March 3, 2023

Read recent media coverage about our fight to protect Minidoka NHS from Lava Ridge here, including work by partners in Portland and Seattle.

February 25, 2023

Draft EIS Comment Period Extended

The BLM has extended the comment period an additional 30 days. The new deadline for comments is April 20, 2023. See below for more information on how to make comments. We thank the BLM for listening to the community’s request.

February 23, 2023

Webinar Resources for Submitting Comments

Thank you again for joining us on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, for the virtual meeting/webinar on responding to the Lava Ridge draft Environmental Impact Statement.

We greatly appreciate your interest and commitment to protecting the importance of the somber, reflective, and immersive experience at Minidoka National Historic Site. The Minidoka community of survivors and descendants deserve the respect and acknowledgement of this gross historical violation of civil liberties by our nation’s government through the preservation of the site. The Minidoka story must be recognized and treated in an honorable and somber manner as other painful events in our nation’s history. The proposed Lava Ridge project minimizes the trauma, loss, and humiliation suffered by Japanese Americans based solely on their ancestry.

How to Submit Your Comments

  • Online. Visit the BLM’s project website: https://bit.ly/3EirzxD. Click on the “Participate Now” button to the right of the document link. Enter your comment and information, then click “Submit.

  • E-mail BLM_ID_LavaRidge@blm.gov

  • By hand or by mail. Label envelope “Lava Ridge Wind Project EIS” to Kasey Prestwich, Project Manager, BLM Shoshone Field Office, 400 West F Street, Shoshone, ID 83352

Comments should be postmarked by the end of the comment period, March 21, 2023 April 20, 2023. This comment period may be extended; we will notify you of any changes. Please forward your comments to Friends of Minidoka at info@minidoka.org.

Suggestions for Comments

  • I experience Minidoka National Historic Site in this way…

  • These are the visual/emotional impacts of the proposed Lava Ridge project…

  • The project diminishes my experience at Minidoka National Historic Site in this way…

  • The BLM omitted in their analysis…

  • Provide meaningful information; do not simply say you are against the project.

Webinar Resources (We will be posting these on our website shortly)

Attending a BLM Open House

Wednesday, February 22, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Mountain. Lincoln County Community Center, 201 South Beverly Street Shoshone, ID 83352

Thursday, February 23, 2023, 5:00 - 7:00 pm Mountain. Canyon Crest Event Center, 330 Canyon Crest Drive Twin Falls, ID 83301

February 24, 2023, 2:00 - 4:00 pm Mountain Location: Zoom Webinar. Pre-register here: https://bit.ly/LavaRidgePublicMtg

Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 3:00 - 7:00 pm Pacific. DoubleTree by Hilton. 1000 NE Multnomah Street Portland, OR 97232. *Complimentary garage parking

Thursday, March 2, 2023, 3:00 - 7:00 pm Pacific. Mercer Island Community and Event Center. 8236 South East 24 Street Mercer Island, WA 98040

For information about local efforts in Portland for the March 1 Open House, email the Japanese American Museum of Oregon: erin@jamo.org and visit https://jamo.org/event/blm-open-house-portland/

For information about the Seattle area efforts for the Mercer Island March 2 Open House, email the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee at minidokapilgrimage@gmail.com.

If you have any questions, please email us at info@minidoka.org

February 2, 2023

Virtual Meeting/Webinar on Submitting Substantive Comments

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in south central Idaho has been released by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The public comment period will end on March 21, 2023.

Friends of Minidoka, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, and Preservation Idaho are co-hosting a virtual meeting on Wednesday, February 15 at 5:30 pm PT/6:30 pm MT/7:30 pm CT/8:30 pm ET. Registration required; a zoom link will be emailed to registrants. Register for the virtual meeting/webinar HERE.

We will discuss responding to the DEIS and the upcoming BLM Open Houses. The presentation will include:

• Review of the EIS process

• How to make effective comments

• Areas of concern in the DEIS

• What to expect at Portland and Seattle area BLM Open Houses

Brian Chaffin, Associate Professor in the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana will be presenting and answering questions. Read Brian Chaffin's bio here.

Friends of Minidoka will identify areas of concern in the DEIS.

Deadline to submit comments in response to the BLM is March 21, 2023.

To access BLM info, click on the links below:

BLM Lava Ridge Website

Volume One of the DEIS

All BLM Lava Ridge Documents

BLM Open House Schedule (includes Portland and Seattle area)

******

January 10, 2023

Lava Ridge Update

  • Sign up today to receive BLM notices and a copy of the DEIS at: https://forms.office.com/r/NDsr6rhtbs  By signing up for this mailing list, you will also receive information about the in-person meetings to be scheduled in January and February in West Coast cities.

  • Submit your comments to the BLM. See below for tips on submitting effective comments.

