The Horse Heaven wind and solar project would unavoidably cause significant harm to views, recreation and tribal cultural properties in southeast Washington, an Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council planner said Oct. 18.

Scout Clean Energy has said it would trim back the project, which would be visible from the Tri-Cities, but the changes wouldn’t be enough to prevent the impacts, EFSEC environmental planner Sean Greene said.

“Turbines would still dominate views from many key observation viewpoints, and the landscape will appear strongly altered,” Greene told the council, previewing a final environmental impact statement due out Oct. 31.

Scout, based in Boulder, Colo., proposes installing more than 200 wind turbines and thousands of acres of solar panels on hills overlooking the Tri-Cities. It would be the state’s largest renewable energy installation.

Benton County commissioners, the Yakama Nation and a citizens group Tri-City C.A.R.E.S. has led the opposition to the project. Gov. Jay Inslee must approve the project.

EFSEC, whose members represent state agencies, will make a recommendation to the governor. Inslee has pushed to rid the state of non-renewable sources of electricity and replace it with wind and solar power.

Greene said the Yakama Nation has shared confidential information about tribal cultural properties in the area. The information will be given to the council, but not the public, he said.

“We believe there will be significant impacts to traditional cultural properties due to ground disturbance, physical altercation, loss of access and visual interference,” Greene said.

Tribal cultural properties could be marked off as places to avoid, though Greene said he didn’t know whether that was practical. The tribe’s “concerns cover almost the entirety of the project area,” he said.

Hang gliders and paragliders use the area, and the turbines and solar panels would be a safety risk to them, Greene said.

Efforts to obtain comment from Scout were unsuccessful.

Scout originally proposed erecting up to 244 turbines and covering more than 6,000 acres with solar panels. Scout has proposed eliminating 22 of the turbines and covering 1,398 fewer acres with solar panels.

Scout plans to lease land from private landowners, including wheat farmers. One wheat farmer has said the lease payments will provide a steady income that will help agriculture continue in the area.

Benton County officials say the wind and solar installation does not belong on land zoned for agriculture.

EFSEC plans to hold a meeting Nov. 29 to review the final environmental impact statement.

Brookfield Renewable, a Canadian company, bought Scout for $1 billion last year from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners.