Stop Lava Ridge

What you can do, short term and long term

In the hours since I published my last post, I’ve received numerous inquiries as to what can be done. As you know, the federal Bureau of Land Management is working with private corporations to build a massive new wind turbine farm in the Magic Valley, which will produce electricity for wealthy parts of California.

The question is how can we, the people of Idaho, stop this destructive project?

First, contact your representatives and ask them to support House Concurrent Resolution 4, which urges the federal government to leave Lava Ridge alone. This resolution is toothless, but it would at least send a message that the people of Idaho are against this plan.

Next, contact the Bureau of Land Management. They will be the ones who ultimately decide if this project moves forward, so that is where your voice might make a serious difference. However, if you choose to contact BLM, make sure you are voicing specific concerns. Simply saying “this project sucks!” won’t do any good. That means you will need to at least peruse the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and address explicit issues in the document.

The above graphic is from a PDF on the BLM website explaining the process for taking part in the discussion. Note that the comment period has been extended to April 20. You can find a copy of the DEIS by clicking here. The document is split into multiple PDFs so it’s not feasible to simply link it directly, but that site has them available as well as many other supporting documents that might be of interest.

The project manager for Lava Ridge is Kasey Prestwich, and I have copied his information below:

Kasey Prestwich, Project Manager
BLM Shoshone Field Office
400 West F Street, Shoshone, ID 83352
Phone: 208-732-7204 Email: kprestwich@blm.gov Website: https://bit.ly/3EirzxD

If you contact him directly remember to be respectful and informative, and make sure to address specific issues regarding this project.

For more information and resource I suggest you join the Stop Lava Ridge Facebook group. There are over four thousand motivated Idahoans in that group, and news regarding the project will probably end up there first. The Friends of Minidoka website is also a good resource for information.

Finally, when you contact BLM you can also forward your concerns to our federal delegation. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch represent all of Idaho, while Congressman Mike Simpson represents the Magic Valley. They need your input too! Here is how to contact their offices:

Rep. Mike Simpson - Linda Culver, 208-734-7219, Linda.Culver@mail.house.gov

Sen. Mike Crapo - Samantha Marshall, 208-734-2515, Samantha_Marshall@crapo.senate.gov

Sen. Jim Risch - Mike Mathews, 208-734-6780, Mike_Mathews@Risch.senate.gov

Hopefully this will be enough to stop this project, however in the long term we as a state need to reassert our sovereignty over our own lands. If we don’t, then powerful interests in the federal government and big corporations will continue to see Idaho as exploitable resources for their schemes. They might not succeed at Lava Ridge, but they will keep coming back. Ammon Bundy was right about one thing: what we do about so-called federal lands will define the course of Idaho’s history for the next century.