Overcoming obstacles in wind energy development - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 185

This strategy of distributing donations among a numerous and diverse
spectrum of interests helped Cannon to forge goodwill among a wider range
of the local populace.
Partnering with Maryhill Museum of Art
The most notable set of donations that Cannon made while developing
its wind farm in Klickitat County went to the Maryhill Museum of Art
(Maryhill)—an eccentric art museum nestled on a hill just above the
Columbia River Gorge. Maryhill's 5,300 acres of land were situated
immediately adjacent to Eleanor Dooley's property. Much of this acreage
was rich with prime wind energy resources.
Initially, there were reasons to fear that Maryhill could be among one
of the greatest opponents to Cannon's plans for a wind farm in the area.
Because of the museum's location, some of the turbines Cannon planned
to install would almost certainly be visible from the museum grounds.
Maryhill's pristine rural setting was part of what made it unique. Few
museums in its position would want such a backdrop to be cluttered with
towering wind turbines. And yet, Cannon knew that Maryhill would need
to be in its camp if its wind farm project was going to proceed.
Fortunately for Cannon, Maryhill was not a conventional art museum.
Its eclectic collection comprised of classical European paintings alongside
chess sets, and religious and native art was itself an anomaly in rural
Washington. Maryhill's expansive grounds also featured a replica of the
Stonehenge monument and a peculiar stretch of steep, winding roads that
annually served as the venue for an international skateboarding compe-
tition. In part because of its unusual location and characteristics, Maryhill
also needed cash. Due to rising gasoline prices and other factors, the
number of paying visitors to the museum had been declining for nearly a
decade.
Maryhill's avant-garde identity and need for additional revenue made
it a natural partner for Cannon, who vigorously worked to establish a
positive rapport with museum officials. These efforts paid off: Maryhill
ultimately concluded that wind energy development was fully consistent
with its mission and vision for the future. The museum became another
one of the major landowners involved in Windy Point/Windy Flats,
allowing Cannon to erect more than a dozen conspicuous wind turbines
on the museum's land. Today, Maryhill receives roughly $200,000 per
year in lease payments under its wind energy lease with Cannon. This
source of steady revenue and more than $500,000 in charitable contri-
butions from Cannon gave Maryhill the confidence to undertake a
$10 million addition to its facilities—a dramatic expansion made possible
only because the museum now supplements its income by harvesting its
wind.