Whitten to drop appeal of wind farm

Oakesdale-area resident Roger Whitten’s opposition to a north county wind farm may be over.

Whitten told the Gazette Monday morning he is planning to drop his appeal and move to rural Spokane County.

“We wish him well,” said Whitman County Planner Alan Thomson.

Whitten’s appeal was scheduled for Monday before Lincoln County Judge John F. Strohmaier who is presiding over the appeal. Whitman County Judge David Frazier recused himself from the hearing because he knew landowners involved in the project.

Whitten had appealed in Whitman County Superior Court to a pair of rulings which gave Boston-based First Wind a permit to proceed with construction of a 65-turbine wind farm on 9,000 acres of ground on Naff Ridge, Granite Butte and Steam Shovel Hill between Thornton and Oakesdale.

Both Whitten and Palouse Wind, the subsidiary under which First Wind is planning this wind farm, agreed to reschedule Monday’s hearing until some time after Nov. 10.

Prosecutor Denis Tracy said the move to continue the hearing was made so both sides could finalize an out-of-court settlement.

Whitten said a confidentiality clause prevents him from speaking on the specifics of the settlement, but did say he and his wife, Betsy, were planning to move to Spokane County after 14 years living in their home on Finch Road between Oakesdale and Thornton.

“It’s not as windy up there,” he commented.

Ben Fairbanks, development director for First Wind in the northwest, said the two sides were working on a settlement, but declined to speak about its terms.

Whitten has been an outspoken critic of industrial scale wind farms since First Wind first applied to erect a test tower on Naff Ridge in late 2007.

While the county planning commission and county commissioners were writing the county’s wind power ordinance, Whitten spoke out loudly against health effects from large wind turbines. Specifically, he noted studies that showed turbines produce low frequency sound waves that can prevent sleep for residents in nearby homes.

County officials in numerous hearings rejected Whitten’s arguments in favor of other studies which showed such sound waves had no such effect.

One of those was hearing examiner Andrew Kottkamp. Kottkamp, a Wenatchee land use attorney, ruled studies have not shown conclusively that turbines produce harmful sound waves in issuing Palouse Wind a conditional use permit.

Kottkamp was brought in as a special hearing examiner on issuance of the conditional use permit for the project.

Kottkamp in a separate ruling also denied appeals filed against the county’s acceptance of the environmental impact statement on the proposed project. Whitten was the only appellant to file a court challenge from among 17 residents who asked Kottkamp to reject the project.