Wind turbines near Ellensburg, Washington. (Heidi Ihnen/Getty Images)
I served 10 years as chair of the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or EFSEC. I enjoyed it. But I made mistakes.
My biggest was supporting state preemption of local governments. At the time, it made sense. In 2001, amid the state’s energy crisis, EFSEC rejected a 250-megawatt gas facility located in Sumas, Washington.
There was pushback from the state level. The EFSEC chair resigned, and then-Gov. Gary Locke appointed me. On reconsideration, EFSEC approved the project. And that should have been enough. But the Legislature overreacted and amended EFSEC law to preempt local government.
As Governor Locke’s appointee, I supported preemption. But as recently shown in the Horse Heaven wind and solar project , it went too far.
The “preemption process” scales are developer-weighted. It allows developers to play local government against the state. If the developer and local government can’t agree, the developer goes to EFSEC, where the governor decides. And preemption starts the “political process.”