Supreme Court backs governor, Kittitas wind power
YAKIMA — The state Supreme Court this morning upheld Gov. Chris Gregoire’s approval of the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, which means defeat for neighboring residents and Kittitas County commissioners who argued the project will hurt the environment and ruin views.
In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Susan Owens, the court said: “The stakes in this case are high, pitting the jurisdiction of a multidepartment state council against county jurisdiction over siting energy facilities. The winner gets control over the siting of energy facilities.”
The winner is the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) created from several state agencies in 1970 to provide “one stop” licensing for large energy projects. The loser is the county, which had argued that the council pre-empted its authority.
Horizon Wind Energy, the Houston-based company developing the project, said the project already had support from several government environmental agencies and nonprofit groups, including the Sierra Club and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Before passing muster with the site panel and the governor, the project was reduced to 65 large turbines from 121 and developers agreed to keep them farther from homes and cabins. Project officials have said they expect to spend at least $150 million and hope it will begin producing 100 to 150 megawatts of electricity by early 2009.
Gregoire approved the project over opposition from the Kittitas County Commission, which voted unanimously in 2006 to oppose it.
The state says the governor has the authority to override a county government decision when it relates to the wider interests of the state in connection with power generation.
The opinion further states:
“We hold that EFSLA governs the siting of wind energy facilities and that EFSEC’s preemption power does not violate the GMA, Growth Management Act). Furthermore, we hold that the FEIS produced in this case adequately considered the mitigation of visual impacts for the project. We also hold that EFSEC members did not violate the appearance of fairness doctrine. And finally, we hold that substantial evidence supports EFSEC’s decision to preempt the county.”
By Leah Beth Ward
20 November 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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