The plant’s developers envision operating it no more than 4,400 hours per year at full load by burning natural gas delivered via the nearly 1,380-mile-long Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline. That was well before Oregon adopted ambitious statewide goals for carbon emissions and greater offset payments for mitigating greenhouse gas pollution that would make the natural gas-burning electric utility considerably more expensive to operate.īut since the adoption of such goals, environmentalists have only found it harder to stop the proposed plant as it moved through the state regulatory process. The plant was first proposed six years ago by a subsidiary of one of Japan’s major industrial conglomerates, Sumitomo Corporation. He called the project “an ideal energy solution for the state of Oregon and greater Northwest region.”Īfter years of opposing the project, environmental groups now hope a combination of legal action and grassroots organizing can help them shut down Perennial’s construction. Jamieson, vice president of operations and development at Perennial Power Holdings Inc., said in an email that the company “is pleased to move forward in the next steps of the Wind Chaser Station project, on our way to providing the Northwest with reliable energy that will set the stage for sustainable energy technologies in the future.” If completed, the 415-megawatt, natural gas-fired power plant, near Hermiston in rural Umatilla County, 160 miles east of Portland, would provide additional power to the power grid to complement intermittent renewable sources, like wind and solar, at times of peak energy demand.Īccording to Columbia Riverkeeper, the plant would generate more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually, in addition to increased air pollution linked to cardiovascular and respiratory illness. 23 construction deadline by breaking the construction into “phases.” They claimed that grading the site in preparation for an access road represented “phase 1” of the plant construction in a way that was never approved by a state siting panel. The nonprofit environmental groups alleged that the state allowed developers to avoid required stormwater and air pollution permits and meet a Sept. If built, the plant would be one of the state’s largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Columbia Riverkeeper and Friends of the Columbia Gorge asked a Multnomah County court on Monday to review a “grievously” unlawful decision by the Oregon Department of Energy to allow construction of the controversial Perennial Wind Chaser Station power plant.