A proposed clean energy pump storage generating project near the John Day Dam on the Columbia River cleared another hurdle last week when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued the project a 40-year operating license, despite opposition by the Yakama Nation and environmental groups.

FERC issued the license Jan. 22 to Florida-based Rye Development, which is backed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), for the over $2 billion Goldendale Energy Storage Project located on the land of a former aluminum smelter that shut down decades ago. Rye says that once the project is operational it will store electricity for up to 12 hours and generate 1,200 megawatts of on-demand energy, enough electricity to power about half a million homes.

“This is a landmark moment for the Pacific Northwest,” said Erik Steimle, Rye Development’s chief development officer. “With electricity demand and energy costs on the rise, this license represents a huge step toward a more reliable grid and affordable energy prices for the region.”

The project still must clear other regulatory hurdles, including the approval of construction plans and safety and dam-engineering documents, state, federal and local permits, such as for wetlands, storm water and land disturbance. And, finally, approval is needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work in federal waterways.

According to the company’s timeline, the final design and engineering for the project is scheduled in 2026 and 2027 and construction will begin in 2027. A fully operating facility is scheduled for 2031-32.

However, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and other Columbia River basin tribes, along with environmental groups, say they oppose the project for both cultural and environmental reasons.

The Yakama Nation said the proposed project’s water storage reservoirs will destroy sacred sites of great significance to food and medicinal gathering practices. Columbia Riverkeeper and other environmental groups said that FERC’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for the project “is incomplete and inaccurate,” and has vowed to keep up their opposition.

The Yakama Nation and 17 Tribal Governments, the National Congress of American Indians, and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians have all opposed the project in statements and Resolutions since 2020 when it was first proposed.

Now, the Yakama Nation says, Rye Development is benefitting from Trump-era rollbacks of federal clean water act protections and the company has pulled out of discussions with the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation regarding the project’s destructive impacts to traditional cultural properties.

“Today, federal agencies are rewarding bad actors who have spent years finding loop-holes to target a new wave of industrial development on top of indigenous sites that have religious and legendary significance to the Yakama People and many others who don’t have political connections or deep pockets” said the Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis.

“Elected Yakama leadership have met with tribal leaders in Oregon who face similar challenges – regulators in D.C. that do not hold private developers accountable to the laws that are meant to protect the environment, our foods, or important historical sites, and instead issue incomplete licenses with only an afterthought of losses and destruction to Yakama resources,” Lewis continued.

The Goldendale Energy Storage Project would be the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest and, according to Rye Development, is expected to create more than 3,000 family-wage jobs during the four- to five-year construction period and, when completed and operating, dozens of permanent jobs. The project will generate more than $10 million annually for Klickitat County, supporting schools, public health, roads, emergency services and other essential needs, Rye Development said.

“The Goldendale Energy Storage Project is a win for middle-class, family-wage jobs and rural communities,” said Heather Kurtenbach, executive secretary of the Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council. “We’re excited to collaborate with Rye Development on what will be one of the largest construction projects southeastern Washington has seen in decades.”

The original license application filed June 23, 2020 was to construct and operate a closed-loop pumped storage project on 18.1 acres of federal land located about 8 miles southeast of Goldendale in Washington’s Klickitat County. Transmission facilities would extend into Oregon’s Sherman County. The land is owned by the Corps and the project would be administered by the Bonneville Power Administration.

The project itself includes:

• Two reservoirs
• A 2,400 feet gross elevation gain and involves no river or stream impoundments, allowing for water conveyances.
• An underground water conveyance tunnel and powerhouse.
• 115 and 500 kilovolt transmission lines.
• An electrical substation/switchyard and other related facilities.

The lower reservoir will be located on a portion of the former Columbia Gorge Aluminum smelter site, a Brownfield site that Rye says it will clean up. Water for the project would be drawn from the Columbia River under a permit that once served the aluminum plant. Project plans call for the lower reservoir to be filled once, with supplemental fills annually.

The final EIS says primary issues associated with constructing and operating the project include:

• unavoidable adverse effects on five individual archaeological resources, the Columbia Hills Archaeological District, and three Traditional Cultural Properties (Pushpum, Nch’ima, and T’at’ałíyapa),
• the potential reduction in Tribal access to usual and accustomed plant gathering sites, and
• changes in the aesthetic character of the landscape, particularly as they relate to Tribal cultural practices.

According to Rye Development, the company has completed a memorandum of understanding to build the project under a labor agreement with the Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council and the Columbia Pacific Building & Construction Trades Council. One part of that agreement requires all Goldendale contractors to hire union workers, prioritizing local workers.

“Given the four- to five-year construction timeline, apprentices would have the opportunity to learn a trade while earning a competitive wage,” Rye Development said.

However, two Environmental Impact Statements have found that the project will result in negative impacts on cultural resources, the Yakama Nation said. Corporate investors have contracted with local municipalities and unions to pay for some development impacts, but continue to ignore and downplay the harm identified by Yakama Nation, it said.

