BOISE, Idaho – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Jim Risch visited Twin Falls last weekend to celebrate the end of the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project with Magic Valley leaders and community members.
KIVI: Sen. Risch rings the death knell for Lava Ridge at Magic Valley event
“’This is the weapon that killed Lava Ridge right here,’ said U.S. Senator Jim Risch, holding aloft the pen Trump used to sign the order.
John Arkoosh, a member of Stop Lava Ridge, expressed gratitude for the efforts of lawmakers to respond to overwhelming public opinion in the Magic Valley.
‘He took ahold of this and did what he said he'd do and he got results. We're very very grateful to him for that,’ Arkoosh said.”
KMVT: Sen. James Risch talks to Magic Valley about Lava Ridge
“Sen. Risch had been in talks with President Trump about Idahoans' concerns about this project.
On Jan. 20, the president signed an executive order written by Sen. Risch to end the project.
Risch said that he credits the community for the order.
‘I did the same thing with the coal-fired plant that they were going to build down here, and I’m glad to do it,’ Sen. Risch said. ‘It’s people down here who make the decisions. I’m happy to help, but it’s actually the people from Twin Falls that need to be congratulated for doing this.’”
Magic Valley Times-News: Lava Ridge wind turbine project is essentially dead, Sen. Risch tells Twin Falls crowd
“[. . .] Risch said he has assurances from newly sworn-in Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum that the project is headed out the door, he told the crowd consisting of city and government officials and members of groups that opposed the wind energy deal.
‘Over and done,’ is how Risch described the project.
The pen, meanwhile, will find a place in an Idaho museum, he said.
‘It was wrong on so many levels,’ Risch said of the wind energy project, which would put hundreds of windmills on public lands through Jerome, Lincoln and Minidoka counties and was widely protested by residents.”
Background:
Risch led efforts by the congressional delegation to block the disastrous Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project, which would have built hundreds of wind turbines on over 100,000 acres of public land in southern Idaho and negatively impacted the Minidoka National Historic Site.
Risch has worked closely with the Trump administration to terminate Lava Ridge in its entirety. The executive order, written by Senator Risch and signed by President Trump on his first day in office, fully revokes the project.
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