PENDLETON - A proposal to create a 200,000-acre, scenic-protection area to keep out most commercial wind turbines created so much public interest that planning commissioners had to cut their Thursday meeting short, with the promise to continue the public testimony at their next hearing.

At the heart of the issue is an amendment to the Umatilla County Comprehensive Plan proposed by Blue Mountain Alliance. The proposal would ban unsightly placement of wind turbines on some 200,000 acres between the Blue Mountains and Highway 11 and the Washington state line and the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

But many people at the meeting voiced concerns that the proposal would also restrict far more than wind turbines, and would infringe on the rights of private property owners to place cell phone towers, commercial signs and other large, commercial facilities on their property.

"The real issue as I see it is an issue of property rights," said County Planning Commissioner Clinton Reeder, who has served on the Planning Commission since the early 1980s.

"He (the attorney for Blue Moutain Alliance) has drafted a document that takes care of anything and everyone. And that is not what the people in the area want. I think it will have to come back and focus more on the windmills themselves," Reeder said.

In its draft amendment, Blue Mountain Alliance pointed out that Umatilla County has more than 2 million acres, which it said was more than ample area to provide other locations for wind turbines. The alliance's proposal also stated that in addition to protecting the view, its amendment would also protect cultural and natural resources.

To some county officials, those two secondary goals seemed to become the focal point at Thursday's meeting. "The scenic issue has almost become the secondary issue. The bulk of the people who are in favor of this are concerned about the impact of other resources," said Planning Director Tamra Mabbott. She added that she and commissioners were surprised by the number of people in support of the proposal for environmental reasons.

"The discussion during the hearing, during the public testimony, has been that they (the public) have drawn the Planning Commission's attention to the watershed, both to surface water and ground water, and to species," she added.

One of those drawn to the proposal because of its environmental protections was Dale McKain, who points out that Couse Creek runs through his backyard.

"From here I can see golden eagles and bald eagles. I have several nesting hawks in the bluffs behind my house. And I have spawning salmon that I have videotaped in my backyard," McKain said.

An avid fisherman, McKain said one of the reasons to support the Alliance's proposal was to reduce erosion in the area and keep silt out of the local streams, which harbor a number of threatened species.

The former North Carolina resident, who speaks with a slight Southern drawl, added that he has seen first-hand what can go wrong with wind turbines, and saw what happened when one of the first large-scale experimental turbines was placed near his previous home in Boone, N.C.

The wind turbine on Howard's Knobb Mountain near Boone was a Department of Energy project constructed in the late 1970s. The turbine, with its two 97-foot steel blades, caused a number of problems, including television interference created by a recurring low-pitch vibration that was coined the "swoosh."

But what McKain is most concerned about is harm to fish, fowl and elk.

"We really need to look at what this is going to do to the habitat. I am in favor of green power. And in the arid areas or Oregon and Washington, the white pinwheels are quite attractive ... But not whenever you start going up the mountains," McKain said.

The Planning Commission must now determine if the proposed 200,000-acre, scenic-protection area constitutes a significant resource.

"The commission is not yet convinced that the entire 200,000 acres should be designated significant," Mabbott said. She also pointed out that the county already has a protected scenic area along Tollgate Highway, but has yet to test that scenic protection against a major wind turbine project.

However, there are a number of wind turbine studies now taking place on Lincton Mountain, and Mabbott expects that one day her department will have to decide on how close a wind turbine can be located to Highway 204.

"My staff interpretation is you probably couldn't put up a windmill that is visible from Highway 204. You have to blend it with the natural landscape. I don't know how you would blend a 200-foot tower with the natural landscape," she said.

If the Planning Commission determines the area is a significant resource, an economic impact analysis will be conducted and reviewed by the Planning Commission.

Umatilla County commissioners will have a final vote on the proposal, should it be approved by the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission's next meeting will be 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 27 at the Pendleton Convention Center, 1601 Westgate Road.