjudication process is underway. Please read the highlighted responses as we add them below. To be notified of future dates of importance regarding this initiative, please join our mailing list, and follow us on social media.
11 Major Issues With The Horse Heaven Hills Wind Project
Attorney General of WA Environmental Protection Division Counsel on the Environment Response to DEIS
