FSEC approves Resolution 360 and amended site certification for Carriger Solar after Yakama Nation concerns and added mitigations

The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council voted to approve council Resolution 360 and the amended draft site certification agreement for the Carriger Solar project at a special meeting that began at 9:01 a.m. and adjourned at 9:44 a.m.

Chair Kurt Beckett opened the meeting saying the council would consider “the revised draft site certification agreement for the Carriger Solar project as well as Resolution 360,” and staff then presented changes made after a gubernatorial remand and consultation with the Yakama Nation.

Why it matters: The vote clears FSEC’s recommendation to transmit the amended site certification agreement to the governor while documenting additional mitigation steps the council says reduce effects on traditional and cultural properties and visual resources to “moderate or below magnitude.” The action follows a governor’s remand, a tribal response, and a short public comment period.

Staff summary and key mitigation Joanne Snarski, FSEC siting specialist, described the project as a 160-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility with an adjoining 63-megawatt battery storage system sited on roughly 2,108 acres of private land, with approximately 1,326 acres to include project components. She said the governor remanded FSEC’s prior recommendation on Aug. 22 and asked the council to give the Yakama Nation additional opportunity to comment on a confidential consultation summary and on five mitigation measures identified in FSEC’s mitigated determination of nonsignificance (MDNS).

Snarski said FSEC’s revised package adds substantial setbacks from State Route 142, increased setbacks along Knight Road (about 50 to 70 feet in the locations shown in the simulations), supplemental fencing designs intended to support wildlife movement consistent with Department of Fish and Wildlife suggestions, enhanced visual screening using natural features and berms placed outside the project fence line, and two stages of site restoration plans that the Yakama Nation may review. Snarski described one additional change to the site certification agreement: a requirement that the developer provide a $100,000 grant to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation for further study of traditional and cultural properties, payable once the facility is commercially operational.

Tribal input, public comments and staff conclusion Snarski summarized the Yakama Nation’s September 25 letter, which contested FSEC’s consultation memo as not reflecting the “depth of their concerns regarding traditional cultural properties” and said the tribe preferred an adjudicative process; the tribe also urged denying panel placement in the northern portion of the site or, alternatively, withdrawing the MDNS and undertaking a full environmental impact statement and adjudication.

FSEC staff reported receiving 12 public comments during the Oct. 6–19 comment window; 6 raised environmental or procedural concerns including land use, visual aesthetics, wildfire risk, wildlife and cultural resources. According to staff, none of the comments provided new information that warranted changes to the draft resolution. Amy Hoffmeyer (FSEC staff) said the $100,000 grant had been agreed to previously by the developer, FSEC and the Yakama Nation and that the edits make that commitment more explicit in the site certification agreement.

Project viability and council questions Sean Green, FSEC CIPA specialist, said the applicant told staff that removing the northern panels per the Yakama Nation’s request would reduce the project’s generating capacity by about half and that the applicant felt the project could not survive even a one-third reduction. “They’ve suggested that it’s about a reduction by half of the project’s power generation, and their contention is that their project could not survive even a third reduction,” Green said.

Council members asked for clarification on the location and placement of vegetative screening relative to fencing lines, the language removed from the MDNS that referenced tribe-identified "no-go" cultural zones, and the Yakama Nation’s current stance. Snarski and other staff said the vegetative and earthen berm screening would be placed outside the fence line between the fence and the DNR parcel boundary, that some draft MDNS language describing open-ended mitigation was removed for being impracticable, and that the Yakama Nation had not provided further contact since its September letter but remained generally opposed to the project.

Motion and vote Councilman Pamplin moved to approve Resolution 360 and the amended site certification agreement for transmittal to the governor; Councilwoman Stacy Brewster seconded the motion. The motion carried and the council approved Resolution 360 and the amended draft site certification agreement for transmittal to the governor. Councilor Ryan was the only recorded dissenting vote.

What the resolution and next steps say The draft resolution and amended site certification agreement document the revised mitigations, require the $100,000 grant to the Yakama Nation for cultural-resource study payable upon commercial operation, and incorporate tribe participation in review of initial and final site restoration/decommissioning plans. Staff said the chair will include information about FSEC’s tribal consultation policies and procedures in the packet transmittal to Governor Jay Inslee (per the governor’s Aug. 22 direction) and that a cover letter will accompany the reconsideration packet.

Context and procedural notes FSEC earlier voted on a recommendation to the governor on June 25, 2025; the governor remanded the matter on Aug. 22. The Yakama Nation submitted its response on Sept. 25. The council discussed the item in the context of state policy to balance Washington’s need for energy facilities with minimizing environmental and cultural impacts. Several council members said they hoped to use the governor’s offer to review tribal-consultation procedures.

Closing Chair Beckett noted FSEC members and staff would be attending the Centennial Accord meetings with the governor and tribal leaders later in the week and said staff would include the presentation materials in the transmittal to the governor. The council adjourned at 9:44 a.m., having approved Resolution 360 and the amended site certification agreement for the Carriger Solar project.