Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, May 6, 2026
By Don Jenkins
Ex-Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has defended approving the Horse Heaven wind and solar project, arguing in a court brief that governors need to push through renewable energy development.
The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments June 11 on whether Inslee overreached in permitting 222 windmills and 5,500 acres of solar panels on hills near the Tri-Cities.
Although Inslee is a party to the lawsuit, he and another former governor, Gary Locke, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief asking the court to give governors a free hand in approving power projects.
“Without it, clean energy projects likely will not be built timely, or at all,” the ex-governors stated. “Time is of the essence in dealing with our climate and energy crises.”
Tri-Cities CARES, a citizens group suing to overturn Inslee’s approval, filed a response May 4, asking the court to ignore Inslee’s brief.
A person being sued shouldn’t try to sway the court with partisan statements, the group averred. “The filing of an amicus curiae brief by a party to a case is inappropriate,” the response reads.
The Yakama Nation and Benton County also sued to block the project. The three lawsuits were merged into one case to present to the Supreme Court.
At issue is whether Inslee and the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council failed to balance the need for more energy with other public interests, such as protecting farmland, views, wildlife and tribal culture.
EFSEC originally recommended eliminating some windmills to reduce impacts, but Inslee said the project was vital and ordered the council to restore the windmills.
Inslee painstakingly reviewed the project, according to the Inslee-Locke brief. “Aware of the specific objections raised by project opponents, Governor Inslee did not take his decision lightly,” the brief reads.
Inslee and the project’s owner, Scout Clean Energy, maintain the windmills, solar panels and batteries will help the state meet its clean-energy goals and shore up the electric grid.
Tri-Cities CARES is asking the Supreme Court to at least send the project back to EFSEC to examine Inslee and Scout’s claims.
At full capacity, the project would generate 1,150 megawatts, according to Scout. An administrative law judge, however, barred Tri-Cities CARES from probing the anticipated average output of the intermittent wind and solar project.
The Inslee-Locke brief argues the state must speed-up energy development and cites a study by the consulting firm Energy and Environmental Economics that projects power shortages will occur, most likely during prolonged spells.
The Inslee-Lock brief didn’t mention that the study found windmills, solar panels and batteries make only a small contribution to grid reliability during cold snaps.
Renewable Northwest, an advocacy group, and the Northwest and Intermountain Power Producers Coalition, a trade association, urged the court to let the project go ahead.
Washington’s renewable energy industry is already struggling and pulling the Horse Heaven permit could be the “final blow,” according to the groups.
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