A Thurston County judge closed Kittitas County's investigations into alleged misbehavior by state officials Friday, sending the county's wind farm appeal to the state Supreme Court for a ruling. Judge Richard Hicks certified case records from the county's challenge of Gov. Christine Gregoire's Sept. 18 decision to approve the Kittitas Valley wind farm, a 65-turbine project 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. His decision, finalized with a signature expected next week, sends the case as is to the Supreme Court. ...The court is under no deadline in this case and a decision could take months. In the meantime, development at the wind farm site is on hold.

Burton Hamner came into town to find out which way the wind is blowing. ...Hamner - who was hired in early 2007 by Tacoma Power to direct a team of leading Northwest marine engineering and environmental experts studying tidal power generation in the Tacoma Narrows - has formed a new company to propose a wind and wave energy project just off the coast. ..."If you all say ‘no, we don't like it,' we'll forget it," Hamner said. He said he hopes he can at least convince people the idea is worthy of study so the potential and risk can be assessed.

Kittitas County legal officials say they're concerned that an official of the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council had improper contact with the governor's office and with others related to wind farm issues as the council prepared to make a decision on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project. County Deputy Prosecutor Neil Caulkins recently released the information in connection with the county's court appeal of Gov. Chris Gregoire's decision last year to approve the Kittitas Valley wind farm, a 65-turbine project planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg and sought by Portugese-owned Horizon Wind Energy. The county is challenging the wind farm's approval by the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, and by Gregoire in the state Supreme Court. Kittitas County, in a case joined with Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines and Steve Lathrop, want the governor's decision overturned.

Kittitas County, where strong winds whip across the landscape, is an ideal location for wind turbines. For some in the county, that's been a decidedly mixed blessing. While wind-farm applications bring in permitting fees, and the existing Wild Horse wind project will generate about $1 million a year in property taxes, the County Commission is fighting two other wind-farm proposals in legal battles that may continue for months, if not years, to come. Such battles may become more widespread as the state faces a steep and rising demand for renewable electricity. With the passage of Initiative 937 in 2006, the state's large utilities must get 15 percent of their electricity from non-hydroelectric renewable sources by 2020, spurring a hunt for suitable wind sites from wind-power developers. That may well mean clashes with landowners who want to protect rural views and property values, and in some cases with environmentalists concerned about impacts on birds and wildlife.

In what could be characterized as a startling new development, on Friday, Dec. 7 the Kittitas County prosecutor's office filed a petition with Thurston County Superior Court bringing to light evidence some countians agree challenges the integrity of the Governor's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), the nine-member appointed board that recommended the Governor override Kittitas County Commissioners and allow a controversial 65-turbine wind farm to be built 12-miles northwest of Ellensburg. ..."We are finding other governing boards throughout the United States to be less than patient with the public's participation on wind farm projects and have long suspected undue influence coming from legislators and/or the governor's office, i.e., politicians anxious to demonstrate their state's green credentials and a general unwillingness to recognize the harmful impacts of wind energy on abutting properties and the natural environment."

Judge Richard Hicks ruled from the bench to deny a request from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council and Gov. Chris Gregoire to close the official record on how EFSEC decided to recommend to Gregoire that she approve the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, which she did Sept. 18. In so doing she overruled an earlier rejection of the project by county commissioners. ...e-mail records previously obtained that the appellants say allegedly show that EFSEC Chairman Jim Luce was biased against the county's position on the wind farm, prejudged the project before the county made its final case and violated appearance of fairness rules, in part, by communicating disdain for public input in the case.

The proposed Saddleback Mountain wind project lies outside the boundary of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area - barely. That's a sensitive point for SDS Lumber Co. President Jason Spadaro, because another proposed gorge wind project, which would skirt the scenic area boundary across the Columbia River between Mosier and The Dalles, Ore., has provoked strong opposition in gorge communities. The turbines of the Cascade Wind Project, just south of the scenic area boundary, would be visible from several viewpoints within the scenic area, including Interstate 84, Washington state Highway 14 and Oregon's Rowena Plateau and McCall Point Trail. Proposed by Massachusetts-based UPC Wind Partners, that project is on hold pending the company's response to numerous questions posed by the Oregon Department of Energy. ..."Most of the Underwood community is completely against the project," said Ronda Crumpacker, who owns property about a mile away. "It's not that any of us are against the power. We're all for renewable energy. But to site a power plant where you are going to see it from Underwood, Hood River and White Salmon. ..."

Port of Longview commissioners Friday unanimously agreed to buy a $4.6 million mobile harbor crane to unload large wind-energy parts. ...It will be used to unload the towers, blades and hubs of giant wind turbines for Northwest wind energy farms. The port currently rents a crane to unload wind-energy equipment, O'Hollaren said.

