Having read the rambling letter to the editor by a supporter of the wind farms attacking ROKT ( Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines ), I had to respond with my opinions.
I have been a contributing member of the Ellensburg community for the last eight years. I am a member of ROKT. I attended most of the wind farm hearings. The EFSEC process delayed the wind farm process not ROKT. The EFSEC hearings were a rubber stamp process because to my knowledge none of the EFSEC members other than the presiding officer asked any questions in the hearings.
However, the Board of County Commissioners asked intelligent, relevant questions in the wind farm hearings. The problem was poor answers were given by the wind farm developers. Commissioner Bowen was not influenced and used by ROKT as the writer said. The writer said: “Setback in this case is not an issue but a strategy.”
I never heard it as a strategy in ROKT discussions. Also, I did not see the guidelines the writer said was the ROKT strategy. The strategy was to use common sense. I feel a more important issue was that the EFSEC process violated the Washington State Growth Management Act which has local government settling growth issues. The state should stay out of it.
Lee Bates
Ellensburg
6 October 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/10/06/efsec-process-not-rokt-delayed-wind-farms/