The Whitman County Commissioners have decided to extend their moratorium on new wind farms for an additional six months, now set to last until January 7th. The board reached this decision during a unanimous vote on Monday morning. This moratorium was initially established earlier this year following a wind farm proposal from Steelhead Americas, a Portland-based company, which plans to build a wind farm near Kamiak Butte, located north of Pullman.

The proposal has faced significant opposition from local residents, who have organized under the coalition named Save the Palouse. The moratorium is intended to provide the Whitman County Planning Commission with the necessary time to revise regulations pertaining to wind turbines. To facilitate this process, planning commissioners have increased their meeting frequency to twice a month this year.

Commission Chair Dave Gibney indicated that further time is required to finalize the regulatory updates. During the recent meeting, around a dozen local residents voiced their support for the moratorium extension.

In a related development, Steelhead Americas has notified the county of potential plans to pursue state-level approval for their Harvest Hills project, which could allow them to bypass the local approval process. This would involve the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, although Steelhead Americas has not yet submitted a formal application to the council regarding Harvest Hills.

It is important to note that Kamiak Butte holds the designation of a National Natural Landmark.