Opponents reiterate their stance against wind farm on the Palouse

PULLMAN — Whitman County residents are continuing to call awareness to plans for a proposed wind farm near Kamiak Butte.

Save the Palouse, a local nonprofit that opposes the Harvest Hills Wind Project, held an informational meeting at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories’s Event Center on Wednesday evening. More than 100 attended, however numbers dwindled as the three-hour event continued into the night.

Several community members shared their thoughts on the project, like the harms and nuisances that can accompany a wind farm and the need for residents and officials to advocate for the Palouse’s agricultural land.

Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, made an appearance at the meeting. She touched on the “agony” environmental policies pushed by the state have caused and consequences they have to farmland around Washington.

Plans for the wind farm caught the eyes of rural residents earlier this year when Steelhead Americas, an Oregon energy company, installed test towers on property east of Colfax.

The company wants to install 45 wind turbines on farmland west of Kamiak Butte and south of Washington State Route 272. It would lease private land for the wind farm, and has already begun inquiring with landowners in the area.

Steelhead Americas says there’s plenty of benefits to wind power. According to its website, the $300-million project would generate 200 megawatts of clean energy, garner $40 million in tax revenue for Whitman County in its 30-year lifespan, and offer 250 construction and 30 long-term jobs.

However, many contend it would disturb agricultural land, create an eyesore around Kamiak Butte and pose long-term negative impacts to the region.

Dye said for a number of years serving in the legislature, it’s been agonizing to watch policies move with no way to stop the “juggernaut of this movement.”

She said pieces of legislation like Clean and Prosperous Washington and the Climate Commitment Act are moving with a tremendous amount of momentum, which spearheads projects like this.

“People ask, ‘well, what is it that you represent,” Dye said. “I tell my colleagues in the House and the Senate that (Washington) is the world’s largest solar farm.”

She added Gov. Jay Inslee once said he wanted to cover all of Eastern Washington with wind and solar farms.

“As if that has no environmental consequence,” she said.

She mentioned Garfield County, a frontier county that is two-thirds wilderness, has contracted more than 100,000 acres with wind and solar companies.

“And yet,” Dye said, “the people who pass the Growth Management Act — where the intense section of that bill says specifically that it’s there to protect agricultural lands and wild lands — have no shame in throwing this to our lands and they refuse to hear our voices.”

Bill Myers, a Colfax resident, reiterated the importance of protecting Palouse lands.

“We have been privileged to live in the best place on earth at the best time in history,” Myers said. “Our prosperity is the beauty and purpose of feeding the world.”

He said if the project were to go into effect, farmlands east of Colfax would be “farming for the wind.”

Myers urged people to call Whitman County Commissioners to ask for a moratorium, which would prohibit Steelhead Americas from acquiring a conditional use permit needed for the project.

He added the company could bypass the county’s moratorium by taking an alternative route with the Energy Facility Site Exploration Council to establish the project, but that it is still worth a try.

Others in attendance commented on the project during the meeting, like Tom Thompson who spoke on the depreciated tax revenue the project would pose as it ages over time. David Boleneus mentioned the serious effects noise generated from wind turbines would have on people and animals. Sue-Lani Madsen noted the importance of reaching out to local and state officials with opinions on the plans.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com