Size Matters

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Update 1/17/2023

Gene says “Here are a couple thoughts I had which emphasize a few of the affects of the proposed wind turbines.  The magnitude of space to be impacted by wind turbines compared to the space occupied by our metro area.  Yikes!  It’s bigger than our entire geographic space. Secondly let’s look at the size of the 670 foot turbines compared to the 604 foot Space Needle.  Then, see the size of a person compared to the massive turbine. ”  

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500 Foot Giant Wind Turbines

These new wind turbines are 500 feet tall, much taller than the existing ones at Jump-Off Joe Butte by Finley (350 ft or less). They are more than 3 times the height of the 10-story Kadlec hospital (140 ft), the tallest building in the Tri-Cities. They are also much taller than the Statue of Liberty (305 ft from ground to tip of torch) which some people say is visible from 60 miles away; they are as tall as the observation deck of the space needle! These 212 wind turbines will be a giant forest of towers visible from far away with whirling blades and blinking lights.

Update: they keep getting taller! In their EFSEC application with the State, Scout mentions an Option 2 plan with wind turbines of 657 to 671 feet tall. This is considerably taller than the Seattle Space Needle where the tip of the antennas are at 605 feet.


10-Story Kadlec Building is only one-third the Size at 140 feet.
Statue of Liberty is 305 feet from ground to torch, still much smaller than the wind turbines
The Space Needle has the Observation Deck at 520 feet, almost the same Height as the Wind Turbines planned for the Horse Heaven Hills.

Sorry, this slide is outdated; the turbine blades are now way above the Space Needle with 650 feet!

This wind turbine at Jump-Off Joe Butte is only about half the height as the 500 foot towers planned for the Horse Heaven Hills but can be seen from many miles away in the Columbia Basin.
A section of a wind turbine prop is staged in Burns, OR. Cars look like toys next to these giants, and there are three sections to make the prop.

Turns out the “educated guess” for the turbine height as seen from Badger Mountain was a good estimate; the simulated picture below comes from the Scout application with the State agency EFSEC. It shows the rows of turbines, here 6 deep, as seen from Badger Mountain. The height for Option 2 has now grown to 650 feet. Try to find Mt Rainier or Mt. Adams in this forest of turning blades and blinking lights!

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