🌬️ Lava Ridge Wind Project

The Lava Ridge Wind Project was a proposed wind energy plant to be built in the Magic Valley region of Idaho. It would have built a maximum of 400 wind turbines generating a nameplate capacity of over 1000 MW, making it one of the most powerful wind farms in the United States. The project faced opposition, in part due to turbines and infrastructure potentially being visible from the site of the former Minidoka internment camp. On June 6, 2024, the Bureau of Land Management issued their final environmental impact statement, outlining their preferred alternative, which would reduce the project's footprint by approximately 50% compared to the original proposal. On December 9, it approved a final project with up to 241 turbines, the closest of which to Minidoka National Historic Site would be 9 miles (14 km) away. The project's approval was canceled in 2025 after the transition from the Biden administration to the second Trump administration.