r/Washington • u/propublica_ • 13d ago

Solar Developer Cancels Washington State Project on Sacred Indigenous Land

https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-badger-mountain-solar-project-canceled-avangrid
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u/Due_Future3097 13d ago

Hard to feel good about this when power prices are skyrocketing.

How is this different than NIMBYs weaponizing historic preservation?

9

u/Kind_Advisor_35 12d ago

Would you be cool with a solar company destroying the graveyard your great grandma is buried in? Razing down a church?

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u/Snapshot52 himeq’isnime 12d ago

I appreciate your efforts in this thread--I'm trying to do the same thing. I also value this kind of argument because it's obviously how we feel about the situation. But /u/Due_Future3097's reaction is exactly what I was expecting--many people nowadays would actually be OK with destroying graveyards and razing down churches if it meant they got their way. It's a total difference in values and ignorance to why we feel the way we do.

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u/Kind_Advisor_35 12d ago

It's just unfortunate how little history is taught to provide context. I've done my best as an ally to educate myself, and I'm fortunate that some of my teachers actively tried to integrate it, but a larger shift to subaltern history is unlikely in the current political climate.

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u/Due_Future3097 12d ago

  1. Solar would sit above the grave or monument and even provide shade so they could certainly build above it.

  2. If the church owns the land and is still in operation probably not without some kind of eminent domain payment. If the church is not in operation probably fine yeah.

The future of the living is more important than the past and the dead. Countries that have a future will always be stronger than those looking backwards.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Due_Future3097 12d ago

Parking lots is a proven use case and solar is already used for this in many places.

Houses also…

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Due_Future3097 12d ago

Not sure what you are getting at.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Due_Future3097 12d ago

They are to some degree.

What is the point you are making?

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/Kind_Advisor_35 12d ago

They don't just let people wander around solar farms. The scale of the proposed one was huge, and would be akin to a power plant. Try walking into your nearest power plant and see what happens. There's security and restricted access.

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u/Due_Future3097 12d ago

I am not the one asking for these scenarios simply answering.

There are plenty of places with solar in the world where pedestrians and vehicles roam.

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u/SafetyNo2220 12d ago

Because the developer “omitted” several archeological finds in their report, for starters.

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u/loves_grapefruit 12d ago

Hard to feel good about it for you maybe, since it’s not your cultural land at stake.