A survey commissioned by a wind-power development company indicates 78 percent of 300 Kittitas County voters responding to the poll say they support the development of wind farms within the county. French-owned EnXco USA Inc. issued the results of the survey Thursday as the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council continues to consider approving EnXco's proposed Desert Claim Wind Power Project, a 90-turbine, 180-megawatt wind farm planned for eight miles north of Ellensburg.

The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will meet 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Olympia to decide whether the Desert Claim Wind Power Project must first come before Kittitas County officials for review before it can be considered by the state council.

Kittitas County commissioners believe a state council erred on March 27 in recommending approval of the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project and claims the action violates state law by overruling the county's previous denial of the 65-turbine project. Commissioners on Monday directed Deputy Prosecutor Jim Hurson to file a petition with the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council calling on the seven-member council to reconsider its 6-1 vote on the wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg on ridges on both sides of U.S. Highway 97.

As the U.S. Supreme Court took decisive action Monday on the matter of planet-warming emissions, a proposed law in Washington to reduce carbon dioxide pollution continued to creep along, scarred and slightly mangled from multiple revisions. In its original form, the bill would have set state goals for cutting greenhouse gases, created limits for how much carbon dioxide new power plants could release, created a state climate office and required other actions to reduce pollution that's contributing to climate change. Since then, the legislation has morphed into a Franken-bill with new rules tacked onto it and major rewrites. It was then patched together into something approximating its original form and on Monday, it was tacked onto another piece of legislation to help ensure its survival. "Trying to figure out how to stop global warming is complex," said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish. "We know it's a problem. How do we deal with it? There are various schools of thought."

Fifty additional wind turbines will join the 78 now being built in northeast Columbia County. The new project will be known as Marengo Project Phase II, and construction may begin in June, Columbia County Planner Clark Posey said this morning. Like the Marengo I project, the new phase will be built by Blue Sky Wind LLC, an affiliate of Renewable Energy Systems, Ltd. The 90 megawatts of electricity anticipated from Phase II will be transmitted over lines owned by PacifiCorp, Posey said. Puget Sound Energy owns 83 turbines capable of generating150 megawatts of electricity. That project, the Hopkins Ridge Project, was completed at the end of 2005. Renewable Energy Systems also developed the Hopkins Ridge Project. When the Marengo II project is complete, there will be 211 wind turbines in Columbia County. A public information meeting is set for 7 p.m. April 11 at the Seneca Activity Center, Posey said.

A state agency has recommended approval for construction of a wind farm 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg, overriding earlier rejections made by county officials. The decision of the state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council brings Horizon Wind Energy, the project's developer, closer to victory in a five-year battle with Kittitas County citizens and officials who argue the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project has negative environmental and visual impacts on neighboring residential areas.

Wind energy will play a growing role in meeting the rising power needs of the Northwest, but it isn't controllable and it needs total backup by traditional sources such as hydroelectric dams, according to a report released Wednesday by energy specialists. The six-month study looked at how to integrate wind power into the region's power system. While wind energy sounds attractive, it can be fickle, the specialists said. Sometimes it blows, sometimes it doesn't. And while wind is free, they said getting its energy from a rural wind farm to an urban wall socket isn't.

The state agency that decides on large, energy-producing projects statewide will come to Ellensburg on March 27 take a vote on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, and then send this in the form of a recommended order to Gov. Chris Gregoire who must make the final decision within 60 days. The seven-member state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, met Tuesday in Olympia and set the evening of March 27 at the Kittitas County Fairgrounds as the date it will vote on adopting the order, according to Allen Fiksdal, EFSEC manager. He said EFSEC's administrative law judge, attorney Adam Torem, is in the process of finalizing the order upon which EFSEC members will vote. "Right now the council is set on the date - March 27 - we now have to confirm the time and the location," Fiksdal said.

A state agency on Tuesday agreed it needed more time to work on a document that outlines a proposed decision on the controversial Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project and declared it would likely meet in Ellensburg in the first two weeks of March to take a vote on the document. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, meeting in Olympia, agreed more time was needed to complete a draft of a proposed order, according to EFSEC Manager Allen Fiksdal. That order, voted upon at the Ellensburg meeting, will be its recommendation to Gov. Chris Gregoire on the 65-turbine wind farm proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg on both sides of U.S. Highway 97. The state council earlier met in closed-door sessions in Olympia on Jan. 25, Dec. 5, 6 and 12 in attempts to form a recommendation on the wind farm proposed by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy. Kittitas County officials last year agreed to reject the project. Horizon, the county and others presented their case before EFSEC in several hearings in September. Horizon is not only asking EFSEC to approve the project, but to pre-empt or lay aside the county’s decision to reject it. The company wants EFSEC to make its own decision on whether the project is compatible with county land-use policies, rules and zoning. Once the governor receives the recommendation, Gregoire has 60 days to make the final decision.

A wind farm developer wants to explore the potential for power generation in the hills north of Zillah. Columbia Energy Partners of Vancouver, Wash., wants to build two meteorological towers in the Rattlesnake Hills area to determine if there’s enough wind to generate electricity. While large-scale wind farms are already established in Klickitat and Kittitas counties, Yakima County has yet to see a turbine.

