A state council yielded to Gov. Jay Inslee July 17 and took a step toward approving the Horse Heaven wind and solar project in southeast Washington largely as proposed by Scout Clean Energy.

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council directed planners to draw up a new recommendation that would allow nearly all 222 turbines that Scout proposes to build on farmland near the Tri-Cities.

EFSEC plans to vote on the recommendation in August. The council recommended in April eliminating 107 turbines to reduce the massive project’s impacts to views, wildlife and the Yakama Nation’s culture.

Scout ripped the council for “gutting” the project. Inslee ordered the council, whose members represent state agencies, to bring him a new recommendation, saying the state needs more renewable energy.

On Wednesday, EFSEC Chairwoman Kathleen Drew proposed downsizing the most onerous restriction, a 2-mile buffer around 63 historic ferruginous hawk nests. No hawk has been seen nesting in the area since 2019.

The council approved Drew’s motion to reduce the buffers to six-tenths of a mile on a voice vote. Department of Natural Resources Deputy Chief Lenny Young was a loud “no.”

The 2-mile buffers also reduced encroachment on sites important to the Yakama Nation. Young voted against the recommendation in April, saying the 2-mile buffers were not enough to protect tribal interests.

While the 2-mile buffers eliminated 107 turbines, the smaller buffer will eliminate 12, according to EFSEC environmental planner Sean Greene.

“I have great concern that restoring … turbines to the landscape would increase the project footprint and would have a big impact on Yakama Nation traditional cultural properties,” Young said.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended 2-mile buffers. Hawks can come back years later to unoccupied nests, but turbines and solar panels would discourage their return, according to the department.

Scout asserted the hawks are gone for good and Inslee agreed. Drew said EFSEC was in a tough spot. The council wants to protect hawk territories, but doesn’t know whether the hawks will be there, she said.

A smaller buffer, with instructions to Scout to shut down turbines if hawks are seen, would balance protecting a state endangered species with developing renewable energy, Drew said.

In a statement Thursday, Fish and Wildlife said it stood by its recommendation. “We expect to offer additional feedback as requested,” the department stated.

Efforts to obtain comment from the Yakama Nation and Scout were unsuccessful.

Scout, based in Boulder, Colo., and owned by Brookfield Renewable Partners, a Canadian company, proposed the Horse Heaven project in 2021.

Its size — more than 5,000 acres of solar panels and more than 200 turbines stretching for 25 miles — is unprecedented for Washington. Wheat farmer Chris Wiley testified in front of EFSEC last summer that lease payments from Scout would help farms survive.

EFSEC reduced the project’s size in response to concerns from the Yakama Nation, Benton County and a citizens group, Tri-City CARES.

Scout told Inslee his political legacy and Washington’s reputation among renewable energy companies would would be tarnished if he approved EFSEC’s original recommendation.

EFSEC on Wednesday retained a restriction on windmills and solar panels on shrub-steppe habitat.

The council added a restriction on turbines and panels in or near Webber Canyon, a site important to the tribe. “This is a very, very limited reduction of impacts to Yakama Nation tribal cultural properties,” Young said.

The council also prohibited turbines and panels in and near areas burned in the past 24 years. Turbines will create a no-fly zone for firefighting aircraft.

“To point out the obvious, there is no hard guarantee that future fires would occur exactly where fires have occurred in the past,” Young said.