I'm sure they'd love a copper smelter, some coal mines, and a uranium strip mine though.

“Rural character” is fast becoming a contradiction in terms.

Yes, and by comparison, the wind farms are so darned attractive and not at all deleterious to wildlife (avian species and bats and Insectivora, even mammalia) or to the rural character of the hills.

Everyone wants cheap power on demand.

Nobody wants to live anywhere near a power generation source.

The fuck is wrong with these ppl

NIMBYs are everywhere.

(Edit: "Democratic" governor. "Democrat" as an adjective is what Republicans say.)

Ellensburg is not the sum of Kittitas County. It has its own utility (the rest of the county is served by PSE) and has its own community solar farm. The staff of The Stranger really should try not to be so provincial.

And rabbitbrush dear, you really should try not to be so cliche-ridden when it comes to wind farms. Your supposed tender concern belies that fact that many more animals are killed by the effects of fossil fuel than by renewable energy sources.

Two years after the solar farms are up and running, and the locals suddenly notice they haven't had a rate increase in some time, nor that the "rural character" of their Podunk little cow town that nobody would know even existed were it not for the fact that a state university resides smack-dab in the middle of it, will wonder what exactly it was they were complaining about in the first place - or better yet, will vehemently deny they ever complained at all.

And yet those idiots have no problem with WalMart parking lots ruining the rural character of the area.

I'm sympathetic to the visual and wildlife impacts opponents bring up, but exactly what are they referring to regarding noise? A solar farm is noisier than tractors, combines or hunting?

Fossil fuels kill orders of magnitude more wildlife than all renewables combined.

US News and world reports chart:
https://thinkprogress-org.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/0FlgPzNwGlNYMtFSy.jpg?w=601&h=279&crop=1