How do I submit a public comment on Protect Pushpum?

The public comment window for this decision closed on July 13, 2026. The record of what was at stake stays on this page.

When is the public comment deadline for Protect Pushpum?

The comment window closed on July 13, 2026.

Do public comments actually change federal decisions?

Yes, when they are substantive. Agencies are legally required to read and respond to substantive comments before finalizing a rule, and specific personal comments about real places and real uses carry far more weight than identical form letters. Courts have overturned rules when agencies ignored substantive comments.

Critical threat to public lands

Stop the Goldendale project from destroying Pushpum

Protect Pushpum

Office of Governor Bob Ferguson, Washington State· Goldendale, WAOfficial page ↗

From the NetworkFlagged by a PLAN reader, verified against the official page by MTJP editors.

Infrastructure Clean water Wildlife Climate Wilderness

Washington Governor Ferguson must decide whether to oppose Rye Development's Goldendale Pumped Storage project, which would permanently destroy Pushpum, a sacred Yakama Nation site and natural seed bank in Klickitat County.

What’s at risk

A reservoir would completely eliminate Pushpum, a site Yakama Nation calls the 'mother of all roots,' used for ceremonies, traditional gathering, and medicines since time immemorial. Five additional archaeological sites eligible for the National Register of Historic Places would also be destroyed by the project's underground infrastructure.

If this goes through

Pushpum and its irreplaceable plant and animal diversity would be permanently lost, Yakama Nation and three other Tribes would lose access to a ceded-lands cultural site, and a legacy of destroying Tribal resources in the name of clean energy would continue. FERC has already issued a decision to permanently destroy sacred Tribal cultural properties, making the governor's opposition critical to any remaining path to stop the project.

Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.

3 holes in the agency’s own analysis

What the public could have raised, from the agency’s own document

I oppose this action as proposed, and I ask the agency to weigh the specific harms below.
Governor Ferguson, I urge you to oppose Rye Development's Goldendale Pumped Storage project, which would permanently destroy Pushpum, a sacred Yakama Nation site in Klickitat County.
Pushpum is a natural seed bank, and allowing this pumped storage project to destroy it would cause irreversible harm to native plant resources that cannot be replaced.
Do not let infrastructure development permanently erase a site the Yakama Nation holds sacred, the Goldendale project must be stopped before that loss becomes permanent.
Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.

The reporting behind this

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