Five entities, including Kittitas County government, have filed with a state energy council to have a formal say in the coming hearings to review the Desert Claim Wind Power Project planned for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg. ...The status gives parties the opportunity to support, oppose or propose modifications to the proposed 95-turbine wind farm sought by enXco Inc.

KITTITAS COUNTY - Five entities, including Kittitas County government, have filed with a state energy council to have a formal say in the coming hearings to review the Desert Claim Wind Power Project planned for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg.

Those five will come before the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Ellensburg to tell the council why they should be given formal intervenor status.

EFSEC Manager Allen Fiksdal said the five also will have the opportunity to argue why any of the others shouldn't be allowed to be intervenors. The session to review the intervenor applicants will be at the Hal Holmes Community Center.

Fiksdal said the five that are seeking to be intervenors are: Kittitas County government, represented by Deputy Prosecutor Neil Caulkins; the Economic Development Group of Kittitas County, represented by Executive Director Ron Cridlebaugh; the state Department of Trade and Economic Development, represented by CTED Director of Energy Division Tony Usibelli; the state Counsel for the Environment, represented by state assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin; and the wind farm applicant, Desert Claim Wind Power LLC, represented by Project Manager David Steeb.
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Intervenor status gives the party the right to take part in formal adjudicative hearings on the Desert Claim wind farm to be conducted sometime in mid to late summer.

The status gives parties the opportunity to support, oppose or propose modifications to the proposed 95-turbine wind farm sought by enXco Inc., an international wind power development company. The company has said its total investment to complete the project is estimated at more than $330 million.

The status also allows parties to present expert testimony and cross examine others giving expert testimony.

EFSEC officials have indicated it's their hope that EFSEC, after the adjudicative hearings, can make a recommendation to the governor on the wind farm by the end of the year. The governor then makes the final decision on the project that's planned for 5,200 acres north of Smithson Road.

Also on Thursday, EFSEC will conduct a hearing at 7 p.m. at Hal Holmes Community Center to take comments on the draft, supplemental environmental impact statement for the wind farm that's been downsized from 120 turbines.

Comments on the draft document must be received by EFSEC no later than 5 p.m. May 4 at P.O. Box 43172, Olympia, WA 98504-3172 or e-mailed to: efsec@cte.gov.

• To find all Desert Claim wind farm documents online, including the latest environmental study, go to www.efsec.wa.gov.

Web link: http://www.kvnews.com/articles/2009/04/21/news/doc...