A federal historic preservation agency recommended the Bureau of Land Management take substantial steps to avoid and offset impacts to sites — including a former World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans — that would be harmed by the bureau’s expected approval of the controversial Lava Ridge Wind Project in southern Idaho.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation sent a formal comment letter last week to BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning outlining its recommendations — a required step before the Interior Department can approve the project. The proposed wind farm has garnered national attention due to its location near a National Park Service site that acknowledges the incarceration of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II, as some of the towering wind turbines would be visible from the location.
While Stone-Manning is required to consider the federal panel’s guidance in the letter, “the BLM is not required to follow our recommendations, and they can approve the Lava Ridge Wind Project after responding to our comment letter,” Jaime Loichinger, ACHP’s director of federal agency programs, confirmed in a text message.
The ACHP concluded that the wind project would affect the Minidoka National Historic Site, as well as a nearby cave that preserves evidence of human activity as far back as 12,000 years, according to Sara Bronin, who chairs the advisory council.
