Cat Creek Energy – A Problem, Not A Solution!

Camas Prairie, Elmore County, Idaho

All posts by Tim Bondy

Video Location Of The Cat Creek Energy Wind Farm

“The planned Cat Creek Energy wind farm on Camas Prairie is a bad idea!” – Chris Stephens from the S Bar Ranch

The video below was taken on May 19, 2018, at 1:30 pm near the intersection of Cat Creek Road and Bennett Mountain Road in Elmore County, Idaho. The location gives a spectacular view of the Camas Prairie and the snowcapped Soldier Mountains in the distance. With Cat Creek Energy, LLC’s plan to construct between 30 and 40 wind turbines within the viewshed of this video, it’s easy to understand why we think the Elmore County Commissioners should put an end to this project.

The Video & Where Was It Taken?

The video is geotagged at 43.288762, -115.317848.
A link to a map of the location can be found at https://goo.gl/maps/JhxTYcGMixq

A total of eight or nine wind towers as tall as a 50 story skyscraper will be located within one mile of the video location unless we can convince Elmore County officials and the Cat Creek Energy leadership that a wind farm does not belong on Camas Prairie.

What Can You Do?

Share the video: https://youtu.be/jT0TxrTyaIk

Take a drive up to the western portions of Camas Prairie and see for yourself the beauty of this area.

Contact the Elmore County Commissioners, Wes Wootan, Bud Corbus and Al Hofer and explain to them a wind farm in that planned location is a bad idea. The contact information for the commissioners can be found on the county website at http://www.elmorecounty.org/Commissioners/PDFs/default.html

If the project gets approval, the wind towers at the scenic viewpoint would look like this. Click for a larger version of this bad idea.

The Cat Creek Project Will Get A New Public Rehearing

Project Approval Rehearing will be scheduled soon

A rehearing on the amendments to the approval and conditions contemplated by the Elmore County/Cat Creek Energy Development Agreement will be scheduled very soon.

If that lead sentence didn’t confuse you, then it’s likely you have a legal background somewhere in your DNA.

Yes, this whole Cat Creek Energy project is a complex and data-intensive issue. Starting today we will try to simplify some of the legal and technical aspects surrounding our objections, and many of your objections as well, to this entire project. They say, “knowledge is power,” so a good start to gaining that knowledge is reading or skimming the documentation Elmore County drafted for the upcoming rehearing. 

Download the full 14-page pdf by clicking here …  May 18, 2018 - Elmore County Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order Document

The hotlink to the document can be found here … http://catcreek-energy.com/download/234/r

 

 

S Bar Ranch’s Rebuttal to Cat Creek Energy (Holland & Hart, LLP) Document

A snippet from the rebuttal document.

The Entities Listed in the Rebuttal

  • Holland & Hart (HH):  the law firm currently representing Cat Creek Energy LLC
  • S Bar Ranch (SBR): owner/operator Chris Stevens
  • Hawley Troxell (HTEH): the law firm representing the S Bar Ranch in the Reconsideration Hearing and future litigation.
  • The Board of County Commissioner (BOCC): Wes Wooten, Bud Corbus and Al Hofer (recused) are the Elmore County Commissioners.

The Synopsis of the Document
In this linked and downloadable 17 page document, the law firm representing the S Bar Ranch refutes Cat Creek Energy’s negative analysis of the second reconsideration request regarding a large-scale alternative energy project that includes the imminent construction of a wind farm on the western portions of Camas Prairie in southern Idaho.

The text highlighted in red is the legal opinion and rebuttal from Hawley Troxell who represent the S Bar Ranch.

During an 11 am, May 18, 2018, meeting the Elmore County Commissioner will likely decide if they will hold a hearing, possibly limited to the amendments to the CUP contemplated by an unresolved Development Agreement to more fully address the concerns of S Bar Ranch.

Click to view or download this 17 page pdf document:  S Bar Ranch’s Rebuttal to Cat Creek Energy Document

View the Petition For Judicial Review – Lawsuit Complaint Document

The S Bar Ranch filed a lawsuit against Elmore County, Idaho on May 1, 2018. You can download and view this document through a link at the bottom of this post.

