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Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler
Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge.
Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life.
Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next.
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Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler
[All-Gorge] ⚡ Scoping Deadlines & Tribal Consults - EFSEC May '26
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The state's Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council hit a major procedural bottleneck this month regarding the proposed Cascade Renewable Transmission line. We break down the May 20, 2026, meeting where local leaders and state officials debated how to balance rigid public comment deadlines with expanding, sovereign tribal consultations.
In This Episode
- Following the money: Corporate reshuffling and upstream financial accountability for Columbia Solar and Goose Prairie Solar.
- Ostrea Solar wrapping up its final construction obligations and pushing for full grid integration.
- A rare vandalism incident and subsequent physical security repairs at the Kittitas Valley Wind facility.
- A massive leadership transition and strategic overhaul inside EFSEC itself.
Resources & Links
- Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
- Cascade Renewable Transmission SEPA Scoping Portal
- EFSEC Meeting Agendas and Complete Packets (efsec.wa.gov)
Stay Connected with the Gorge
The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org.
To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.
Hey there, and welcome back to the audio edition of an all-gorge episode today for the dispatch. Today we're looking at the May 20th meeting of the state's Energy Site Facility Evaluation Council, better known as FSEC. I appreciate getting to cover regional energy issues on this outlet, especially for statewide bodies like FSEC as they define a lot of what happens in the gorge and how we're going to handle our energy needs and project negotiations well into our shared future. This last meeting was certainly no exception and one defined by transitions. But the biggest debate centered right here in the gorge on the proposed Cascade Renewable Transmission Line. FSEC opened a public scoping window on May 1st with a hard deadline for you, and we're all listening here, to submit comments by June 1st. But Skmannie County Commissioner Ace Lecky raised a serious concern. He asked if that deadline should be pushed back to August to make sure that local tribes have enough time to actually weigh in after their formal consultations. It's a complex situation because ground rules are shifting under our feet. On June 11th, a new state law takes effect. It allows the full state council to meet directly with tribal councils instead of limiting that communication to just the agency chair. The accommodation is already utilizing this new framework, calling for a full council consultation in Toppenish this July. FSEC Chair Kurt Beckett acknowledges creates a dual track reality, noting that the state now has two distinct tools in its toolbox for tribal consultation. So turning now to local solar arrays, we're tracking some high-level corporate reshuffling. Both Columbia Solar and Goose Prairie Solar are going through upstream transfers of their ownership. Sighting specialist Amy Hafkemeyer assured the council that the local operating companies are not changing. Still, the council has to carefully track the financial assurance bonds to make sure whoever holds the purse ultimately is still strictly bound to state environmental mandates and cleanup liabilities down the road. A quick look at a few other projects on the grid. Ostrea Solar is wrapping up construction and pushing towards a mid-June completion. Up north, Mandels damaged two turbines at Kideous Valley Wind Project. Operations Manager Jared Case Day says it's the first security incident that they've had since 2010, and the superficial damage has thankfully already been repaired. Finally, FSEC is going through its own internal remodel. The agency is hunting for a new executive director to start by July 1st, right as they rolled out a brand new strategic plan to help standardize timelines on these massive energy projects. You can find the full agendas for the next council meeting in the written version of our newsletter. Just head over to ScamaniaDispatch.com to get caught up and find those links. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, home of the Scamania Dispatch and the Click of Tattler. We believe that open formed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the Gorge, head over to Facebook.com slash open gorge to join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode, or head over to schemania dispatch.com to sign up directly for our newsletters. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.