Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Typical of even large-scale ranchers in the county, the Davenports were of
relatively modest means. The matriarch of the family was Ruth Davenport,
a great-grandmother who was well into her 70s in age. Ruth had seen first
hand the gradual decline of Klickitat County's local economy over her four
decades of living there. The local aluminum plant had shut down a few
years earlier. Changes in the cattle industry were placing ever more financial
strain on ranches in the region. Economic opportunities were very limited,
and local jobs were difficult to find. During her time as president of the
local school board, Ruth had watched with sadness year after year as many
of the community's brightest students were forced to leave the county to
find employment. She initially doubted that wind energy could truly help
address these chronic economic woes—conditions that even affected her
own day-to-day life. Despite her age, Ruth worked at the local general store
to help cover family expenses.
One morning, early on in Cannon's exploration of a possible wind farm
project in Klickitat County, Monkhouse and Hardke met Ruth Davenport
and others for breakfast. In the midst of this conversation, Ruth began
delineating her community's struggles. She seemed to hold little hope for
improvement, mentioning the closed aluminum plant, the floundering
ranches, and the dearth of jobs. Her expressions of frustration culminated
as she described how her granddaughter, Brandy, had to accept a job more
than 100 miles away so that she could make use of her accounting degree.
Tears welled in Ruth's eyes. Monkhouse and Hardke sat silent and still, not
sure what to say. Then, Monkhouse broke the silence.
“Ruth,” he said, “I'll make you a promise … if you work with us, we're
going to make this wind project happen. And when we do, we'll bring jobs
so that local kids can stay in the county.”
Ruth believed Monkhouse and eventually signed a wind energy lease with
Cannon. Other landowners in her family did the same.
Monkhouse wisely kept his promise to Ruth. One of the first individuals
that Cannon hired in connection with its Windy Point/Windy Flats project was
Ruth's granddaughter, Brandy. Brandy's new position with Cannon allowed
her to move back to Goldendale, where she began working in a small office
space that Cannon had leased on the edge of town. Her new job meant that
she could visit Ruth regularly and once again spend quality time with her
grandmother and other family members. Ruth could not have been happier.
The income Ruth received under her wind energy lease with Cannon greatly
improved her family's finances. Even better, there were new signs of optimism
in Goldendale—the remote community that had long been her home.
Kurt Humphrey and the courting of Eleanor Dooley
Over the course of several months, Hardke and Monkhouse grew increas-
ingly satisfied that they could successfully develop a wind farm project
in Klickitat County. However, because they were “executive types” with
Search WWH ::
Custom Search