Hearings on the proposed Horse Heaven wind and solar installation in Benton County, Wash., ended without some issues being fully explored, a lawyer representing opponents of the project said Tuesday.

Tri-City C.A.R.E.S. attorney Richard Aramburu said he particularly wanted to reexamine a Scout Clean Energy witness over the project’s visual impact and lamented that opponents were not allowed to question the project’s need.

C.A.R.E.S. — an acronym for Community Action for Responsible Environmental Stewardship —  was further handicapped by not having available a final report on the project’s environmental impact, he said.

“It’s been kind of a process that didn’t work,” Aramburu said. “It’s not gone well.”

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council held about 28 hours of hearings over eight days in August on Scout’s application to build what would be the state’s largest renewable energy plant.

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Scout, owned by a Canadian company, Brookfield Renewable, proposes to erect up to 244 turbines and install solar panels over more than 6,000 acres.

Scout and the opponents — C.A.R.E.S., the Yakama Nation and Benton County — presented and questioned witnesses, who testified about impacts to agriculture, wildlife, views, property values and tribal resources.

The council closed testimony on tribal resources and the location of hawk nests, subjects deemed too sensitive for the public to hear.

The last hearing was on Aug. 25. The council talked about having one or two more hearings in September, but none are scheduled, EFSEC spokesman Karl Holappa said in an email. Aramburu said that has far as he knows, the hearings are over.

EFSEC will make a recommendation to Gov. Jay Inslee. Most EFSEC members are part of his administration.

One issue aired in public was the visual effect of rotating turbines that would be seen from the Tri-Cities.  

Landscape architect Dean Apostol, who was C.A.R.E.S. visual impact expert, testified the windmills would have significant impacts to “visual quality” for hundreds of thousands of people.

Scout attorneys objected to Apostol’s testimony, complaining that his written analysis was submitted just before his spoken testimony and that they had not had time to go over it.

Administrative Law Judge Adam Thorem allowed the analysis and allowed Scout to file a written rebuttal after the hearing from its visual expert, Portland landscape architect Brynn Guthrie.

Guthrie criticized Apostol’s assessment of visual impacts. The “project viewshed” was already heavily modified by suburban and urban development, according to Guthrie.

“It is not a designated scenic area where visual values would be considered a critical concern,” Guthrie wrote.

Residents would see the project, but it would not degrade their experience “living, working and recreating within the Tri-Cities, a growing suburbanizing, developing, changing area,” she wrote.

Aramburu said he would have liked to question Guthrie further. According to Scout attorneys, Guthrie is available for more cross-examination if the council wants.

Aramburu said he would have liked to explore the project’s energy output and weigh it against the impacts.

By state law, Scout does not have to persuade EFSEC that the public needs the Horse Heaven wind and solar installation. In its application, Scout states the project will help Washington meet its carbon-free goals.

Scout also said companies have a “growing appetite” for wind and solar energy, naming as examples Google, IKEA, Apple, eBay, Facebook, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, Nike and Walmart.