ELLENSBURG -- Kittitas County commissioners have rejected a proposal to build a wind farm 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

He said there was data and criteria in the record to support the commissioners' request for a lengthened setback ­ 2,000 to 3,300 feet ­ that would buffer surrounding home-owners and property owners from the effects of shadow flicker and noise from the turbines.

Kittitas County commissioners on Wednesday, after talks stalled with developers of the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, voted unanimously to reject the wind farm planned for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

Kittitas County commissioners on Wednesday didn't give a thumbs up or down on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, but said they want to see greater distances between the wind farm's towers and nearby homes along with other changes to lessen impacts.

WASHINGTON – Think about this the next time you flip a light switch: Washington state now ranks seventh when it comes to the generation of wind power in the United States.

Public testimony heard by Kittitas County commissioners went late on Wednesday night and was deeply divided on the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project, a wind farm proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

EPHRATA -- The Grant County Public Utility District's Board of Commissioners agreed Monday that Energy Northwest should proceed with phase three of its Nine Canyon Wind Project. To proceed, Energy Northwest is required by law to obtain approval from a majority of its member public utilities in Washington, including Grant County PUD.

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.

The Kittitas County Planning Commission on Monday voted 5-0 to recommend denial of the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg.

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A coalition of conservationists and clean energy advocates filed an initiative Wednesday that would require Washington state utility companies to increase the amount of renewable sources in their electricity supply to 15 percent by 2020.

A coalition of environmentalist groups is hoping Washington voters will force electric utilities to make their energy more green.

Opponents of the Kittitas Valley Wind Power Project dominated Wednesday’s second hearing on the wind farm proposed for 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg. They said the damage to scenic views from the wind turbines can’t be lessened and will reduce property values.

The Kittitas Valley has beautiful views... and many residents are not willing to them give up so that a new 6-thousand acre wind farm can take it's place.

Roger Weaver, owner of three RE/MAX Community Realty offices in Kittitas County, said he testified and challenged the consultant’s study. He said there was “no way a wind farm won’t have a significant impact on residential development in the Kittitas Valley.”

The Hopkins Ridge Wind Project has 83 massive wind turbines, all standing 335 feet high from the ground to the vertical tip of their 262-foot-diameter, three-blade rotors. The turbine towers are spread across 11,000 acres of mostly privately owned range and farm land.

A tally made in early December indicated more than 90 percent of the comments at that time were opposed to the wind farm.

Contractors building the $380 million Wild Horse Wind Power Project east of Ellensburg began this week to blast and dig out the foundations for 15 of 127 towers that will support power-generating wind turbines.

But partly because hydroelectric power is not included as a renewable resource in the proposed initiative's current form, several of the state's public utilities worry that the initiative could drive up costs and hurt rural economies.

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.

The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council has agreed to grant $1.3 million to a trust for the purchase of land near the Wild Horse Wind Power project in Kittitas County. The money would be used to preserve habitat for elk and sage grouse.