{"id":246750,"date":"2023-03-04T11:56:20","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T10:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246750"},"modified":"2023-03-04T11:56:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T10:56:22","slug":"giant-idaho-wind-project-runs-into-turbulence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246750","title":{"rendered":"Giant Idaho wind project runs into turbulence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From\u00a0CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans by a New York company, LS Power, to put up as many as 400 soaring wind turbines on 76,000 acres (about 12 square miles) on federal land outside of Twin Falls, Idaho have sparked outrage among local residents and officials, as well as the state\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as Lava Ridge, the wind project is part of the Biden administration\u2019s goal of producing 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on federal land by 2025. LS Power claims construction of Lava Ridge will pump $500 million into the local economy, produce $4 million in local taxes, and generate enough power to supply as many as 300,000 homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locals, however, fear that the giant turbines with their spinning rotors will blight the area\u2019s picturesque high-desert scenery, with its sagebrush, cheatgrass, and outcroppings of lava from long-dormant volcanoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranchers who lease allotments from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to run their cattle near the proposed site believe that Lava Ridge, which would be one of the nation\u2019s largest wind projects, will forever change the area\u2019s character, and not for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is bulbous bluegrass. And there are all kinds of native species out there, too,\u201d rancher John Arkoosh told NPR (Feb. 24). \u201cThere are seven different ranches that ran on this allotment alone. My own, there are four generations, four families who depend on this area for our livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The developer says it can mitigate the damage to the ranchers, but it\u2019s not finding many takers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not at Arlington National Cemetery or the Washington Mall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen Misako Hiria Olen also opposes the wind project, but for an entirely different reason. She is descended from Japanese-Americans who were interned in a make-shift camp in the area during World War ll. The camp housed 13,000 prisoners and is now a national historical site. Hirai told NPR that the nearby turbines would fundamentally change the experience of going there and imagining the hardships of the incarcerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t build this outside of Arlington National Cemetery. They wouldn\u2019t build this on the Washington Mall. And to me, this site is just too sacred,\u201d she said. \u201cJust based on basic human rights, I have to oppose this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interior Secretary Deb Haarland recently boasted that her department had granted permits to 130 wind, solar, and geothermal projects on federal land. BLM is expected to make a final decision on the taxpayer-subsidized Lava Ridge project in Idaho by the fall. Given the Biden administration\u2019s commitment to phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with wind and solar power, that decision is likely to favor the developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, however, will not be the end of it. LS Power and BLM can look forward to a raft of lawsuits challenging the Idaho wind project. If nothing else, they will delay the project for years, and add to the cost of Lava Ridge. Similar lawsuits against wind and solar developments across the country \u2013 and against offshore wind farms \u2013 have prompted some frustrated developers to throw up their hands and walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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