COLFAX, WA – The Whitman County Commissioners have extended their moratorium on new wind farms for another six months. The board voted unanimously on Monday morning to extend the moratorium to January 7th.

The commissioners first approved the moratorium early this year in response to a controversial wind farm proposal from a Portland company.

Steelhead Americas wants to build and operate a wind farm near Kamiak Butte North of Pullman. The proposal has drawn strong opposition from a broad spectrum of local residents who have formed a coalition called Save the Palouse.

The moratorium is allowing the Whitman County Planning Commission time to update the rules governing wind turbines. Planning commissioners have doubled their meeting schedule this year to twice a month to work through the wind farm code update.

Commission Chair Dave Gibney told the county commissioners Monday that they need more time to work through the rules. About a dozen local residents addressed the county commissioners on Monday encouraging them to extend the moratorium.

Steelhead Americas could circumvent the Whitman County approval process for their Harvest Hills project. The company has informed the county that they have begun discussions to possibly take their proposal to the State of Washington for approval.

That option would move the approval process away from local officials to the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council. Steelhead Americas hasn’t formally applied to EFSEC for Harvest Hills.

Kamiak Butte is designated as a National Natural Landmark.