Columbia Basin Badger Club to present both sides of the Horse Heaven wind farm debate
There is little doubt that the Earth’s climate is changing, and if you have any, you have not been paying attention to the weather recently. There is also little doubt that a principal cause of this change is the burning of fossil fuels, which injects heat-absorbing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, for example, has increased 40 percent since the beginning of the 20th Century, and the result of this increase, among other changes, has been the warming of the planet as more of the sun’s energy reaching the Earth’s atmosphere is absorbed by it than is reflected or re-radiated into space.
Managing climate change will require global action. But global action starts with local action. Here in Washington, state government has chosen to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring all future electric energy generation be accomplished through exploitation of renewable resources, particularly wind and solar. Electrical generation by nuclear energy could also help meet this objective, but there is little political support for this technology in many parts of the state.
The state’s climate strategy requires electrification of nearly all economic activities: transportation, farming, construction, manufacturing, etc. But compared to other parts of the country Washington has a head start in achieving zero net emissions as the state has one of the lowest “carbon footprints” in the country. This is the legacy of past government investments in developing the region’s hydro potential. But the region’s hydroelectric generation capacity is more likely to decrease in the future than increase. And this fact, along with population growth and the goal of electrifying the state’s economy, point to future electrical energy shortages without significant increases in non-hydro generation.
Which brings us to the current proposal to build a combined wind and solar energy project in the Horse Heaven Hills south of the Tri-Cities. All energy-generation technologies have adverse environmental impacts — from manufacture, to installation, operation, and decommissioning – in addition to their benefits. The point is whether these benefits outweigh the negative consequences.
Proponents of wind and solar projects cite their economic benefits to the local economy including the jobs created by the project, the income provided to farmers and other owners of the land on which the projects are sited, increased annual tax revenues to local governments, and, of course, the non-polluting electricity that will be delivered to the regional electric supply system.
But opponents, especially of the Horse Heaven Hills project, argue that the impacts on the natural environment of the Horse Heaven Hills, the visual impact of hundreds of 500-foot-tall turbines dispersed along the ridges and highlands south of the Tri-Cities, the limits the project would place on future urban growth in southern Benton County, and questions regarding the effectiveness of the project in reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions or in meeting future electrical generation capacity shortfalls outweigh the benefits of the project to the region or to the local economy.
On Thursday, Aug. 18, the Columbia Basin Badger Club will provide an opportunity to hear both sides. Speaking in favor will be Dave Kobus, Project Manager for Scout Clean Energy’s Horse Heaven Hills project and Mike Bosse, Business Agent, International Union of Operating Engineers.
Speaking for those who have concerns about the project will be Lori Mattson, President and CEO of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce and Dr. Jim Conca, Senior Scientist for UFA Ventures, Inc. and who most recently was Science Contributor to Forbes on energy and nuclear issues.
William Pennell is a former director of the Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. He is a member of the Badger Club’s Program Committee.
