EFSEC withholds findings on Horse Heaven project

A document connected to the Horse Heaven wind and solar project in Washington state remains under wraps.

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council declined to release a document detailing its reasons for recommending Washington Gov. Jay Inslee approve the contentious Horse Heaven wind and solar project.

The council voted 5-2 on April 17 to send a report to Inslee that supports allowing up to 222 turbines and more than 5,000 acres of solar panels on rolling hills, mostly farmland, near the Tri-Cities.

The report refers to the document, known as Adjudicative Order 892, that purportedly addresses issues raised by Benton County, the Yakama Nation and Tri-City CARES at an eight-day hearing last summer.

Attorneys representing the opponents and Scout Clean Energy presented and cross-examined expert witnesses on matters such as land-use laws, visual aesthetics, tribal culture and farm economics.

None of the parties, including Scout, have seen the order and conclusions drawn by the council.

The order is not being released because the hearing was not conducted under the state's open meetings law, EFSEC spokesman Karl Holappa said Wednesday in an email.

"Council members spent many hours deliberating, writing and reviewing the adjudicative order prior to making their final recommendation vote for the project," he said.

The order will be attached to the report sent to Inslee, Holappa said. The governor's office has not yet received the recommendation, Inslee's spokesman said Wednesday.

It's unclear what the order would reveal about the council's reasoning. EFSEC downsized the proposal to reduce impacts to views, wildlife and tribal cultural properties, according to the council's public deliberations.

Tri-City CARES attorney Richard Aramburu said he doesn't understand why EFSEC has withheld the order. It likely will have "more meat" than the publicly released report to the governor, he said.

"A key element in the final action is still not available," Aramburu said. "There's something out there. I don't know if that something influenced the decision."

Once the governor receives the report, project opponents will have 20 days to ask the governor to reconsider EFSEC's recommendation.

Scout and tribe unhappy

Scout declined to comment on the unreleased adjudicative order. Before the vote, the company accused EFSEC of haphazardly prohibiting turbines within 2 miles of Ferruginous hawks nests, even unoccupied ones.

The restriction threatens the project, according to the company. EFSEC heard extended testimony last summer about how the project could impact hawks and other wildlife.

Since the vote, the Yakama Nation has stated the buffers are not enough to protect tribal cultural properties, such as ceremonial and burial sites. Tribal elders testified in close-door sessions at last summer's hearing.

EFSEC's recommendation to the governor does not address Benton County's concern that yielding farmland to renewable energy will harm the county's agricultural economy.

A wheat farmer testified lease payments from Scout would stabilize farm incomes and encourage farmers to keep farming rather than sell to developers.  

EFSEC rarely holds adjudicative hearings. Withholding the order departs from past practice. EFSEC released a 52-page adjudicative order in 2012 on the same day it recommended a wind project in Skamania County.