UPDATE--3 Lawsuits Now Filed Challenging HH Hills Windfarm

For the last 3 years, an ongoing battle has been waged over Scout Energy's proposed 29 mile-long windfarm, that would dot the ridge of the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick, from Finley to nearly Benton City.

3 lawsuits have now been filed against the project

The project would be the largest in WA state, earlier this year the Energy Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC, had presented their findings and proposal to Governor Inslee. After months of massive documentation against the plan from Tri-Cities Cares and others, EFSEC recommended the project be built, but only half-scale. They recommended half the turbines and half the associated solar farm.

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Their recommendations considered the environmental impact on various bird and animal species, accommodating Native American lands, and firefighting capability in the area using aerial tankers. The current full project would significantly affect wildfire fighting efforts for the entire windfarm region.

However, Gov. Inslee overrode their findings, and signed off on the full project.

Besides TC Cares filing their lawsuit, The Yakama Nation has filed as has Benton County, from a community development perspective.

According to The Daily Record News:

"Attorneys for the Yakama Nation filed their suit in Thurston County Superior in late November, as did local activists with Tri-Cities CARES.

The project run by Scout Clean Energy, a company recently purchased by a Canadian investment firm, may ultimately include 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 141 turbines about 670 feet tall."

If the court rules in favor of at least one of these lawsuits, it will render the project all but dead, according to observers.