BOISE, Idaho - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) released the following statement today on the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) announcement to terminate consultation on the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project given widespread concerns about the project’s impact to the Minidoka National Historic Site. The ACHP’s announcement will require further review of the widely opposed wind project in southern Idaho.

“Today’s decision by the ACHP to terminate consultation on Lava Ridge is a win for Idahoans and underscores that this project is obstructive and entirely unwanted,”said Risch. “This battle is not over, and I am committed to fighting until the Biden-Harris administration understand the people of Idaho unequivocally do not want Lava Ridge.” 

Earlier this week, the Idaho delegation urged ACHP to terminate Section 106 consultation with the Bureau of Land Management on the Lava Ridge Wind Energy Project. The delegation’s letter followed the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office’s decision in August to terminate consultation. 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 Two. The Lava Ridge Project has been opposed by many in the Japanese American Community including the Minidoka Pilgrimage, the Friends of Minidoka the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community and Exclusion Memorial Association in Washington State, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, the Japanese American Citizens League, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium, and Minidoka survivors and descendants from across the country.

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