The Washington state alternative energy juggernaut appears intent on ignoring local authority and sentiment in siting solar facilities.

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council signaled June 20 it will disregard a Central Washington county’s moratorium on solar projects and fast-track a 2,000-acre installation of panels on farmland near Goldendale.

Klickitat County commissioners imposed a moratorium on solar installations in January that includes the area where Cypress Creek Renewables proposes to put its facility. Commissioners said they wanted to give the county time to plan for a rash of solar projects, especially ones that take up farmland and mar scenic views.

A month later Cypress Creek applied to the council to build the project.

Klickitat County is one of a handful of Central Washington counties that have imposed moratoriums to slow down the rush to build more and more facilities.

Ag interests are worried the massive solar facilities, which are all sited on working farm and pasture land, will degrade the farming infrastructure. And once covered with solar cells, the land will never be returned to agricultural production.

Local residents are also concerned that concentrating these projects in their backyards will change the nature of their rural communities forever. Responsible local officials would like to minimize the negative impacts.

There’s no evidence that residents oppose all solar development, they just want a say in what’s happening in their communities.

But the state is determined to approve more projects, despite what local residents and officials want. Fewer hurdles equal more solar facilities, a priority for the state’s energy policy that envisions abandoning fossil fuels within a decade.

That means ignoring other concerns and finding justifications to steamroll the locals.

The state council has the power to override county land-use laws. Projects can be approved quicker if the council declares county zoning ordinances allow the project. The council’s position is that anything that’s not outright banned in ordinances is allowed.

A moratorium, despite its intent, is not a ban.

The council has used that strategy to approve projects despite moratoriums in Yakima and Kittitas counties. It won’t stop there.

You can excuse opponents of this power grab who feel as though their rural homelands are being developed to produce “clean” energy for the westside metroplex.

Productive farmland is under assault all across the West by parties who want to build alternative energy facilities and regard rural lands as empty spaces awaiting development.

There is a legitimate debate to be had over the energy policies of the various states and the nation. If it is true that we have to replace electricity produced by fossil fuels with other sources of energy, let’s talk about all of the ways that power can be sourced and where those facilities will be sited.

Unfortunately, those decisions have largely already been made, not by legislative consensus but by executive fiat backed by the bureaucracy and political appointees on boards and commissions.

Opposition is heresy, resistance is futile.