Monday's formal adjudication hearing in Ellensburg on the proposed Desert Claim Wind Power Project may take less time than other county wind farms that have come before the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC.

Formal adjudicative hearings by the state to examine the proposed Desert Claim Wind Power Project will likely begin the week of July 13 in Ellensburg, according to a tentative scheduled submitted last week. The schedule, including deadlines for pre-filed testimony and rebuttal of that testimony, was suggested to the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, during the council's day of meetings conducted Thursday in Ellensburg on the Desert Claim project.

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.

Three agencies, including Kittitas County, want to intervene and affect the future of the Desert Claim wind power project north of Ellensburg. The Washington state Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council will consider the requests during a council meeting scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Preliminary steps have begun in the state's formal evaluation of the Desert Claim Wind Power Project, a 95-turbine wind farm proposed for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, announced it has set April 17 as the deadline for interested parties to file petitions to have EFSEC formally recognize them as "intervenors" in the coming adjudication proceedings.

One of the decisions faced by state officials as they consider the revised Desert Claim Wind Power Project is whether to overrule Kittitas County government's April 2005 rejection of an older version of the wind farm planned for eight miles north of Ellensburg. One could say the Desert Claim project, the state and the county have a "history" in regard to the project.

Representatives from enXco hope their reconfigured Desert Claim Wind Farm, planned for 5,200 acres about 8 miles northwest of Ellensburg will get the go-ahead from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC). Desert Claim Project Director David Steeb said enXco would submit its revised application for the $330 million, 95-turbine wind farm to EFSEC on Friday.

Local residents this year won't see wind farm towers going into the sky 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg, although site preparation work on the ground for the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project may start this fall. ...Horizon also is seeking from Kittitas County right-of-way use for power lines from the wind farm.

Longview realtor Bill Hallanger has been pressing the committee to draft a policy so he can put up an $8,000 windmill he bought from an Arizona company earlier this year. ...County officials say they must review proposals like Hallanger's to protect neighbors from noise and other impacts.

Kittitas County commissioners approved on Tuesday the expansion of the project area of the Wild Horse Wind Power Project to accommodate the addition of 22 turbines. The 8,600-acre, 127-turbine project east of Ellensburg is owned and operated by Bellevue-based Puget Sound Energy, which has plans to add the turbines to the current project area and to a newly purchased area of about 1,260 acres on the north side of the existing project. ... The new acreage includes about 960 acres purchased by PSE and lands leased from the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Landowners could erect 100-foot-tall wind energy towers on their property, and their neighbors wouldn't be notified or get a chance to comment, under new rules the County Council is considering. The draft law aims to make it easier for people to take advantage of wind turbines, an environmentally friendly and renewable form of electricity, to help power their homes. "It's a great thing if people can produce their own clean energy," said County Council member Barbara Brenner, who, along with council member Carl Weimer, pushed for rules allowing residential wind energy systems. "My biggest concern is if we make it too difficult or cumbersome to get through the process, probably a lot of people who would have done it won't."

Four months ago, Longview Realtor Bill Hallanger bought an $8,000 windmill from an Arizona company and set out to put it up on the nearly 8 acres he owns on Nevada Drive. Hallanger figured the project would be a fun experiment. He'd learn about renewable energy and maybe shave a little money off his electric bill. But the project has taken on a more urgent purpose. Despite looming worries about energy prices and supply shortages, the technology isn't yet covered by the county's zoning laws, and that has stalled Hallanger's effort.

"In its simplest terms, it's about who should make the land-use decisions for Kittitas County residents," said James Carmody, lawyer for the citizen wind farm opposition group Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines. "Is it county elected representatives or a group of unelected bureaucrats? We say local government should make that final decision." Assistant Attorney General Kyle Crews said there are debatable issues raised by the county about the EFSEC statute, "but the actions of the governor, the applicant and EFSEC were all done lawfully."

A wind energy developer wants to lease state-owned forest to build as many as 39 skyscraper-high wind turbines along a ridge near Larch Mountain in east Clark County. The proposal, by a Portland-based subsidiary of enXco Inc., marks one of the first signs of westward migration for a wind energy boom that's already caused windmills the size of office towers to sprout across Eastern Washington. Washington's commissioner of public lands expects more to come. "There are significant opportunities," state lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland said Wednesday. Evergreen Wind Power Partners applied for the lease on about 5,400 acres of forest land owned by Sutherland's Department of Natural Resources.

The 69-turbine, $250 million wind farm proposed for seven miles west of Vantage was approved Tuesday by Kittitas County commissioners, and construction at the site could start in October. Commissioners Mark McClain and Alan Crankovich OK'd a final version of a development agreement with Invenergy Wind North America LLC after making minor changes to some of its provisions. Before a wind-farm building permit can be issued to the Chicago-based energy company, a list of requirements in the agreement must be met, said Darryl Piercy, director of county Community Development Services.

Kittitas County commissioners have affirmed that planned turbine locations in a proposed wind farm should be moved to comply with the required setback distance from two residences that exist near the project east of Ellensburg. ...The company is proposing to construct and operate the 69-turbine Vantage Wind Power Project 15 miles east of Ellensburg between Vantage Highway and Interstate 90. After reviewing the proposed agreement page by page and suggesting changes, commissioners agreed to meet again at 2 p.m. May 6 to examine a final, updated copy of the document. Commissioners may take final action at that time to approve the estimated $300 million project located about seven miles west of Vantage. The project is within the county's wind energy overlay zone, an about 500-square-mile area on the east end of the county that has been pre-identified as generally compatible with wind farm developments.

A controversy that has been brewing in Columbia County for months draws closer to resolution tonight. The Columbia County Planning Commission will discuss options for amending the zoning ordinance regarding development requirements or processing for wind tower-related energy production. ...Of the five options under consideration, two are proposed by citizen's groups. Friends of Scenic Columbia County is a group representing residents with more restrictive ideas for development standards, according to county documents.

"This is the only town I know where you can fly a kite year round." But taking advantage of this natural resource can be a lot harder than it seems. The Kittitas Valley Wind Farm off Highway 97 has been in the works for three years now. It was denied by County Commissioners, ok'd by Governor Gregoire, now it's at the State Supreme Court. ...

The Kittitas County Planning Commission on Tuesday voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the proposed 69-turbine Vantage Wind Power Project, a $300 million wind farm proposed for 15 miles east of Ellensburg between Vantage Highway and Interstate 90. In making the motion for recommendation of approval, Planning Commission member Kimberli Green said she had no problems with the project as long as Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC follows through with all environmental safeguards and mitigations it has committed to. ...Invenergy is proposing the project which is about seven miles west of the Columbia River and Vantage and approximately three miles southeast of Puget Sound Energy's Wild Horse Wind Power Project.

The joint public hearing on a wind farm proposal set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Kittitas County Fairgrounds will be the first time county government utilizes its new wind farm overlay zone ordinance to deal with a wind-power project. The new ordinance, approved in July 2007, designates an approximate 500-square-mile area on the east end of the county as a zone pre-identified for general locations for wind farms. A streamlined process required by the ordinance applies to companies seeking projects within the new zone that runs along the edge of the Columbia River. ...There are two pathways for wind-power generation companies to gain wind farm approvals in the county: file solely with the county utilizing local land-use ordinances or file with the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council.