Published 7:30 am Friday, June 12, 2026
By Don Jenkins
A Yakama Nation attorney told the Washington Supreme Court that ex-Gov. Jay Inslee pushed through the Horse Heavens wind and solar project by imposing his green-energy agenda on a state council.
The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council at first recommended scaling back the number of windmills. But the council then bowed to Inslee’s “illegal policy demand” and restored the windmills, tribal lawyer Shona Voelckers said June 11.
“The statute required balancing the energy needs of the state with the harm (caused) by the project,” Voelckers said. “There is significant harm to the Yakama Nation here.”
The court heard arguments on whether to uphold or yank the permit Inslee issued to Scout Clean Energy for the massive Horse Heavens project on hills near the Tri-Cities in south-central Washington.
The Yakama Nation, Benton County and Tri-Cities CARES alleged that procedural errors riddled the project’s review. The state and Scout argue the review was thorough and Inslee’s approval was justified. Green-energy advocates warn stopping the project could scare away other energy developers.
Scout has a permit to place up to 222 windmills and cover about 6,000 acres of farmland with solar panels. Dryland wheat farmers who plan to lease land to Scout say reliable lease payments will help them survive lean years farming.
The tribe calls the hills a sacred landscape, and EFSEC agreed with the its concerns and recommended eliminating half of the windmills. Inslee said the project was vital and ordered EFEC, whose members are drawn from state agencies, to come back with a new recommendation.
The tribe, county and citizens group argue the first recommendation struck a balance, but the second recommendation illegally prioritized renewable energy.
Scout attorney Phil Talmadge, a former state Supreme Court justice, said governors should have the discretion to decide what’s best when it comes to energy development.
“The governor is in the position of being the only person with a statewide portfolio, elected by all the voters, to make this kind of fundamental decision about the energy future of the state of Washington,” he said.
EFSEC and Inslee based their decisions after years of review, Talmadge said. “The hearing process was robust to say the least — 64,000 pages of records,” he said.
Tri-Cities CARES attorney Richard Aramburu said the 64,000-page record didn’t have one page to support Inslee’s claim that the project was vital.
Tri-Cities CARES wanted to probe the intermittent energy project’s actual contribution to grid reliability, he said.
“We wanted to find out how important this project was,” Aramburu said. “We weren’t permitted to talk about it.
“But the governor decided to rest his decision on that,” he said. “There was no evidence to support his decision. Zero.”
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