Wind farm debate roils at permit hearing

Whitman County will know by May 24 if First Wind will be able to proceed with its plans to build a 65-turbine wind farm Naff Ridge, Granite Butte and Steam Shovel Hill west and north of Oakesdale.

Proponents and opponents discussed the project throughout six hours of testimony in the CETC building Monday before hearings examiner Andrew Kottkamp, a Wenatchee attorney.

Twenty-two people spoke in favor of the project. Four spoke against.

Those in favor said the wind farm would pump up the county’s sagging economy. Protesters said the benefits will come at the cost of individual property rights.

“Our small towns are dying,” said Margaret Leonard of Rosalia, who owns an antique shop in Oakesdale.

Oakesdale Mayor Dennis Palmer said the wind farm is a sign of hope for his town’s struggling economy.

“Since the early 1970s we’ve seen businesses leave the town of Oakesdale and they never come back,” said Palmer. “When First Wind came to Oakesdale and wanted to put their office there, and when they presented what they were going to do, it was kind of like dollars from heaven dropping in.”

But residents around the proposed wind farm site said they fear the project many view as an economic boon will lower the equity they have in their property.

Bruce Haley, who has a home on Oakesdale Road, said the wind farm will spoil his “million dollar view” of the Palouse hills.

“Our biggest asset is our home. My wife and I saved for years for the down payment,” Haley told Kottkamp Monday morning.

Some at Monday night’s hearing offered up sympathy for property owners like the Haleys, but said the improvement to the county’s economy was worth that cost.

“Whitman County is a great place to live, but a tough place to make a living,” said David Lange of Colfax. “I feel for you who will live next to it, I really do. But I’m most excited about the chance of having eight to ten families move in and put their kids in our schools.”

In their appeal of the environmental impact statement, 17 neighbors of the project argued First Wind should provide a property value guarantee in case their land depreciates after the wind farm is built. The statement was prepared by environmental engineering firm CH2M Hill.

Lead appellant Marcia Wagner cited studies that have shown many homes around wind farms have been abandoned because they could not be sold.

First Wind’s attorney Erin Anderson argued a number of factors - from the local economy to the state of school districts - can influence property value.

“Your choice of tile color in your house may change the price people are willing to pay for your house,” said Anderson.

Many farmers in the area voiced approval of the wind farm, saying it will add stability to their annual incomes.

“It’s time we started making money off the wind instead of losing to crop damage,” said Ken Hanson, a farmer in the Oakesdale area.

Galen Blank, who farms the north tip of Naff Ridge, said the tops of hills, where turbines are slated to be sited, are typically his least productive farmland.

“I just want to tell you that the ground up there is marginal at best,” Blank told Kottkamp.

Kottkamp was hired by the county to decide on the conditional use permit in lieu of the citizen board of adjustment.

In the morning, Kottkamp heard arguments from 18 neighbors of the wind farm who appealed the environmental impact statement for the project. They argued the statement did not sufficiently address negative impacts the project would have on their health and property value.

Attorneys for First Wind and Whitman County countered the concerns were either unfounded or would be addressed in the “micrositing” process, when turbine locations are precisely located.

Susan Drummond of Seattle represented the county.

Though the conditional use permit would give First Wind permission to site the wind farm within a 9,000 acre area, project manager Ben Fairbanks said it will only occupy 59 acres when fully built. During construction it will impact 296 acres.

If approved, the project will generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity.

Many appellants took particular issue with the company’s plans to site towers on Steam Shovel Hill. First Wind’s initial application was for 50 turbines on Naff Ridge and Granite Butte. In February, the company amended its application to include 15 more turbines on Steam Shovel Hill.

“Steam Shovel Hill is the largest tract of Palouse Prairie in Whitman County,” said Thomas Weber of the Palouse Audubon Society.

David Hall of the Palouse Prairie Foundation urged Kottkamp to forbid First Wind from disturbing those “irreplaceable” patches of Palouse Prairie.

Irina Makarow, environmental engineer for First Wind, said the company is designing its project to avoid impacts to Palouse Prairie, saying temporary impacts are considered permanent.

The company’s plans include disturbance of less than one acre of native grassland during the project.

Another request by the appellants, the Palouse Audubon Society and Palouse Prairie Foundation was that Kottkamp require the county administer the Technical Advisory Committee for the project.

The committee will review and monitor the wind farm’s impacts on wildlife in the area. The current application puts First Wind in the administrative position.

A repeated concern by the appellants, and one often brought up over the past four years by Roger Whitten, was over potential health impacts from low frequency noises produced by the turbine blades as they spin.

Mark Bastach, an acoustical engineer with CH2M Hill, asserted noise from the turbines would be indistinguishable from low frequency sounds produced by the wind.

“Low frequency noise is in the wind,” he said.

David Hockett, who recently built a home on Trestle Creek Road beneath Naff Ridge, said the environmental impact statement should be re-written because it is unnecessarily long.

Washington Administrative Code, or WAC, he argued, says such statements must be plainly written and can be no longer than 150 pages. The Palouse Wind statement is 282 pages.

He asked Kottkamp to make First Wind rewrite the statement in plainer, more concise language.

“The county has elected on the side of providing more information rather than less,” countered Anderson.

Kottkamp said he will review the testimony and will issue decisions on both the appeals and the permit within 10 business days from Monday.