A pumped hydro-energy storage facility proposed outside of Goldendale in south-central Washington has taken a major step forward, even though, if constructed, it will damage or destroy cultural grounds necessary for to the cultural continuation of the Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation, also known as the “River People.” The site, called Pushpum, or “Mother of All Roots,” is one of a dwindling number of seasonal gathering grounds where the Ḱamíłpa harvest endemic heirloom root vegetables. The peak overlooks the mid-Columbia River and the sagebrush steppe, and access to its view is critical for propagating the stories that form the architecture of regional Indigenous thought.
The proposed pumped hydro project, which involves digging a tunnel through Pushpum to connect a pair of reservoirs that store energy for future use, got its final permit from the federal government in January. Ḱamíłpa representative Elaine Harvey has called the site “irreplaceable,” and the proposed project a “total desecration” of the mountain. The project has brought industry’s appetite for land into direct conflict with tribal sovereignty, cultural preservation, biodiversity and community voices. The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and their allies — which include the National Congress of American Indians, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Columbia Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, American Rivers and over a dozen individual tribal governments — have fought for years to protect the site.
Rye Development proposed the current incarnation of the $2 billion to $3 billion facility in 2017. At the time, Klickitat County had already been planning for years to develop pumped hydro storage at the site.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the independent federal agency that regulates interstate energy transmission and transport, including pipelines, hydroelectric projects and utilities. While it usually operates more or less in the background, FERC has faced broad criticism in recent years for how it has handled some high-profile tribal sovereignty questions. Last year, FERC implemented a policy declaring that it would not permit hydro projects on reservations without the tribal government’s consent, something that, in most cases, would have represented a treaty violation. But the Trump administration has pressured FERC to rescind even that most basic acknowledgement of tribal sovereignty.
At FERC’s Jan. 22 meeting, during which the commission announced Rye’s permit, Commissioner David Rosner indicated that the agency wanted to see development accelerate: “My hope is that we can, moving forward, spend less time with the lawsuits and more time with the electricians, more time figuring out how do we unlock the hundreds of gigawatts of new generation capacity.” (The project will not generate new energy, but rather store surplus energy for later use.) Rosner added that he wants to “get those queues moving faster so that they can serve the needs of all the developers. That’s my hope.”
FERC Chair Laura Swett, whom President Donald Trump appointed in October, said she was “very excited” to vote on issuing the license for the 1,200 megawatt pumped-hydro storage facility. “The last time FERC issued an original license for a project of this magnitude was 12 years ago,” Swett said. A FERC spokesperson clarified that Swett was referring to the 1,300-megawatt Eagle Mountain Pumped Storage project in Riverside County, California. “Thank you to Goldendale for rising to the occasion,” Swett said. The license is valid for 40 years.
Rosner cited long permitting timelines, which require environmental reviews and government-to-government tribal consultation, as an obstacle, and said that FERC has completed “six years of historic preservation and consultation with states and tribes.” He called on energy companies to bring FERC proposals “that work for your region” to “get new generation online, fast” and “get large loads connected” without raising energy costs for regular people. “My door is open, if you want to meet and discuss — subject to all of our fun ex parte rules,” Rosner added with a slight smile.
Those rules were a particular area of contention during the permitting process; FERC cited them as the reason why it did not meet privately for government-to-government consultation with the Yakama Nation. Consultation is required by federal law. In 2021, the agency attempted to send the developer as the federal government’s representative to the consultation table, but the Yakama Nation refused to accept the corporation in that role.
Simone Anter, an attorney for Columbia Riverkeeper, called FERC’s statements “divorced from the facts on the ground.”
“FERC’s decision was made without adequate tribal government consultation and based on an incomplete environmental analysis and review of the development,” Anter told HCN. “It is appalling to see nothing but excitement and praise as FERC approves a license to destroy an irreplaceable sacred site.”
“We respect the vital role of tribal consultation in the FERC licensing process, which is among the most rigorous for all energy projects,” said Eric Steimle, Rye’s chief development officer, in an email to HCN, adding that Rye remains “committed to working with affected tribes to finalize a Historic Properties Management Plan that safeguards cultural and historic resources.”
“It is appalling to see nothing but excitement and praise as FERC approves a license to destroy an irreplaceable sacred site.”
A Yakama Nation representative said the tribal nation has spent years advocating with allies for greater consideration of ecological impacts, adding that industry and the federal government had downplayed those concerns. Two environmental impact statements determined that the proposed project will lead to detrimental resource impacts. In 2022, the Washington State Department of Ecology found in a tribal resource analysis that “the proposed project is likely to result in significant adverse impacts to natural resources and cultural resources that are considered Tribal Resources.” This includes “significant and unavoidable” damage to plant and wildlife populations used by tribal cultures, and to tribal archaeological and historic sites.
“Over the next few months, Rye and the project owner (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners) will be kicking off the final detailed design and construction planning phase,” said Steimle. “A more detailed construction timeline and cost estimate will be provided then.” Construction must begin within 24 months of the license issuance, and Rye is planning to break ground by late 2027.
“Federal agencies are rewarding bad actors who have spent years finding loop-holes to target a new wave of industrial development on top of Indigenous sites that have religious and legendary significance to the Yakama People and many others who don’t have political connections or deep pockets,” said Yakama Nation Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis in a statement. “They know it’s wrong. If a small Christian shrine sat on this site the decision-makers would understand what ‘sacred’ means.”
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