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.

A 30-page list of requirements for the construction and operation of the proposed Vantage Wind Power Project was issued Monday by Kittitas County Development Services officials. The list is part of the county's determination that an environmental impact statement is not necessary for the 69-turbine wind farm planned for a 4,750-acre site seven miles west of Vantage between Vantage Highway and Interstate 90. What is required of the company proposing the $250 million, electricity-generating facility - Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC - is meeting the standards outlined by the county in its 30-page mitigated determination of non-significance, or MDNS.

A joint public hearing before Kittitas County commissioners and the county Planning Commission examining the 69-turbine Invenergy wind farm west of Vantage is set for March 12, according to county planning staff. ...Planner Joanna Valencia, with county Community Development Services, said the hearing before the two decision-making bodies will take testimony on the impacts of the proposed, $250 million wind farm and the adequacy of the applicant to mitigate or lessen those impacts. The company, Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC, filed for the wind farm under provisions of a new ordinance for wind-power projects within a 500-square-mile east-county area designated as a pre-identified zone for wind farms.

Kittitas County on Wednesday charged a state council that makes decisions on county wind farms with being biased against the county's position and against public testimony from those in opposition to a local project and also alleged the council's chairman violated appearance of fairness rules. Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) and governor-appointee, Jim Luce, prejudged the 65-turbine Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project before final decisions were made, was biased against the county's stance against the project and expressed disdain for public comment on the project. "Those disclosures ... are startling and undermine basic tenants of how we all believe government should operate," Zempel said in the release.

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.

The Desert Claim wind farm, planned by French-owned EnXco Inc. for eight miles north of Ellensburg, has been moving slowly since the company filed in November 2006 with the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, for approval of a scaled-back version of a project that was first sought directly from Kittitas County in 2003. Kittitas County commissioners in April 2005 rejected the older, 120-turbine Desert Claim version saying it wasn't compatible with the surrounding land-use in the project area. That decision was later upheld by a county Superior Court decision.

Gov. Christine Gregoire today announced she will overrule local objections and allow a controversial plan to install 65 towering wind turbines in hills northwest of Ellensburg. ...It's the first time a local decision on a power plant has been overturned under a state law first created to site controversial nuclear-power plants.

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.

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.

A state energy council on Wednesday agreed to tell Gov. Chris Gregoire that a wind farm planned northwest of Ellensburg must make as its "highest priority" efforts to lengthen the distance between turbines and homes of people not leasing their land to the wind power company. The effort would come when the company decides on the exact location of each tower in a process called micro-siting, which occurs prior to construction. The governor, when she receives the council reply early next week, will have 60 days to make a final decision on the controversial 65-turbine, $150 million Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project planned by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

A controversial wind farm in Kittitas County is one step closer to generating energy. Today the State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) recommended the Horizon Wind Project go to the governor. But construction can't begin just yet, Governor Christine Gregoire still has to sign off on the project, which is strongly opposed by several local groups and the Kittitas County Commissioners, who have voted in the past to deny Horizon's building permit.

ELLENSBURG - Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday will get the answer to her question on the controversial Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. The governor wants to know if the setback distances between turbine towers and landowners not leasing land for the project can be lengthened without harming the economic viability of the 65-turbine wind farm planned by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy. At this time, the distances range from a minimum of 1,320 feet to a maximum 1,640 feet.

Puget Sound Energy officials earlier this week unveiled a proposed, public access plan for Beacon Ridge Road that runs through the company's Wild Horse Wind Power Project 17 miles east of Ellensburg. The plan, which requires state approval, offers the general public controlled access to the 9,000 acres encompassing the wind farm, according to Brian Lenz, manager of community and local government relations for PSE in Central Washington. Beacon Ridge Road is currently closed to the public due to construction of a demonstration solar project and final work on the wind farm that began full operation in December 2006.

Some people feel they just want to get the process over with, while others see no need for the project at all. "I really think the majority of the approximate 38,000 residence of Kittitas County care little about who decides this issue. As long as we use a little objectivity and common sense," an audience member said at the forum. "All I can find is that there is no benefit to our community, other than specific people that will be payed to put windmills on their property," explained Bill Fitzgerald, who owns property near where the proposed wind farm would go.

The permit process for the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project has taken 4 1/2 years already, so what's another couple of weeks? The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council recommended the project's approval in May, not expecting to revisit it. But after a request from Gov. Chris Gregoire, the agency reopened talks on the matter at a pair of hearings Tuesday in Ellensburg. Per Gregoire's request, the discussion was limited to whether the project's wind turbines could be placed farther from nearby landowners "while allowing the project to remain economically viable." "She made it clear that she thought the council did a good job of everything else," said Adam Torem, the administrative law judge overseeing the process.

ELLENSBURG - A wind-power company on Tuesday warned that any further reduction in the number of turbines for the proposed Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project will increase the price of its power output and hurt its ability to compete economically in the power-sales market. Cutting more turbines from the project will be required, according to Horizon Wind Energy officials, if the state orders a lengthening of the distance between turbine towers and existing homes of people not participating in the project through leasing their land to the wind farm.

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.

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.

ELLENSBURG - A public meeting has been set for July 17 in Ellensburg in an effort to answer Gov. Christine Gregoire's question about the proposed Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. In order for the governor to make a final decision on the 65-turbine project, she wants to know if the setback or buffer distances can be lengthened between turbine towers and residences of people not participating in the project and still allow the wind farm to be economically viable.

Desert Claim Wind Power wants the state to lay aside Kittitas County's past rejection of its wind farm project, conduct its own hearings on the wind farm's compatibility with county land-use rules and, ultimately, approve its 82-turbine proposal.