A state energy council will soon begin deliberations on whether to recommend approval of the proposed Desert Claim Wind Power Project now that formal hearings on the wind farm concluded Monday in Ellensburg. Members of the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, will take with them two main messages heard Monday at an evening hearing from citizens, property owners and group representatives.

With what brought them together blowing strongly outside, Kittitas County residents had one last chance Monday to public express their views on the proposed Desert Claim wind farm, northwest of here. While the wind blew in one direction throughout a hearing attended by more than 60 people at the Hal Holmes Center, the feelings of residents went both ways.

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.

The Maryhill Museum of Art has defied convention since it opened, with its utopian origin, eclectic collection and even its location making the green-lawned mansion an incongruous landmark on a desolate ridge above the Columbia River. Now the nonprofit museum's individuality extends into the realm of renewable energy.

A National Park Service official says a wind project proposed for a Skamania County site just outside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area would intrude on the experiences of people traveling two national historic trails. Both the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Oregon Pioneer Historic Trail pass through the Gorge, and both also pass within five miles of where turbines would rise at the Whistling Ridge Wind Project, said Rory D. Westberg, the Park Service's deputy regional director for planning and resource management.

A proposed wind farm on a forested ridge in eastern Skamania County could harm bats, raptors and other wildlife, a state wildlife biologist says. ... Ritter, a wind mitigation biologist based in Pasco, said the survey data on bats was "extremely interesting and alarming."

A state wildlife biologist says the Whistling Ridge Wind Project, proposed for a timbered ridge in eastern Skamania County, could cause high wildlife mortality, especially for bats and raptors. Surveys of the 1,152-acre site, including those done for the applicant, Bingen-based SDS Lumber Co., show the area is heavily used by bats, raptors and other birds, biologist Michael Ritter said in formal comments to the state agency that will decide whether to approve the project.

The Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm planned for northwest of Ellensburg, is calling on a state energy council to reduce the number of its wind turbines and towers from 65 to a maximum 52. Major construction on the project is set to start in early spring 2010.

A potential wind farm envisioned straddling a ridgeline near Larch Mountain in east Clark County has been put on hold. The state Department of Natural Resources, anticipating a boom in wind energy development spilling across the west side of the Cascades, wants more information before it considers leasing western state forests to wind farmers.

A golden eagle died last month when it collided with a wind turbine blade at a 47-turbine wind farm in Klickitat County. The April 27 collision at the Goodnoe Hills Wind Project southeast of Goldendale was the first known eagle casualty caused by a Washington wind project. "I don't know of any other eagle fatalities in the state in connection with colliding with a turbine blade," said Travis Nelson, the state's lead wildlife biologist on wind power issues. He called the incident "unfortunate."

Frustration emerged on the face of Yakama elder Johnson Meninick as he walked along a dirt access road in the Windy Flats wind farm project just south of town. The road, intended to make way for another series of wind turbines in the 88-turbine project, follows a ridge overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and is flanked by dozens of rock cairns -- historical footprints of his ancestors -- and colorful wildflowers and rare medicinal plants.

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.

A "skinnied-down" bill that would provide a tax break to manufacturers of solar, wind and other renewable energy equipment who locate in Clark County cleared a major hurdle Friday as the Legislature rushed toward adjournment. House Bill 2130, sponsored by Rep. Tim Probst, D-Vancouver, passed the Senate Ways and Means Committee Friday morning in a version far different from that of the original bill.

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.

Kittitas County commissioners on Monday agreed to become an intervenor in the state's formal process to review the 95-turbine Desert Claim wind farm planned for eight miles northwest of Ellensburg. Gaining intervenor status from the state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, means the county wants the right to cross examine expert witnesses and give its own expert testimony.

Wind turbines may supply power without pollution but they are also generating complaints about noise and even possible health effects for people who live near them. Dan Williams says the 240-foot-tall turbines he can see from his hilltop home near Boardman in Eastern Oregon make so much noise they keep him awake at night.

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.

When it comes to integrating wind generation into the Pacific Northwest power grid, one of the major problems has been the absence of an organized market in the region, according to panelists at a conference. "We have an aversion to markets in the Pacific Northwest," said Robert Kahn of the Northwest and Intermountain Power Producers Coalition, which represents independent producers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

Puget Energy, Washington's largest utility, has agreed to sell virtually all the green power produced by its wind farms for the next two years to Southern California Edison. The deal, coming right after Puget was sold to an international investor group, could fuel some grumbling: The Australians are now wholesaling Puget's clean energy to the Californians. "People who believe you can follow the green electron down the line" may bristle at the thought of selling that power out of state, says Robert McCullough, a Portland energy consultant. But in fact,