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Wind Power News: Idaho
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Preservationists nationwide say that wind energy is harming America’s historic sites
A pyramid in Wyoming, lighthouses in New England, and the site where Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in World War II are some of the historic sites that are being threatened by wind development, preservationists say. The Bureau of Land Management earlier this month approved a 241-turbine wind farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, about a two-hour drive from Boise. From the time it was announced, the project was met with opposition from ranchers, environmentalists and Native American tribes. This managed to get . . . Complete story »
Why a wind project approval has southern Idaho feeling betrayed
The decision last week by the Bureau of Land Management to give a green light to the Lava Ridge Wind Project will leave a sour taste in its wake for thousands of Idahoans, as it should. That’s because the decision was a bad one, made in spite of strong opposition from lawmakers, businesses and residents in southern and eastern Idaho. The agency’s decision clears the way for the company LS Power to move ahead on a scaled down version of . . . Complete story »
Interior green-lights wind farm near WWII incarceration site
The Bureau of Land Management on Friday approved a huge wind project on public lands in southern Idaho that’s opposed by lawmakers and some historical preservation advocates. BLM published a record of decision for Lava Ridge, a wind farm of up to 231 turbines that’s been a priority for the agency’s renewable energy push under President Joe Biden. The president ordered the Interior Department to help deploy 25 gigawatts of electricity from wind, solar and geothermal energy public lands by . . . Complete story »
Risch bill to delay Lava Ridge passes Energy Committee with bipartisan support
Today, four bills authored by U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) to support Idaho communities passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by voice vote. Idaho is at the center of all four bills, which would delay the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project, enhance cyber security, expand access to existing aging infrastructure funds, and correct existing law to enable aquifer recharge. “I appreciate Chairman Joe Manchin, Ranking Member Barrasso, and my colleagues for passing these important bills benefiting . . . Complete story »
Federal panel deals blow to Idaho wind farm
An advisory council said Friday it could not ensure the project won’t harm a national historic site. The Bureau of Land Management’s efforts to approve a major wind power project in southern Idaho has suffered a setback, and its fate is now up in the air. The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation notified BLM on Friday it is terminating efforts to work out a programmatic agreement on the Lava Ridge Wind Project, saying it cannot ensure the project won’t . . . Complete story »
Why is this Idaho wind farm receiving so much opposition?
“The Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project is opposed by virtually all Idahoans and especially the Japanese American community.” A controversial wind farm planned for Idaho is facing another obstacle after Republican Idaho senator Jim Risch introduced legislation to delay the project. This bill would prevent the Secretary of the Interior from authorizing the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project until a U.S. Government Accountability Office study is conducted to analyze the project’s impact to the Minidoka National Historic Site, a relocation . . . Complete story »
Idaho clean energy project tanked in US Congress
Idaho’s US Representative Mike Simpson (R) took home a political win Wednesday by blocking a clean energy project from moving forward in the Magic Valley. He joined Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) in spearheading legislative resistance to the Lava Ridge Windmill Project, a proposed wind farm that would generate an estimated 700 jobs and reduce the Gem State’s carbon emissions. Simpson added language to the Fiscal Year 2025 funding package that could bar the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) . . . Complete story »
Idaho AG appeals FAA decision on Lava Ridge wind turbine project
Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced an administrative appeal with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the Lava Ridge project, a proposed wind turbine development on Bureau of Land Management property in Idaho’s Magic Valley. The appeal requests the FAA to reconsider its determination that the project poses “no hazard” to aviation in the area. The majority of power generated at Lava Ridge would be sent to California, with hundreds of wind turbines planned for federal lands adjacent to irrigated farms . . . Complete story »
Congress inserts conditions for Idaho wind farm in federal spending bill
Congress passed a federal spending package late into the evening on Friday that funds several key agencies through September, avoiding a government shutdown. Tucked inside one of the bills is a measure that specifically addresses a proposed wind farm in Idaho. The appropriations bill for the Interior Department includes a section about the Lava Ridge Wind Project, proposed on public lands in the Magic Valley. It says no funds in the package can be used for “granting, issuing or renewing . . . Complete story »
Japanese Americans were jailed in a desert. Survivors worry a wind farm will overshadow the past.
Behind the barbed wire, the little boy pressed his ink-covered index finger onto the mint-green exit card. And a photograph was snapped of his frightened face. Paul Tomita was four. It was July 4, 1943. Independence Day at Minidoka, a camp in the vast Idaho desert, where over 13,000 Japanese American men, women and children were incarcerated during World War II as security risks because of their ancestry. The wallet-sized paper meant the scared boy in the photo could leave . . . Complete story »
