Bureau of Land Management shrinks proposed size of controversial Idaho wind farm project

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The federal Bureau of Land Management’s preferred alternative for a proposed large-scale wind energy farm in southern Idaho would shrink its size by nearly half and move it farther from a national historic site.

The proposed Lava Ridge wind farm has drawn opposition from government leaders, local ranchers, and people who have said, among other things, that the project endangers the Minidoka National Historic Site, where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

The agency detailed its preferred alternative to the original plan in its final environmental review released last week. It would decrease the number of wind turbines to 241 from 400 and cap the maximum height of the electricity-generating turbines at 660 feet (201 meters), KTVB-TV reported.

The plan also places the closest turbine to the historic site at 9 miles (14 kilometers) away. The agency said adjusting the corridor configuration aims to help “preserve the visitor experience of the remote nature of the former incarceration site.”

As proposed in 2020, it would have been built within about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the visitor center for the historic site. Nonprofit organization, Friends of the Minidoka, is one group that has been concerned the project could destroy the the experience they want to preserve at the site.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-parsely-url=«https%3A%2F%2Fapi.parsely.com%2Fv2%2Frelated%3Fapikey%3Dtest%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fwind-farm-idaho-minidoka-opposition-6daeca505cabde83d01efafcdb6587a1%26limit%3D9%26respect_empty_results%3D1%26pub_date_start%3D2024-03-13»