  • When you submit your comments to BLM, please cc or email your comments to info@minidoka.org.

**********

Please share this Call To Action with others!

We will provide updates and additional information as they become available.

Deepest thanks to our Local, Regional, and National Partners and our Minidoka community of Survivors, Descendants, and Allies for your ongoing support in this fight!

***********

How to Submit Effective Comments

Effective comments will produce actionable items for BLM. How to Write Substantive Comments provides tips and examples. As per Kasey Prestwich of the BLM, it is important to:

  • Focus your comments on the proposed project and what is being analyzed.

  • Describe the significance of the potential impacts and how they affect you, others, places, and activities.

  • Provide any new information that is relevant to the project (e.g., potential affected resources).

  • Discuss modifications to existing alternatives or suggest other reasonable alternatives with justification.

  • Provide detailed information and references to back up your comment.

If your comment includes a statement that describes your opposition or support for the project, ensure you describe specific elements of the project or specific potential impacts that are influencing your position. Position statements must include enough information to help the BLM inform reasonable changes to the alternatives or revisions to the assessment of potential impacts. Avoid comments like “I don’t like this” or “I do like this.”

Identical comments are treated as one comment, including form letters.

December 23, 2022 Update

Important Lava Ridge Update!

The Bureau of Land Management will release the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project on January 13, 2023. The DEIS will include alternatives to the proposed project based on community feedback over the past year.

Our community will have 60 days from the release of the DEIS to send comment emails and letters to the BLM. Friends of Minidoka will share our response with you a week or two after the DEIS is released. At that time, we will provide information on how to submit effective comments.

Fill out the BLM’s form to be added to the mailing list to receive the DEIS in January. Click HERE to go to the form.

The BLM will be holding community meetings in West Coast cities after the DEIS is released. We will update you as more information becomes available.

October 31, 2022 Update

Friends of Minidoka and our community partners have completed year one of our campaign to protect the sacredness of Minidoka National Historic Site and its reflective and immersive educational experience from a massive wind project. Through our outreach efforts, we have successfully increased awareness among community members and decision makers at the federal, state, and local levels. We thank Dan Sakura of Sakura Conservation Strategies for his work through a year-long contract with Friends of Minidoka, and all of you who rallied in support of protecting Minidoka.

This success has brought increased attention to the need to protect Minidoka NHS. As a result, we are now in phase two of the campaign, working to create layers of protection through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and engaging in the Section 106 process. We are working with Algonquin Consultants, experts in these areas.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the proposed Lava Ridge Project is expected to be released by the BLM in January 2023. The DEIS will contain proposed alternatives, and at that time we will need to respond with community comment letters. We will be sure to update you when we receive this information.

Check out the BLM update here.

Current Issue: Lava Ridge Wind Project

Update - 8/11/22

Action Needed!

Help protect Minidoka National Historic Site by writing to the BLM Lava Ridge Subcommittee and your Congressional delegation.

To learn more, see our latest Lava Ridge email update.

You can also submit comments through the National Trust for Historic Preservation Action campaign.

Update - 1/27/22

The Bureau of Land Management has published the Scoping Report which summarizes the public comments about the Lava Ridge Wind Project Proposal. Click HERE to access it online.

We are grateful for your support in the fight against the Lava Ridge proposal. Your individual and organizational comments are powerful to read. We are also pleased to see comments against the project from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes as well as from the ranching, grazing, farming, and recreation communities. There are few comments and little organizational response in favor of the project.

The BLM will release a draft report in August 2022 (this date was previously June 2022) with "alternatives." At that time the public can submit comments in response to the report. We will keep you informed.

MinidokaCampaign_SubmitComments_Modern.jpg

Minidoka National Historic Site’s historic, natural, and cultural resources are currently being threatened. Magic Valley Energy has proposed the Lava Ridge Wind Project, a 400-unit wind turbine field on 73,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property adjacent to Minidoka, 25 miles northeast of Twin Falls, Idaho. If built, it will be one of the largest in the U.S. Several turbines are slated to be installed on the historic footprint of the camp, and almost all are completely visible from the WWII Japanese American incarceration site in Southern Idaho.

The proposed project includes up to 400 wind energy generating turbines, up to seven new substations, approximately 198 miles of 34.5 kilovolt (kV) collector lines, 34 miles of 230 kV transmission lines, 18 miles of 500 kV transmission lines, 381 miles of access roads, 47 miles of temporary crane walk paths, a battery energy storage system, three operations and maintenance facilities, five permanent met towers, and construction-related staging yards. Engineering is preliminary, but the turbines may have a maximum height (including the rotor) of up to 740 feet. View project map.

