Washington, D.C.–U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) released the following statement after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a Record of Decision for the final Environmental Impact Statement for the Lava Ridge Wind Project:
“This Administration continues to disregard the valid concerns of Idahoans, farmers, ranchers, sportsmen and Minidoka survivors and descendants regarding the Lava Ridge project. It is par for the course for the Biden Administration to issue a late Friday decision dump after Americans decisively rejected the course of this administration in the recent election. I look forward to engaging with the incoming Trump Administration to have this project reviewed thoughtfully and thoroughly for a just and appropriate product that reflects the overwhelming will of Idaho’s citizenry.”
Idaho’s Congressional Delegation has introduced legislation and other measures to block the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project, which would build hundreds of wind turbines on nearly 100,000 acres of public land in Southern Idaho. The proposed Lava Ridge project would visually compromise the Minidoka National Historic Site, a relocation site where more than 13,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II. The project has received repeated, formal and passionate opposition from the Idaho State Legislature, Idaho’s Constitutional Officers, impacted county and city officials and many in the Japanese American Community.