Todd Andrews, Klickitat Co. Board of Commissioners
GOLDENDALE — Klickitat County Commissioner Todd Andrews may be a newcomer to politics, but he apparently has a firm grasp of edgy political theater.
According to a bylined article by Don Jenkins in Capital Press, Andrews showed up at the Goldendale Grange Hall Monday, May 5 with a trash can. He was there for a special meeting of the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) on the Cypress Creek Renewables’ Carriger solar farm application.
“Klickitat County Commissioner Todd Andrews set a trash can by the lectern “and said he was ‘about to throw up,’” the article said.
It added that he told the EFSEC board that county residents are no opposed to any development but the proposed installation is so large that it would be visible all over east Klickitat County
“You couldn’t pick a better site if you wanted to be the most intrusive and lower the most home values that you could,” he said, according to the article.
Andrews’ frustration stems from the fact the county had passed a moratorium on large solar projects a just a month before Cypress Creek applied for their EFSEC permit. EFSEC ruled the county moratorium wasn’t a land-use law that could hold up the project.
Despite the theatrics and strong local opposition, the EFSEC panel voted to expedite the application, and skip an environmental study and formal hearing requested by the Yakama Nation.
The article notes that EFSEC didn’t hold a public hearing until after they had voted to fast-track the application. Every single person who testified at the hearing was opposed to the project.
The EFSEC board could vote to send to the governor for his signature as in as little as a month.
No mention of the theatrics was made at the Klickitat County Commission meeting the following day, May 6.
Commented