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), an Olympia, Wash.-based licensing agency for nonhydro energy projects, has issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) for the proposed Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project. All wind farm requests in Washington state must be approved by the EFSEC before construction can begin. Sagebrush Power Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy, is proposing the Kittitas Wind Power Project. According to the EFSEC, Sagebrush is requesting to build a 195 MW wind farm comprising of 65 turbines. The project would be located on approximately 108 acres of land on either side of Highway 97 - halfway between Ellensburg and Cle Elum, Wash.

Underwater currents could be harnessed to help light our homes, under a dream the Snohomish County PUD hopes will become reality. DECEPTION PASS - The unbridled might of the Pacific Ocean flows unchecked for 100 miles through the Strait of Juan de Fuca before it slams into the west side of Whidbey Island. Much of that power funnels into Deception Pass, a narrow gap between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands. Four times each day white-tipped swells rush in and out of this canyon's sheer rock walls, each time roaring like the river early explorers thought this pass was. For eons tidal currents have ripped through passages such as this all over Puget Sound. Now Deception Pass and a handful of other passes are the focus in a race to develop a new kind of renewable energy: tidal power. As long as there are oceans, a moon and gravity, there will be tidal energy there for the taking.

A state agency told developers of the Desert Claim wind farm proposal on Tuesday they have 90 days to work with Kittitas County officials to bring their project into compliance with county land-use rules. Members of the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, voted unanimously Tuesday to declare the 90-turbine project as inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan and zoning code. Adam Torem, EFSEC’s administrative law judge, at the conclusion of a public hearing in Ellensburg, said the company seeking the project, French-owned EnXco Inc., acknowledged the proposal for north of Ellensburg has not been approved by the county.

The state energy council will conduct a public hearing Jan. 30 on the 90-turbine Desert Claim Wind Power Project proposed north of Ellensburg and likely will face much more controversy on the decision it faces after the hearing. The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council has set a public hearing for 7 p.m. in the Home Arts Building at the Kittitas County Fairgrounds. The hearing is limited to determining if the project is consistent with county land-use rules. After the hearing, the wind power company, French-owned EnXco Inc., wants the EFSEC to agree to not require it to go through the county’s wind farm review process, an EFSEC requirement to make the project consistent with county land-use rules. David Steeb, Desert Claim project director, said EnXco wants the state council to pre-empt the county’s involvement in the EFSEC process and make its own decision on whether the project is consistent with county land-use rules. Steeb said the company doesn’t want to go through another round of public hearings before the county Planning Commission and county commissioners as part of the EFSEC process. “We don’t see the project going through the county process again,” said Steeb. “We went through that process, and they turned us down. We don’t see repeating it.”

Construction is proceeding on the 205 megawatt (MW) White Creek Wind Project in Klickitat County, Washington, due to the successful completion of financing. All local and state permits have been issued for the windfarm, which is located on 9,500 acres of ranchland, 21 miles east of Goldendale. Operation is expected in late 2007 or early 2008.

The company said the increase was needed for a new wind-farm project in Central Washington (Wild Horse Wind), a long-term contract to buy power supplies from Chelan County PUD, the installation of new generators for the Baker River Hydroelectric project and more capacity in several natural gas transmission pipes.

Cowlitz PUD commissioners Wednesday OK’d a multiparty deal ensuring that a $361 million central Washington wind farm, large enough to supply 38,000 homes with electricity, will be financed with private money. Three years in the making and involving lawyers from coast-to-coast, the groundbreaking transaction will mean an investment group formed by Prudential Insurance and Lehman Brothers will own a wind farm conceived by the PUD and three other utilities. The investors aren’t interested in wind turbines, but they are interested in federal tax deductions available to private investors in environmentally friendly wind farms, said Alan Dashen, a financial consultant hired by the PUD to arrange the deal.

A state agency begins today in Olympia to come up with a decision on the controversial Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, is set to meet today and Wednesday in efforts to form a recommendation to Gov. Chris Gregoire on the 65-turbine project, according to Irina Makarow, EFSEC’s siting manager. The governor, after receiving the recommendation, has 60 days to make a final decision: approve the recommendation, deny it or send the issue back to EFSEC for reconsideration.

On Aug. 21, when afternoon temperatures in Washington state soared, Avista Corp.’s (AVA) utility division asked customers to cut their electricity use while it scoured the region for power supplies. Utility operators were frustrated, in part, because the company’s supply of wind power was producing nothing, thanks to a lack of wind. Avista wasn’t alone. Throughout the West during that August heat wave, a growing fleet of windmills met triple-digit temperatures with impotence. California’s grid operator was serving up a record amount of power that afternoon, too, while its 2,850 MW of wind turbines were churning out just 112 MW.......What can all these windmills do to help prevent a blackout in a heat wave? Utilities’ estimates of that range widely. When figuring out how to keep the lights on during the coming summer’s hottest day, PJM pencils in 20% of wind capacity for serving peak load. The California Independent System Operator figures 5% will be there. For Texas, which has more windmills than any other state, Ercot counts on just 2.6% of capacity. Avista, like many utilities operating their own grid, doesn’t count on any wind power during the summer peak. As more windmills come on line, overestimating could mean a blackout, while underestimating could mean paying a lot of money for unneeded standby generators.