GOP House member adds language to appropriations bill to torpedo controversial Idaho wind project

A Republican Idaho congressmaqn is taking steps to block a controversial wind farm in Idaho. 

Rep. Mike Simpson, chairmand of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, added a provision into the fiscal 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The language will nullify a key document in the approval process of the Lava Ridge Wind Project. 

The House Committee on Appropriations voted Thursday to advance the act.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, thanked Simpson for including the language in the bill.

"The Biden Administration continues to bulldoze Idahoans and disregard our opposition to Lava Ridge. @CongMikeSimpson is fighting back," Little said in a post on X.

The Bureau of Land Management in June issued a final environmental impact statement on the project, scaling back its size from 400 to 241 turbines, in response to the opposition the project was receiving.

The project is planned for an area just outside Minidoka National Historic Site in which over 13,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated on orders of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat. 

Friends of Minidoka, which works to preserve the site and educate the public about the “relocation centers,” as they were called, said in a statement that the BLM ignored the organization’s historic research it provided to the Biden administration on the impacts the project would have on the historic site. 

“The Biden Administration needs to do a better job and make a real commitment to protect Minidoka and our heritage, or we will be dealing with Lava Ridge and other projects forever,” Robyn Achilles, executive director of Friends of Minidoka, said in a statement. 

Other residents of the area have raised concerns about impacts of the project on grazing, farming, aviation, hunting, and the scenic landscape. 

“Last month’s final Environmental Impact Statement for the Lava Ridge Wind Project was a slap in the face to Idahoans. Despite numerous concerns voiced by Congress and the Magic Valley, the Biden administration and the Bureau of Land Management continue to ignore Idahoans and ram through renewable energy projects that lack local support,” Simpson said in a statement.

The funding package will now go to the House for a full floor vote.