CCE Notice of Appeal sign
CCE’s Notice of Appeal sign is barely visible on Wood Creek Road off Highway 20.

A snippet from this petition for judicial review states:
11. Cat Creek appealed the Commission’s Decision to the Elmore County (“ County” )
Board of Commissioners (“ Board” ).
12. The Board held a hearing on the appeal of the Commission’s Decision on
November 16, 2016, at which time Cat Creek presented new evidence, for the first time, that
materially changed the CUPs, including a new master site plan.
13. This new evidence was not properly noticed as part of the hearing and S Bar
Ranch did not have a proper opportunity to respond to this new evidence.

Click here to download the pdf document  View the Petition For Judicial Review - Lawsuit Complaint

Download of a copy of the reconsideration hearing paperwork

A snippet of the April 31, 2018 document.

A snippet from this legal document:

“The basis for this Supplement to the Second Request for Reconsideration is failure of the
Elmore County Board of County Commissioners (“ Commissioners” ) and Elmore County
(“ County” ) in general, to comply with the requirements of the Local Land Use Planning Act, Idaho
Code Section 67–6501 …”

Click below to start the pdf download.

Supplement to Second Request for Reconsideration - filed April 31, 2018

Help Stop A Wind Farm On Camas Prairie, Idaho

Here is a 70-second video showing where Cat Creek Energy, LLC plans to build a wind farm on the western edge of Camas Prairie in southern Idaho in the coming months. We believe this wind farm will ruin the scenic value of the area, lead to a proliferation of more wind farms along the Highway 20 corridor and disrupt the migration patterns of the many elk that roam this portion of the state.

Please help us get word to the Elmore County Commissioners this wind farm is a bad idea.

Additionally, there is a reconsideration hearing on May 11, 2018, where the commissioner could reopen the discussion for the approval of Cat Creek Energy, LLC’s five conditional use permits (CUPs) for this project. We believe the permitting process was flawed and the approval process should be reopened. If you could attend this 1:30 pm meeting, it will make a big impression on the decision makers.

Commissioner Contact Information

Please share this video and post with your friends and neighbors if you oppose the construction of 31 oversized wind turbines on the road to Anderson Ranch Reservoir, Fairfield, Sun Valley and Craters of the Moon National Monument.

Thanks,

 

Tim

The CCE Wind Farm is “Out of Line” From Other Idaho Wind Farms

The proposed wind farm on the western fringes of Camas Prairie and in the scenic Cat Creek Summit area of Idaho’s Highway 20 is a departure from the standards used for other wind farms projects in our state.

The map below shows that all wind farms/turbines in Idaho are located along the Interstate 84 and Interstate 15 corridors. The Cat Creek Energy project could very well open up a whole new eye-sore corridor along Highway 20 and maybe even along the approaches to Anderson Ranch Reservoir on the Pine-Featherville Road.

Click on the map below for a larger version

2018 wind farm locations in Idaho and the proposed location of CCE wind farm.

Currently, the 588 wind turbines shown on the above map produce 1,026 megawatts of energy according to the United States Geologic Survey. That is enough energy to power over 750,000 households (1 megawatt – 750 households). As of the 2016 U.S. Census estimates, there were about 600,000 households in Idaho.

588 wind turbines already produce enough energy for more households than are located in Idaho.

Are you willing to hedge your bets and simply trust that this new Cat Creek Energy wind farm will not open up the floodgates for future projects up and down Highway 20 and other connecting corridors?

Get Involved

On May 11, 2018, at 1:30 pm, the Elmore County Commissioners will decide if they think they should take a better look at the process they used to approve this large-scale energy project and the 10,000 pages of evidence. Please contact the county commissioners (http://www.elmorecounty.org/Commissioners/PDFs/default.html) to voice your opinion and if you have time, attend this critical meeting.

Reference:

https://eerscmap.usgs.gov/uswtdb/viewer/#6.44/43.983/-112.802
http://enduse.lbl.gov/Info/CA_Presentation/sld011.htm

Last updated on April 27, 2018

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