The BLM is poised to allow a massive wind farm to be built not far from Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho/Kurt Repanshek file

Editor's note: This updates with reaction from the Minidoka Pilgramage Planning Committee.

The Biden administration is poised to allow a massive wind turbine farm to be erected in central Idaho not far from Minidoka National Historic Site, a National Park System unit that housed more than 13,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, a decision that immediately drew criticism.

Under notice of the Bureau of Land Management's preferred decision [attached below] released Thursday, the so-called Lava Ridge Wind Project could involve nearly 250 wind turbines rising 660 feet above the Idaho desert not far from Minidoka, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. The preferred alternative in the BLM's final environmental impact statement on the project would become finalized in early July barring any change by the administration.

"This decision flies in the face of this administration’s commitment to protecting cultural landscapes," saidf Kristen Brengel, NPCA's vice president of government affairs.

Also critical of the decision was a group of Japanese Americans.

“It is unconscionable to build an incredibly visible symbol of America’s corporate greed right in front of us–as we try to commune with our ancestors, as we try to bring our last few survivors there to make peace with what befell them, and as we try to engage our youth and others in this erased American history in a deep and personal way," said Erin Shigaki, a descendant of a Minidoka internee and leader of the Minidoka Pilgramage Planning Committee, a Seattle-based volunteer-run organization of survivors and descendants of the Japanese American incarceration.

In early July the committee will lead hundreds of pilgrims to Twin Falls, Idaho, and the national historic site for its annual pilgrimage for three days of education, reflection, healing and reunion. In a release the committee said the Biden administration should adopt the BLM's "no action" alternative, which would block the wind farm.

The wind farm represents a balancing act for the Biden administration, which wants to bolster the country's ability to generate clean energy but also has spoken out about the shameful incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"In one of the most shameful periods in American history, Japanese Americans were targeted and imprisoned simply because of their heritage. Families were forced to abandon their homes, communities, and businesses to live for years in inhumane concentration camps throughout the United States," Biden said on February 19, 2021, the Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Internment. While the president early in 2023 signed legislation that provides funding to help preserve Minidoka and other sites in which tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were detained, the administration has pushed hard to generate energy from wind farms.

When it opened on August 10, 1942, the incarceration camp was located on 33,000 acres, though just 950 acres were used for administrative and residential purposes, with another 800 acres set aside for farming. The surrounding landscape was an affront to many of the Japanese-Americans who had been pulled from lush Washington and Oregon and sent to Idaho by train.

"The first thing that impressed me was the bareness of the land," said Shozo Kaneko in a 1943 interview. "There wasn't a tree in sight, not even a blade of green grass. Coming from the Northwest where there was a lot of green fields and forest, the sights staggered most of us who had never seen anything like that before."

At the height of World War II, the incarceration camp held hundreds of buildings: barracks for families, a hospital, tool shops, lavatory, gas station, pump house, laundry, men's and women's dormitories. Threaded through the site were paths to vegetable gardens, a poultry farm, and pig sty.

Today, most of the historic fabric that depicted a repugnant chapter of U.S. history has been erased by time. To the south of the barracks stands an enormous root cellar the incarcerees built to hold the onions, carrots, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, cucumbers and other produce they grew on plots to the east of the dozens of barracks to feed themselves. Sadly, it is in a slow-motion state of collapse.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation last year included Minidoka on its list of the country's top 11 most-endangered historic places.

Minidoka’s sweeping vistas and distant mountains continue to convey the isolation and remoteness that Japanese Americans experienced there. However, a wind farm has been proposed next to Minidoka National Historic Site, potentially including construction of wind turbines within the historic footprint of the Minidoka camp. If constructed as currently planned, the project could irrevocably change Minidoka’s landscape, potentially creating a visual wall of hundreds of wind towers, each taller than the Seattle Space Needle, with blades exceeding the wingspan of a Boeing 747. -- National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, we provided detailed historical research to the Biden administration to enable them to better protect the lands where American citizens of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated and exploited for labor to clear land and build infrastructure,” Robyn Achilles, executive director of Friends of Minidoka, said Thursday in reaction to the BLM plan. “Most of that research was disregarded in this decision. They are choosing to flout National Park Service policies which protect a historic landscape in favor of a highly damaging and obstructive project. The Biden administration needs to do a better job and make a real commitment to protect Minidoka and our heritage, or we will be dealing with Lava Ridge and other projects forever."

The National Park Service has voiced concerns about the wind farm, saying "[T]he Lava Ridge Project would fundamentally change the psychological and physical feelings of remoteness and isolation one experiences when visiting Minidoka NHS, as the lands north would be transformed into a large-scale renewable energy site marked by hundreds of wind turbines, transmission towers and associated ancillary infrastructure. Approaching the site and walking its grounds, visitors would no longer experience the feeling of a rural, undeveloped landscape recalling what Minidoka was like during World War II. Additionally, the night skies at Minidoka are integral to its cultural and historical fabric. The NPS is concerned that night skies will be impacted by light sources emanating from the project, thereby altering visitors’ experience and capacity to see the nightscapes experienced by those who lived at the camp during World War II."

In its statement Thursday, the BLM said it had adjusted "the siting corridor and infrastructure to avoid or minimize impacts [to Minidoka] while balancing development of the wind resource."

“Preserving the views at Minidoka are critical to the experience for survivors, descendants, and visitors," said Brengel. "Minidoka National Historic Site is a place of reflection and healing and has been managed in that way for more than 20 years. This plan runs afoul of National Park Service laws and policies. While they’ve taken care of many cultural landscapes, this decision is a massive disappointment.”