Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
You shouldn’t be surprised the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council last week voted to accept a site application for construction of more wind turbines atop Horse Heaven Hills.
It’s all part of Gov. Jay Inslee and his financial supporters plan to breach our dams and replace them with unsightly, unpopular and unreliable wind power.
The council was pushed by Gov. Jay Inslee, who didn’t like the fact Tri-Citians outright rejected his plan to supplant dams with the unsightly wind turbines on Horse Heaven Hills. Local roadblocks to his plan prompted him to push his puppets in the Legislature to create the council as an end run around the opposition.
After he managed to shepherd the council through the Legislature, he signed it’s creation into law and named Kathleen Dew to oversee it. Her selection was a political quid pro quo, to be sure. She’s a devote Democrat who, according to Public Disclosure Commission records, made nearly 200 donations to far-left politicians over the years — including multiple donations to Inslee himself.
The law creating the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council now hands decision-making authority to bureaucrats Inslee hired to manage state agencies like the Departments of Ecology, Commerce, Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife, and others. If you know anything about Olympia, then you know these jobs are politically incestuous and are a reward to those who toe the party line.
After the creation of the council, the Horse Heaven Wind Farm deck was stacked against Tri-Citians. Despite being well-funded and politically savvy, the Tri-Cities didn’t have a chance in Olympia where the governor controls the cards. And that should be a warning to other rural areas.
Residents in Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman Counties are pushing to stop commercial wind turbine projects from arising on farmland near natural landmarks and wildlife areas. Opposition groups have attracted thousands of members. But it won’t be enough.
Republican Rep. Mary Dye of Pomeroy says she will introduce a bill to end the council’s authority and restore local decision-making during the next legislative session. But her soapbox isn’t tall enough, especially with Inslee preparing to hand off power to his surrogates, further emboldening entrenched bureaucrats who care little for our part of the world.
As we saw earlier this year, the way to successfully wrestle control away from overzealous bureaucrats in Olympia is through the initiative process.
Three initiatives were signed into law this year when legislative extremists backed down in the way of overwhelming voter support. Four more are on the ballot this fall, put there by hundreds of thousands of registered voters who have had enough of what’s been happening in Olympia.
Unfortunately, we do not yet have an initiative guaranteeing residents and their representatives the final say in commercial wind turbine and solar projects that will directly impact their quality of life and their communities. Without an initiative rebuking the council, the power will remain with Western Washington city dwellers oblivious to the beauty of our area.
— Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Email him at Roger@cheneyfreepress.com.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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