Story by Rodger Nichols for the Gorge News Center
Klickitat County Commissioners met yesterday, and though the county is suffering revenue shortfalls from the Roosevelt landfill, revenue help may be on the way. County Planning Director Scott Edelman shared this information with the commissioners:
“We see a lot of solar coming in over the next year and a half. Six or seven potential projects. Depends a lot on funding, I’m sure, from the state and federal level. Things could change quickly, I know. We have other big projects that are talking to us. A lot of pre-applications. I hope they all don’t come in at once, because there’s a lot out there.”
Later, Economic Development Director Richard Foster added this concerning the proposed Goldendale Pumped Storage Project:
“It looks like the Goldendale pumped storage project is going to be going through. So what would that look like from a tax perspective? It went from a $2.2 billion and Rye has specifically stated it went from $2.2 billion to $3.3 billion. Based off a 1971 law for cultural resource surveys and, you know, archeology studies, they have to set aside 1 percent for that purpose, which would place about $39 million.”
A possible sidelight of that development would involve the seldom-used Klickitat County Water Conservancy Board. Adrian Bradford, a member of the board, told commissioners the board had had quite a dry spell.
“If you ask, I would say 99 percent of the people. in Klickitat County what is the Water Conservancy Board, they couldn’t tell you. And the number one reasoning for that is there has been no water rights issues in the state of Washington for over 4 years.”
That could involve both the pumped storage project and a recently proposed large housing development in Dallesport.