Purchasing a pair of new wind turbines east of the Cascades might let the county generate energy equivalent to all its ­gasoline, electricity and natural gas consumption as soon as 2009. After the windmills sell their power on the open market, they'd pay for themselves and might leave some cash to spare, county General Services ­Director Mark McCauley said Wednesday. The windmills would cost about $18 million, McCauley said. At current electric rates, they'd earn about $1.2 million in cash annually and pay for themselves after 18 years.

A state council halted Energy Northwest's application to build a $1.5 billion petcoke/ coal gasification plant at the Port Kalama Tuesday, saying the public power giant's plan failed to meet new state requirements for sequestering greenhouse gases. ...The proposed plant would use a new, cleaner technology called Integrated Gasfication Combined Cycle to produce power. Energy Northwest's plans call for gasifying petcoke, a waste product from manufacturing gasoline, though coal could also be gasified. Company officials have argued that state environmental rules prevent them from injecting carbon gases into the ground, and they've made a "good faith" to develop a sequestration plan.

Looking east into Gilliam County and north into Washington, turbines are strung over ridgelines as far as the eye can see. And there are nowhere near enough of them. ...West Coast utilities and independent power producers are locked in a land rush to secure the best wind sites and the power they produce. Coupled with a worldwide shortage of turbines and a falling dollar, the resulting scarcity is driving up the cost of wind power, a burden electricity ratepayers will shoulder.

A judge on Friday dismissed a petition to recall all three Kittitas County commissioners. ...Knudson filed the recall petition saying he believes most Kittitas County residents disagree with the commissioners on the wind farm issue. The commissioners declined to permit the 65-turbine Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, proposed for a site 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

Talks of a wind farm on top of Rattlesnake Mountain in Benton County is no rumor. ...So far we know the Department of Natural Resources has signed a contract to lease 640 acres to Northwest Wind Partners. The assistant region manager for the Department of Natural Resources could not tell us how many windmills we're talking on top of Rattlesnake Mountain. He says the decision was made to lease the land because they support renewable energy.

Kittitas County Prosecutor Greg Zempel says a recall election petition leveled by Desmond Knudson against county commissioners should be dismissed because the allegations ... “... fail to state any real substantial facts showing misconduct.” He said the charges “do not present with legal and factual sufficiency a specific and substantial action of misconduct” by commissioners that demonstrate they acted outside his scope of authority.

The wide open spaces and natural terrain and wildlife of Southeastern Washington are fading, and some residents would like the encroaching effects of urbanization toned down, such as a proposed project that would place 35 to 50 turbines on Rattlesnake Mountain. More than 30 people showed up Saturday at the Richland Community Center for a meeting to oppose a proposed windmill farm at the base of the mountain. ...Rick Leaumont, chairman of the Audubon Society's conservation committee, agreed that urgency in protesting the project is necessary because about 238 bird species have been documented in the area, and would be effected by the windmills. "Wildlife needs some kind of solitude, a place that is theirs," Leaumont said. "Any location on the mountain would be a problem."

A Kittitas County Superior Court judge will decide next week whether an effort to recall the three county commissioners should proceed to signature-gathering and an election.

By December 2007, more than 1,500 turbines will be churning out electricity in the Columbia River Gorge. Scientists are also concerned that since the turbines are nearing along the ridge of the gorge, canyons and shrub-covered rangeland, the natural habitats of the birds could be at risk. ...Wildlife biologists in Oregon and Washington state say the turbines are taking toll on raptors and other birds and it may limit expansion of clean wind energy.

Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America applied on Wednesday with Kittitas County to construct a $250 million, 69-turbine wind farm sandwiched between Vantage Highway and Interstate 90 southeast of the existing Wild Horse Wind Power Project on the east end of the county. ...By utilizing the county's pre-identified wind farm zone, the company will likely expedite the approval process. "I'm estimating that public hearings before the county commissioners on the project could come as early as December," Piercy said.

... depending on an array of factors, including the size of turbines that would be used, it appears the project could consist of about 150 turbines standing as tall as 500 feet from ground level to blade tip, well more than a football field high. "Any place you could see the ridge you could see the turbines," said Toby McKay, the Tri-Cities Unit land manager for the Department of Natural Resources, which manages a sliver of the land the project could be built on. "My guess is Prosser, Mabton, Sunnyside, that whole area, I'm sure there would be some view of those."

Puget Sound Energy says its estimate of the cost to find additional sources of electricity to meet customer demand over the next 20 years has more than tripled since it prepared a similar plan in 2003. The Bellevue-based electric and natural gas utility says it now believes that coming up with an additional 2,759 average megawatts of power by 2027 will cost $14.4 billion, up from the $4.4 billion estimate in 2003 and $8.1 billion in a report prepared in 2005.