Read the full project plan of development, guidance on submitting public comment, the full timeline and planning process, and other BLM documents here:

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013782/540

Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an EIS is prepared for major federal actions that may have a significant effect on the environment. The purpose of an EIS is to identify potential issues related to the project, analyze the project impacts, disclose them to the public, and use the information developed to make informed decisions. The EIS is a public document, and the public is encouraged to provide input throughout the development of the EIS. The EIS is currently in the first stage, called public scoping, in which potential environmental issues, project modifications, and mitigation to be evaluated in the draft EIS are identified. 

During the scoping period, the public is encouraged to provide comments and information on factors that should be considered in the EIS. SUBMIT YOUR PUBLIC COMMENTS before the new! October 20th deadline.

Resources for Writing your Public Comment:

TIPS FOR SUBMITTING A SUBSTANTIVE COMMENT ABOUT THE PROJECT

 The BLM is asking for public comments on the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project that would be in full view of the Minidoka National Historic Site. If approved, it will forever change the landscape and the atmosphere of this site of conscience. Make your public comment count! The proposed 400 unit Lava Ridge Wind Project is the largest wind turbine farm in the United States and is endangering the Minidoka National Historic Site. How can your comment pass the “substantive” test and be considered in the scoping process? Our goal is to have as many effective comments as possible included in the Environmental Impact Statement to significantly alter the outcome.

Tell your personal story about the importance of Minidoka and incorporate the National Park Service’s fundamental resources and values:

  • Environmental Setting: “Minidoka’s remote location in the high desert of Idaho provides an immersive setting that is fundamental to the visitor experience. Views of open fields and distant mountains create a sense of isolation on a vast landscape where Minidoka once stood…Extreme changes in temperature, the arid environment, and high winds that the people at Minidoka experienced are part of the environmental setting that are felt today. Experiencing this environmental setting allows visitors to better understand and connect to the daily lives at Minidoka.”

  • Commemoration and Healing: Minidoka provides a place “… for engagement, reflection, and healing. These sites provoke connections to individuals affected by the World War II exclusion, forced removal, and unjust incarceration, and serves to commemorate those who survived this difficult chapter of American history.”

  • Public Understanding, Education, and Involvement: “Educating and engaging the public in understanding the history of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, the fragile nature of civil rights, and the need to protect civil and constitutional rights in the United States is essential...At Minidoka, special events such as the pilgrimage and the civil liberties symposium connect the public to the history that occurred here and its significance today.”

Watch this video for an information session and writing workshop with these three experts:

  • Ben Otto is an Energy Associate for the Idaho Conservation League. Ben protects Idaho’s air quality and climate stability by engaging directly with utilities and state regulators to replace fossil fuels with clean energy.

  • Holly Sandbo is the Northern Rockies' Manager of Outreach and Engagement of the National Parks Conservation Association.

  • Dan Sakura has worked with Japanese American non-profit partners and the National Park Service to create, expand, and protect World War II-era confinement sites as National Parks.

They walk through, step by step, how to write an effective public comment that cannot be denied!

Submit your Public Comment 

The deadline to have your public comment included is now October 20th!

Online: https://go.usa.gov/xFKxg and click on "Participate Now"

Email: BLM_ID_LavaRidge@blm.gov or use the button below.

Mail: Kasey Prestwich, Project Manager, BLM Shoshone Field Office, 400 West F Street, Shoshone, ID 83352 (Must be postmarked by October 20th) Tel. 208-732-7204

Stay Engaged: Ask BLM to Include you as a Consulting Party

Sign up for the project mailing list to receive project updates or submit comments by emailing: BLM_ID_LavaRidge@blm.gov

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires Federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and to provide the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) with a reasonable opportunity to comment. In addition, Federal agencies are required to consult on the Section 106 process with State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO), Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPO), Indian Tribes (to include Alaska Natives), Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO), and other interested parties to identify historic properties, determine whether and how such properties may be affected, and resolve adverse effects. 

If your organization, or you as an individual, would like to be engaged throughout the Section 106 compliance, you can ask to be included as a consulting party. You will then be consulted as an individual or as an organization and notified throughout the Lava Ridge Wind Project. If you are interested in sharing information on these resources or have questions about the Section 106 process, please contact: Kelli Barnes, BLM Idaho State Office, phone: 208-373-3844, email: kbarnes@blm.gov

For more information about the Lava Ridge Wind Project contact:

Kasey Prestwich, Project Manager BLM Shoshone Field Office, phone 208-732-7204, email: kprestwich@blm.gov

Stand with Friends of Minidoka

Lastly, this is a big project, with a big impact, and it requires a big lift that we can’t handle alone. If you are interested in joining us and our partners by volunteering on a task force, contributing your specific expertise, or supporting us financially so we can continue to engage in this process as an advocate for Minidoka, please consider reaching out or offering your support today!