‘Going green now for who?’ Yakama protest clean energy project on sacred site to power data center
Mounting evidence shows that a clean energy project along the Columbia River in Washington near a Yakama sacred site would in large part power a data center
by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle, May 28. 2026
GOLDENDALE, Wash. – "High up on the Washington side of the Columbia River near the John Day hydroelectric dam, members of the #YakamaNation gathered to protest a clean energy storage project slated to be built on a #SacredTribalSite.
'Supporters of the #Goldendale pumped-hydro energy storage project have said it will help meet growing regional energy demand, and the project developers tout its potential to one day power up to half a million homes without sending harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But mounting evidence shows a large #Datacenter campus could be among the main beneficiaries of that power.
"At the event earlier this month, Yakama leaders and a handful of nonprofits fighting the project in federal court, including Hood-River based #ColumbiaRiverkeeper, called on Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to intervene after state and federal agencies issued key permits to the project developers, a process 10 years in the making. This was despite a state review finding that it would have 'significant and unavoidable adverse impacts' on Yakama historic sites and culturally significant plants.
"The 700-acre hydrostorage project is slated to be built on the contaminated grounds of an abandoned aluminum smelter formerly owned by #LockheedMartin, and, more broadly, a site that has long encroached on a sacred Yakama site called #Pushpum, meaning the 'Mother of all roots.'
"It’s home to #Yakama #ArchaeologicalSites and dozens of seeds, roots, flowers and shrubs harvested and protected by the tribe, some of which are endemic only to the area.
" 'I know we’re in a time when we need renewable energy, but why on our #RootGrounds? Why on critical #MigratoryCorridors for #hawks, for #SageGrouse and the deers?' asked #ElaineHarvey, a watershed manager at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and a member of the #Yakama’s #KamíłpaBand.
" 'And I say: For who are we building? We’re going green now for data centers,' she said. 'We’re not going green for Washington and Oregon state mandates. We’re going green for data centers.' "
"The project’s owners, the Danish investment firm #CopenhagenInfrastructurePartners, have not disclosed details about who would buy the energy."
#NoDatacenters #IndigenousNews #NativeAmericanNews #WashingtonState #Oregon #SacredPlants #ProtectTheSacred #CorporateGreed #RenewablesForPeopleNotCorporations
