The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council voted 4-3 on Sept. 13 to recommend Gov. Jay Inslee approve the Horse Heaven wind and solar project in southeast Washington.

A majority of the council supported a plan that could allow Scout Clean Energy of Boulder, Colo., to put up as many as 222 windmills and cover more than 5,000 acres with solar panels on rolling hills near the Tri-Cities.

EFSEC submitted a recommendation in April that would have allowed fewer turbines. Scout complained EFSEC had gutted the project. Inslee agreed and ordered EFSEC to come up with a new recommendation.

Department of Natural Resources Deputy Chief Lanny Young said the new proposal allows more turbines that could encroach on Yakama Nation tribal resources. “My concern in this area is only heightened,” he said.

Fish and Wildlife South Central Regional Director Mike Livingston and Benton County representative Ed Brost also voted against recommending the project to Inslee.

EFSEC Chairwoman Kathleen Drew, Eli Levitt of the Department of Ecology, Elizabeth Osborne of the Department of Commerce and Stacey Brewster of the Utilities and Transportation Commission voted yes.

Inslee can accept or reject the recommendation, but can’t revise it.

Inslee criticized the first recommendation for setting 2-mile buffers around about 60 historic Ferruginous hawk nests. The governor agreed with Scout that hawks were not nesting in the agricultural area and were unlikely to return.

EFSEC revised the buffer to six-tenths of a mile, but a pre-construction advisory committee could recommend EFSEC extend buffers to 2 miles around “viable” nests.

Scout CEO Michael Rucker said in a statement Friday the advisory committee could lead to delays and uncertainty. The company had sought to have the committee dropped from the recommendation.

Scout remains “concerned that inaction on this critical issue will threaten the viability of the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center, while sending a broader message that Washington isn’t serious about permitting and building projects at the scale needed to achieve its climate goals,” Rucker said.

If built as planned by Scout, Horse Heaven will be Washington’s largest renewable energy installation.

The Yakama Nation, Benton County and a citizens group, Tri-Cities CARES, formally opposed the project.