“They know it’s wrong, if a small Christian shrine sat on this site the decision-makers would understand what ‘sacred’ means. During his last days in office, Governor Inslee encouraged FERC to consider damage costs of $25 million but developers rejected all specific commitments and hope to keep building the energy grid on still more sacrifices to the Yakama way of life” Lewis said.
The project will destroy Pushpum, which is “an incredibly sacred site” to the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Nez Perce Tribe.

“FERC’s decision was made without adequate Tribal Government consultation and based on an incomplete environmental analysis and review of the development,” environmental groups said.

“Tribal Nations and environmental organizations have worked tirelessly to stop fossil fuel developments and secure monumental climate legislation in the Pacific Northwest. We refuse to support a sacrifice zone to destroy Native American cultural and sacred sites in the name of combating climate change,” says Simone Anter, senior attorney for Columbia Riverkeeper.

The environmental groups said that the federal government is obligated to uphold “Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, honoring the trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations. For the Goldendale Pumped Storage development, FERC has failed in this commitment.”
“We are tied to the land, the river, and all the people who come before and after us,” said Pat Arnold, Klickitat County resident and Executive Director at Friends of the White Salmon River. “FERC’s decision is disgraceful in its negligence of this connection and disregard for respecting the fight for protection of all that is sacred.”

Tribes and groups that oppose FERC’s license approval have 30 days after this Jan. 22 decision to file an application for rehearing. Once FERC rules on that petition, the groups say they are free to file an appeal of the final decision in court.
The development still requires additional permitting and the Corps must step up to uphold Tribal sovereignty through denial of water quality permits under the Clean Water Act and robust Tribal consultation that does not allow the approval of a flawed cultural resource management plan, the Yakama Nation said.

“Yakama Nation has been clear: there is no mitigation that could rectify the cultural and environmental destruction this development would cause.”

In addition to opposition by the Yakama Nation and 17 other tribes, the National Congress of American Indians and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians have issued statements and Resolutions opposing the development. In July 2024, the Washington State Environmental Justice Council adopted a statement opposing the development and adopting a policy of free, prior and informed consent, the Yakama Nation said.

“Because of the enormous environmental justice concerns and unavoidable impacts to irreplaceable Tribal cultural and religious resources, environmental and climate organizations oppose FERC’s decision to issue a final license for this development,” the Yakama Nation said.

For background, see:

— CBB, November 25, 2024, Yakama Nation Tells FERC If Pumped Storage Project Approved Near John Day Dam, Mitigation Cost No Less Than $40 Million Required, Yakama Nation Tells FERC If Pumped Storage Project Approved Near John Day Dam, Mitigation Cost No Less Than $40 Million Required – Columbia Basin Bulletin

–CBB, May 4, 2023, IN DRAFT EIS OUT FOR COMMENT, FERC STAFF RECOMMEND LICENSING PUMPED STORAGE PROJECT NEAR JOHN DAY DAM https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/in-draft-eis-out-for-comment-ferc-staff-recommend-licensing-pumped-storage-project-near-john-day-dam/

–CBB, Feb. 23, 2024, FERC’s Final EIS On Columbia River Pumped Storage Project Near John Day Dam Recommends Issuing A License With Conditions  https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/fercs-final-eis-on-columbia-river-pumped-storage-project-near-john-day-dam-recommends-issuing-a-license-with-conditions/

–CBB, May 25, 2023, WASHINGTON DOE ISSUES CLEAN WATER CERTIFICATION FOR PUMPED STORAGE PROJECT AT JOHN DAY DAM; MANY MORE APPROVALS NEEDED https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/washington-doe-issues-clean-water-certification-for-pumped-storage-project-at-john-day-dam-many-more-approvals-needed/

–CBB, June 8, 2022, WASHINGTON SEEKS COMMENT ON DRAFT EIS FOR PROPOSED ‘PUMPED STORAGE’ PROJECT NEAR JOHN DAY DAM; TRIBAL RESOURCES WOULD BE IMPACTED https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/washington-seeks-comment-on-draft-eis-for-proposed-pumped-storage-project-by-john-day-dam-tribal-resources-would-be-impacted/

–CBB, June 24, 2021, WDOE DENIES ‘WITHOUT PREJUDICE’ WATER QUALITY PERMIT FOR PUMPED STORAGE HYDRO PROJECT NEAR JOHN DAY DAM https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/wdoe-denies-without-prejudice-water-quality-permit-for-pumped-storage-hydro-project-near-john-day-dam/

–CBB, Jan. 15, 2021, WDOE WANTS PUBLIC COMMENT ON PROPOSED NEW HYDROPOWER PROJECT ON COLUMBIA RIVER: CLOSED LOOP PUMPED STORAGE https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/wdoe-wants-public-comment-on-proposed-new-hydropower-project-on-columbia-river-closed-loop-pumped-storage/