Members of the Yakama Nation protested a proposed clean energy storage project near the John Day hydroelectric dam on a sacred tribal site. Supporters say the pumped-hydro project would help meet regional energy demand and could eventually power up to half a million homes without greenhouse gas emissions. Opponents argue evidence indicates a large data center campus could be a primary beneficiary. Yakama leaders and nonprofits urged Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to intervene after state and federal agencies issued key permits after a decade-long process. A state review found significant and unavoidable adverse impacts to Yakama historic sites and culturally significant plants. The 700-acre project would be built on contaminated grounds of an abandoned aluminum smelter and on land that has long encroached on Pushpum, a sacred site containing archaeological areas and protected endemic plants and roots.
"Members of the Yakama Nation gathered to protest a clean energy storage project slated to be built on a sacred tribal site near the John Day hydroelectric dam. Supporters of the Goldendale pumped-hydro energy storage project have said it will help meet growing regional energy demand, and the project developers tout its potential to one day power up to half a million homes without sending harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."
"The 700-acre hydrostorage project is slated to be built on the contaminated grounds of an abandoned aluminum smelter formerly owned by Lockheed Martin, and, more broadly, a site that has long encroached on a sacred Yakama site called Pushpum, meaning the "Mother of all roots." It's home to Yakama archaeological sites and dozens of seeds, roots, flowers and shrubs harvested and protected by the tribe, some of which are endemic only to the area."
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