SOSA's current focus is to eliminate or reduce the visual
impacts to the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area which will be
caused by the proposed Saddleback Wind Turbine Project.
The Saddleback Project, spearheaded by SDS Lumber partnering with Puget Sound Energy, calls
for 44 turbines, each over 420 feet tall, a generator building, and staging
area. They will be placed running north-south, spread across a distance of
approximately 2.5 miles,
as shown here. They are aligned along the Chemawa Hill ridge, outside the national scenic boundary (60 feet at their closest), and spanning
across the power lines that run east-west behind Underwood Mountain. SDS
indicates that some or all of the turbines will be visible (not only during
the day, but also at night due to the flashing FAA required lighting) from a good
portion of the scenic area in this part of the Gorge (SDS
View-shed Impact Graphic).
Starting with
organizing as a non-profit entity, “Save Our Scenic Area” (SOSA) has
partnered with other local organizations facing similar projects and begun a
public awareness campaign. We are not against wind power or renewable
energy. We are against putting this industrial facility in the wrong
location. The visual impacts to our national scenic treasure, impacts
to the Underwood community, coupled with the limited wind energy return,
make this site totally unacceptable. We've created several
graphics,
depicting the expected views of the project from various vantage points. All of the
turbines are based on manufacturer specifications and the placement is based
on an
SDS Lumber provided topographic map.
The members of this
organization are appalled by SDS presenting photos a showing turbine half
it's actual size, showing only one turbine will nine will be visible, misrepresenting the distance to the closest homes, promising tax revenue that may never transpire, declaring
noise levels well below manufacturer’s specifications,
and their total disregard for the residents of Underwood. Not to
mention that this site is considered "fair" as a
wind resource, causing irreparable damage to our scenic treasure, for
little public return.
If you'd like to help
eliminate or reduce the impact of this project on our national scenic area,
here is what you can do.
