This is a tale of two wind projects.

One would cover about 72,500 acres of mainly private and state land in the Horse Heaven Hills of southeastern Washington. It would also include 5,000 acres of solar panels.

For those who are unfamiliar with the measurement, an acre is about the size of a football field. Think 72,000 Superdomes in New Orleans.

Another project is even bigger. It is called Lava Ridge and would cover about 104,000 acres of federal, county and private land in southcentral Idaho. It would be bigger than 104,000 Superdomes.

Both would produce a little more than 1 gigawatt of peak power. Because wind power and solar power are by definition intermittent, the average output would be about 30% of the peak, between 300 megawatts and 400 megawatts. That still makes them among the largest wind projects in the nation.

Both projects are similar in one other important aspect. Members of the public have done everything except stamp their feet and stand on their heads in opposition to them.

The Horse Heaven project would change the dramatic views in the area and impact tribal cultural resources, in addition to threatening Ferruginous hawks, which are protected under federal law.

The Lava Ridge site would loom over the Minidoka National Historic Site, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. It is the saddest place in Idaho, a place where U.S. citizens were unfairly and needlessly held against their will.

Because the Horse Heaven project is mainly on state and private land, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will ultimately decide whether it will be built.

Because the Lava Ridge project would be built primarily on federal land, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will decide where and how it will be built.

In both cases, the public’s opinions of the projects have been relegated to the back of the bus.

Inslee is the head cheerleader for “clean” energy in Washington state. One gets the feeling that, if given the chance, he would gladly drive the first bulldozer to start construction of the Horse Heaven project.

That many Washingtonians oppose the project hasn’t fazed him one bit. He even makes fanciful — and provably false — claims about how the project would increase the reliability of the state’s power supply.

The picture is completely different in Idaho. Gov. Brad Little is against Lava Ridge. So is Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke and the entire state congressional delegation. They have even sent letters to the Department of the Interior and the BLM urging the agencies to pull the plug on the project, which members of the public overwhelmingly oppose.

Both projects may ultimately be built. If that happens, members of the public will know for sure in Washington state and Washington, D.C., who is in charge and whose opinion matters.

Hint: It isn’t the public’s.