ELLENSBURG - A 500-square-mile zone on Kittitas County's east end was approved by county commissioners on Wednesday as an area pre-identified as compatible for wind farm development. The zone stretches along the Columbia River and the county's southeast border. Final approval of the new zone is expected to come 3 p.m. July 19 when final documents are signed. Commissioner Chairman Alan Crankovich on Thursday said commissioners approved the addition of wording to the zone that would indicate that wind farm developers also must gain approval for their projects from private, state and federal landowners in the area. This includes the U.S. Defense Department that owns Yakima Training Center lands administered by the U.S. Army and Fort Lewis. "I'm not as optimistic as my fellow commissioners are on the availability of state, federal and military lands for wind farms," Crankovich said. He said he doesn't want creation of the zone to give wind farm companies "false hope" that they can easily site a project in the zone.

A state siting board will hear comments today to consider whether new setbacks should be required for the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project. The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will hold two sessions today, from 3-5 p.m. and 6:30-9:30 p.m., at the Teanaway Hall, Kittitas County Event Center, in Ellensburg. In May, EFSEC recommended Gov. Chris Gregoire to approve the project, allowing up to 65 wind turbines to be built by Horizon Wind Energy of Houston along ridges on either side of Highway 97 outside of Ellensburg. The turbines would be the size of old-growth firs and have propeller blades up to 145 feet long. However, the governor asked for the setbacks to be reconsidered by EFSEC, which had required setbacks of four times the height of the turbines for non-participating residences.

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.

Four proposed towers in Yakima County may soon reveal whether the Rattlesnake Hills near Sunnyside are suitable for wind turbines. Goldendale-based Northwest Wind Partners LLC has received tentative approval from a Yakima County hearing examiner to install four anemometers, or instruments that measure wind speed. Hearing Examiner Gary Cuillier will issue a written ruling sometime next week, after giving a verbal go-ahead in a hearing last week. ...Information gained from the towers will determine the possibility of putting turbines on the hillside, he said. Windmills on Rattlesnake Mountain in Benton County have drawn some controversy in recent months, but Cuillier wasn't worried about that yet.

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.

ELLENSBURG -- The wind blows so hard over these desert ridges that it topples outhouses. It whistles through the high steel towers strung with cables that carry electricity west to light the cities of Puget Sound. The hills west of Ellensburg, then, would seem an ideal spot for giant wind turbines to help quench the Northwest's thirst for clean, home-grown energy. Instead, they have become a battleground as some locals and Kittitas County officials square off against environmentalists and wind-power companies over putting towering generators near rural homes that dot these hills and valleys. Now the fivc-year-old debate has reached all the way to the governor's office, elevating this beyond a classic not-in-my-backyard tale in a sparsely populated county. The outcome of this fight could set a precedent for future fights over wind power in the state as demand continues to mount.

Denver-based Invenergy Wind LLC has options to lease or buy land 20 to 25 miles east of Ellensburg for a wind farm project, located between Vantage Highway and Interstate 90. The company, part of the larger Chicago-based power-generation company Invenergy, has environmental, wind, habitat and wildlife studies under way at this time at the site, according to Doug Carter, vice president of development for the company's western region. “We have, so far, viewed the location as a good site for wind-power generation,” Carter said. “We intend to keep developing the site.”

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.

Kittitas County officials have declared complete the application for the 64-turbine Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm proposed for 13 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

For a second time, a Washington state agency has recommended that the governor approve a proposed central Washington wind farm over the objections of Kittitas County citizens and officials. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council had recommended that Gov. Chris Gregoire approve the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project in March, but Gregoire asked the council to reconsider whether the turbines should be set farther away from land owned by others. Neighboring landowners and local officials have argued against the project for five years, saying it will have negative environmental and visual impacts.

UPC Wind filed a site certification application with the Oregon Energy and Facility Siting Council (EFSC) Wednesday to build a 60- megawatt wind farm on Sevenmile Hill west of The Dalles.

SEATTLE — Voices from both sides of the Cascade mountains were heard Tuesday night at South Seattle Community College on a controversial wind farm proposal to the east in Kittitas County — the 65-turbine Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project. The hearing was the first in a series of sessions by the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, that will continue next week, beginning Monday in Ellensburg.

Congressman Doc Hastings told Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday he's concerned that a final approval by her of a controversial wind farm in Kittitas County will set a negative precedent that says county government's wind power project review process is of no value. Hastings, a Republican from Pasco who represents Kittitas County as part of the 4th Congressional District, sent a letter Friday to Gregoire addressing his concerns centered on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a 65-turbine wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg and sought by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy. Hastings urged Gregoire, a Democrat, to consider "the potential implications of setting aside the lawful policies of locally elected officials - not only for future wind farm development, but also for power project siting in Washington generally," according to a news release and a statement from Hastings.

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 on Tuesday set March 29 as the date to conduct their own public hearings on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

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."

Kittitas County Commission Chairman Alan Crankovich said the county's legal staff will examine a citizen complaint that commissioners allowed new information on proposed changes to the county development code to surface during a Wednesday hearing that was closed to public questions, testimony and comments. Crankovich said those expressing the complaint claim the information was not brought forth during a series of public hearings that ended June 14 during which citizens could have questioned, commented or rebutted them.

Horizon Wind Energy is hoping for more talks with Kittitas County government officials despite county commissioners Tuesday signing documents rejecting the company's wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

Kittitas County may be on a collision course with a state council order regarding the county's process that reviews and permits wind farms. County officials continue to require the Desert Claim Wind Power Project to file a complete application with the county for a 90-turbine wind farm despite a May 8 order by the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council that ruled that filing an application with the county is not necessary. "The county maintains that EFSEC does not have the legal authority to rule that the county's rules and regulations can be ignored," said Darryl Piercy, director of the county Community Development Services Department.

Kittitas County commissioners may change the county’s wind farm ordinance next year after county staff examines standards that have been common to wind farm projects proposed so far in the county. Commissioners last week, during their update of the county comprehensive plan, agreed to have the county Community Development Services Department do the review and bring recommendations to the county commissioners.