Washington’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council is distracted by issues such as wildlife preservation and insufficiently focused on climate change, according to a state-funded study by an environmental law firm.

Beveridge & Diamond recommends replacing EFSEC, which evaluates wind and solar projects, with a three-member panel picked by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.

EFSEC members represent the priorities of their agencies and are “ill-suited to evaluate projects relative to overarching state policies, including the state’s climate and clean energy requirements,” the report states.

The law firm also recommended limiting the ability of counties to regulate renewable energy projects, asserting local opposition has become a “major impediment” to achieving decarbonization goals.

The recommendations would strengthen the governor’s control over siting wind and solar installations in Eastern Washington, said state Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla.

A governor-appointed panel will carry out the governor’s agenda, rather than taking an objective look at a project’s impacts, he said.

“It’s not going to serve our communities well,” Klicker said. “It’s a dictatorship.”

The law firm submitted the $150,000 report to the Department of Commerce. Lawmakers authorized a study on the state’s process for permitting renewable energy projects in legislation requested by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Inslee called the process obsolete in 2022, one month after saying at a United Nations climate conference in Egypt that green energy projects will face local opposition, using a variation of NIMBY, “not in my backyard.”

“We sought recommendations because it is urgent that we can efficiently site and build new clean energy and transmission projects,” Inslee’s spokesman Mike Faulk said in an email.

“We’ll review the report’s recommendations along with our agencies as well as tribes and other stakeholders,” he said. “We’ve made progress, but agree there’s more work to do to effectively site and build the infrastructure we need to reduce pollution.”

The law firm’s verdict is that the permitting process is often “too slow and too unpredictable,” with energy developers complaining EFSEC members have “limited expertise in energy project development.”

EFSEC members are driven by their agencies’ missions and fail to consider how restrictions on projects will hinder clean energy development, according to the report.

EFSEC’s handling of the Horse Heaven wind and solar project illustrates the problem, the report states. At Fish and Wildlife’s recommendation, the council set a 2-mile buffer around historic ferruginous hawk nests.

The buffers angered the developer, Scout CleanEnergy, and were rejected by Inslee. Beveridge & Diamond called EFSEC’s recommendation an “extreme approach,” with “at best marginal benefits to ferruginous hawks.”

Fish and Wildlife has stood by its recommendation.

EFSEC members represent the departments of Commerce, Ecology, Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife, and the Utilities and Transportation Commission. No member responded to a request to comment.

EFSEC has reviewed the report, spokesman Karl Holappa said in an email.

“The council will continue to balance the increasing demands for energy facilities in conjunction with the broad interests of the public, which include public health and safety, as well as preservation and protection of the environment,” he said.

EFSEC last summer held eight daylong hearings presided over by an administrative law judge on the Horse Heaven project. The hearings highlighted concerns about wildlife and Yakama Nation cultural resources.

Such formal hearings are time-consuming and expensive and should be avoided in favor of mediation and “other informal mechanisms,” according to Beveridge & Diamond.

State Rep. Mary Dye, the top-ranking Republican on the House Environment and Energy Committee, credited EFSEC with taking time to study the project’s impacts.

Climate change, too often, eclipses other environmental concerns, she said. “There are some places that will be changed so completely and fundamentally by wind and solar projects, we won’t have them anymore.”

Renewable energy companies can apply to counties for permits. Several Eastern Washington counties, however, have adopted moratoriums on wind and solar projects. EFSEC can override local land-use laws, making it the preferred venue for some companies.