Gregoire approves wind-power project

Citing the growing importance of clean energy, Gov. Christine Gregoire on Tuesday took the unprecedented step of overruling local opposition to a wind-power project near Ellensburg.

Gregoire's decision to allow the Kittitas Valley Wind Power project means as many as 65 towering wind turbines could line hillsides northwest of Ellensburg, despite a vote against the project by the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners.

The case was closely watched by environmentalists, energy companies and local governments as a sign of whether wind projects near populated areas would be allowed in Washington, and whether the state would flex its muscles to force a project past local objections.

"The concern was renewable-energy developers would just throw up their hands and say, 'Washington is making it tough.' Thankfully, this long saga appears to be at an end," said Marc Krasnowsky, spokesman for the environmental group NW Energy Coalition.

However, both Kittitas County officials and a citizen group said they might appeal Gregoire's decision to the state Supreme Court.

This is the first time a governor has overturned a local decision about a power plant, using a 1970 law to clear the way for controversial nuclear-power projects.

Now wind has replaced uranium as the hot new Northwest energy source. In 2006, Washington voters approved an initiative requiring that 15 percent of all electricity used by major utilities come from renewable sources by 2020. Most of that is expected to come from wind turbines.

To meet that demand, Gregoire wrote, "we will have to build infrastructure that broadly benefits our citizens, and may impose burdens on some."

But critics said Gregoire's decision tramples local control of land-use decisions.

"I fear this precedent will embolden energy companies to bypass local leaders and go to the governor to have projects imposed on communities," U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, whose district includes Kittitas County, said in a statement issued Tuesday.

The turbines, with poles as tall as old-growth Douglas firs topped by massive, rotating blades, would stand on ridgelines on either side of Highway 97. The project by Horizon Wind Energy, a Houston-based firm, would produce roughly enough power to light 40,000 homes.

The proposal drew protests from some nearby landowners, who said the turbines were out of place in a rural area dotted with homes.

To ease concerns, the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, which oversees where power plants are built, required the developer try to keep wind turbines far from neighbors. That led to Gregoire's approval Tuesday.

But it was too vague to satisfy Linda Schantz, a spokeswoman for the citizen group Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines.

"It's not really there to protect us. It's just a feel-good thing," she said.

Dana Peck, a project manager for Horizon Wind, said they hope to finish the project in 2008.

Meanwhile, California-based enXco has asked the state to allow its 82-turbine Desert Claim project on land near the Horizon Wind turbines, despite opposition from the county commission.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com