Larry Meyer of the Argus Observer's latest online post, "Power line proposal still in preliminary stage," has a section for comments.
Read the article and make comments at the bottom. We want to reach everyone in Malheur County, if possible.
http://www.argusobserver.com/articles/2009/02/15/news/doc4997c4f523822501748290.txt#blogcomments
(if this article has been moved, you can look for the link on the Argus front page in the lower left hand corner for blogs.)
Some quotes from the article:
“Once the project was chosen by the company, we started by getting our staff talking with officials,” Doug Dockter, project leader for K-V lines, said, explaining Idaho Power’s process.
Idaho Power staff began by listing constraints to the project, such as sage grouse, the Oregon Trail and other historical sites and areas of environmental concern. Idaho Power staff also contacted county planning and zoning offices to see where building was taking place, where subdivisions were going in and whether the proposed line would be too close to existing electrical facilities, creating a potential liability issue.
The company also looked at opportunities to locate the lines on existing utility corridors or transportation corridors, Dockter said.
Once the data was collected and entered, a “routing tool” on a computer program was used to draw the lines between the proposed substation points and provided the proposed route and alternatives, Dockter said.
Idaho Power followed up with a ground survey to determine if the line could be built on the drawn route. So, Dockter said, the process to choose the route is still a work in progress and adjustments can be made as more information is obtained.
It appears in all this process, that human beings owning property and trying to earn a living are not the constraints that sage grouse have been. IPCo's "alternatives" appear limited to moving the line a half mile here or there, over a neighbor's property, as Malheur County residents and Parma's mayor have found to their chagrin.
