A massive wind and solar farm is moving ahead in eastern Washington despite opposition from tribes concerned about the threat it poses to tribal cultural resources.
Last Wednesday, Washington state officials voted to approve the heavily contested development, known as the Horse Heaven Hills project, just south of the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland). The project, which would combine wind turbines with solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, threatens traditional food-gathering sites, and its footprint overlaps with Yakama Nation ceremonial sites and monumental features central to cultural stories.
The Yakama Nation has pushed for project modifications to protect these cultural resources, as well as reintroduced pronghorn and the ferruginous hawk, which, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, is “a State Threatened Species that is in the process of being uplisted to Endangered.” The energy project, touted as “green,” is scheduled to be built on an important habitat-connectivity corridor, which includes over a thousand acres of “some of the last remaining functional and uninterrupted shrub-steppe and natural grasslands in Benton County,” according to public comments from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Over the past few years, the state’s green rush to develop renewable energy infrastructure has put increasing pressure on tribes, particularly the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, whose ceded lands and reservation encompass roughly a third of the state. Investigations by High Country News have revealed that dozens of wind and solar developments are currently proposed across Yakama ceded lands, even as the state’s permitting processes leave tribal cultural resources at the mercy of developers.
Washington’s permitting authority, the Energy Facility Siting Evaluation Council (EFSEC), has approved a modified Horse Heaven Hills plan with two-mile buffer zones around ferruginous hawk nests, reducing the number of turbines developers can build. The ferruginous hawk is not only a threatened species, it is a culturally important one: The Yakama Nation reveres all raptors, but ferruginous hawks have a particular connection to ceremony.
In an October 2023 legal brief, the Yakama Nation called Horse Heaven Hills “a shining example of how not to develop renewable energy.” Nevertheless, EFSEC, an independent council of government-appointed officials from various state agencies, voted 5-2 in favor of recommending that the governor issue state permits for the project. In response, Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis wrote to EFSEC on April 10, urging it to protect tribal cultural resources “with the same care and consideration that it is giving to other resources such as wildlife and recreational values.”
“Yakama Nation appreciates and supports the Project modifications made to address wildlife impacts but remains discouraged by EFSEC’s failure to apply those same principles to cultural resources,” said Lewis in a press release. “Yakama Nation was not involved in the Project’s siting and design decisions and was instead forced to respond through a permitting process that prejudiced our ability to engage in meaningful dialogue.”
“Yakama Nation was not involved in the Project’s siting and design decisions and was instead forced to respond through a permitting process that prejudiced our ability to engage in meaningful dialogue.”
EFSEC declined to comment on the Yakama Nation’s response, but in a press release the council noted that “administrative relief may be available through a petition for reconsideration, filed within 20 days” of its recommendation to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
In February 2021, the Boulder-based developers behind the project, Scout Clean Energy, sought to lease 72,428 acres for the project to generate an estimated 1,150 megawatts of electricity, which would make it the largest renewable energy facility in state history. But according to Scout, in a letter objecting to EFSEC’s recommended modifications, the new plan reduces its capacity to 736 megawatts. Scout responded to EFSEC’s decision with 60 pages of detailed complaints, arguing that the council’s amendments make it “impossible to discern” whether the project will be commercially or technically viable. Scout Clean Energy did not reply to HCN’s emailed request for comment.
Once EFSEC delivers its official recommendation to Inslee, which it plans to do by the end of the month, the governor will have 60 days to either issue the site certification, reject the application, or direct EFSEC to reconsider certain elements of the project.
“Yakama Nation calls on Governor Inslee to protect our Traditional Cultural Properties by considering additional changes to the Project design,” said Chairman Lewis.
B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster (they/them) is an award-winning journalist and a staff writer for High Country News writing from the Pacific Northwest. They’re a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Email them at b.toastie@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor. See our letters to the editor policy.
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Photo illustration sources: Fog rolls in over the Horse Heaven Hills near Benton City, Washington. Richard Dickin/The Tri-City Herald via AP Photo; A flying ferruginous hawk. Jesse Watson/Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Perched ferruginous hawk. Jamie Chavez/CC via Flickr; Battery circuit. Wikipedia commons; Wind turbines. Kai Gradert/CC via StockSnap
