logo
Wind Farm-Idaho
FILE - A tractor travels down Hunt Road in front of a "Let's Stop Lava Ridge" sign near the Minidoka National Historic Site, July 6, 2023, in Jerome, Idaho. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

Feds approve scaled-down Idaho wind farm near historic Japanese American incarceration site

The federal government has approved a scaled-down wind farm in Idaho over local opposition, including from groups concerned about its proximity to a historic site where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II

By AP News
Published - Dec 06, 2024, 07:26 PM ET
Last Updated - Dec 16, 2024, 05:04 PM EST

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The federal government on Friday approved a scaled-down wind farm in Idaho over local opposition, including from groups concerned about its proximity to a historic site where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.

The Bureau of Land Management signed off on a final plan for the Lava Ridge Wind Project northeast of Twin Falls that decreases the number of wind turbines to 241 from 400 and imposes a maximum height of 660 feet (201 meters). The agency said the area “disturbed” by the project has been reduced by half from the initial proposal, with 992 acres (401 hectares) disturbed within a 38,535-acre (15,594-hectare) area.

The agency said the project could power up to 500,000 homes and that its approval “reflects a careful balance of clean energy development with the protection of natural, cultural, and socioeconomic resources on this historically significant landscape.”

Some groups have expressed concern over the high desert site's potential impacts on the Minidoka National Historic Site, where thousands of Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

Our Offices
  • 10kInfo, Inc.
    13555 SE 36th St
    Bellevue, WA 98006
  • 10kInfo Data Solutions, Pvt Ltd.
    Claywork Create
    11 km, Arakere Bannerghatta Rd, Omkar Nagar, Arekere,
    Bengaluru, Karnataka 560076
4.2 12182024