http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2009/02/26/krichert/parmas_mayor_state_needs_step_power_line_siting_issues
Parma's mayor: State needs to step up on power line siting issues
Submitted by Editorial Writer Kevin Richert on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 2:59pm.
Margie Watson is a special education teacher by trade and a part-time elected official, making $700 a month as Parma's mayor.
She says she learned — by accident and six days before Christmas — of Idaho Power's plans to build 190-foot-tall transmission towers and run 500,000-volt power lines just north of Parma.
And she is one local official who thinks state government should do more to track proposed sites of power lines and power plants.
Watson has spearheaded Parma's grassroots fight against Idaho Power, scolding the utility for choosing a transmission line route without consulting with city officials.
The 300-mile power line would link substations in Murphy and Boardman, Ore. In neighboring Oregon, Watson notes, the state's Department of Energy has actively looked out for the interests of farmers and other private landowners.
In a Jan. 26 letter, Adam Bless of the Oregon Department of Energy urges Idaho Power to look for alternate routes that would reduce the impact on private lands, even if this will "take more effort and take more time" and delay the application process.
Watson has a point. Transmission lines are regional projects, and it's inexcusable that Idaho doesn't have a siting agency looking out for Idaho's interests. Lawmakers have copped out, using a flimsy local-control argument. They say local elected officials should make these decisions.
Local officials such as — you guessed it — Margie Watson.
