Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) set a precedent in September when she overturned the Kittitas Board of Commissioners’ decision to prevent the development of a new wind-power project near Ellensburg, Wash. It was the first time a governor overturned a local decision about a power plant.

Due to local opposition from landowners, the county commissioners voted against allowing the Kittitas Valley Wind Power project to proceed. Designed by Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy, the wind farm is expected to include 65 wind turbines that would produce enough electricity to power 40,000 homes.

Gregoire gained national attention in May 2007 when she signed into law senate bill 6001, which sets severe limits on the carbon emissions from power plants built or used to meet the electricity needs of Washington residents. North Palm Springs, Calif.-based enXco Inc. is pursuing permission from the state to move forward with its Desert Claim project on land near the Kittitas Valley Wind Power project.

“As we look to build more and more wind projects to meet renewable portfolio standard requirements, locations such as Desert Claim are going to turn out to be extraordinarily rare and very important,” says Darin Huseby, Northwest regional director for enXco. “We need to be sure to utilize those resources because there are so few of them.”