A company developing industrial-scale solar panels on Badger Mountain in Eastern Washington has paused allowing activity on the project amid concerns about the impact on indigenous cultural sites.
The decision comes on the heels of a investigated by High Country News and ProPublica this yearwhich found that a land survey funded by the developer, Avangrid Renewables, omitted more than a dozen sites of archaeological or cultural interest on the public parcel included in the project area. This survey is required by the state before it can permit the project so that construction can begin.
In a June 27 letter to the state agency responsible for approving the project, Avangrid wrote that it would pause project planning for two to three months “while we reevaluate public comments, including from our project landowners and affected tribal nations.”
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have objected to the Badger Mountain solar project for years, according to Tribal Business Council member Karen Condon. They officially registered their opposition in May 2023, citing the food, medicine, archaeological heritage sites and other cultural resources found on the mountain. They were soon joined by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Both tribal nations have the right to access and use public lands in their ancestral territory, which includes the state-owned parcel on Badger Mountain.
Because of concerns from tribal lands and state agencies, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Board, whose members are appointed by the governor, previously ordered a redo of the cultural resources survey.
“While we are suspending permitting activities, Avangrid continues to evaluate other elements of the Badger Mountain project,” a company spokesperson said in an email to High Country News and ProPublica.
The future of the Badger Mountain solar project is unclear. Avangrid’s spokesperson wrote, “We have a strong relationship with [Washington’s Department of Natural Resources] on our operating projects and appreciate their participation in promoting clean energy in the state and will continue to work with them to promote new clean energy projects.”
The Department of Natural Resources, which acts as the landlord for the parcel and assesses the environmental and cultural impacts of projects on it, said the pause is a chance to have more discussions with tribes and potential stakeholders. “Every time people [go] out into the area, more and more archaeological sites and plant resources are being seen and more concerns are being raised,” Louis Fortin, science consulting manager at the department, wrote in an email to High Country News and ProPublica.
Fortin noted that some leases with private landowners expired in December 2023, and that some of the landowners are not renewing those leases. The majority of the project is on private lands, suggesting that much of the project may no longer be viable for reasons unrelated to cultural resources. Avangrid declined to answer questions about private landowners’ concerns.
In March, a group of Wenatchi-P’squosa people and their supporters gathered on Dasberg to demonstrate against the proposed solar development, which will affect critical foodways and sites of archaeological heritage.
After hearing about Avangrid’s pause in operations, one of the Wenatchi-P’squosa organizers, Darnell Sam, told High Country News and ProPublica that he was not confident that tribal concerns would significantly change the course of development. “I still don’t trust the process,” he said, noting that the developer has already invested millions of dollars in the project. Sam is the traditional area coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, where the Wenatchi-P’squosa people are enrolled, but said this view is his own and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of his office.
His mistrust, he explained, is due in part to what he has seen his neighbors with the Yakama Nation go through. For years, the nearby Yakama Nation has opposed a pumped hydro storage project, which has was also the subject of a High Country News and ProPublica investigation about how a federal agency shirked its consultation obligations, about 200 miles south of Badger Mountain. Despite tribal objections, that development continued to progress.
“We’re not against green energy,” Sam said. “But where is the responsible place for it to be?”
This article was produced in collaboration with ProPublica‘s Local Reporting Network.
