For those who wanted to see the entire Wall Map showing Idaho Power's new routes and sage grouse leks (instead of the zoomed in version in an earlier blog post) you can download (click for larger map) the 8.5"x12.5" jpg above or the pdf under Maps links.As reported earlier on this blog, Idaho Power has had a change of heart about its route over private land in Owyhee County. This appears to have something to do with IPCo's tapping into the 5oo kV PP&L line in order to import 225 mw of energy into the new substation being built there.
http://owyheeavalanche.com/ava_news.php?FPid=244
Contentious Line Moves South
http://owyheeavalanche.com/ava_news.php?FPid=244
Contentious Line Moves South
After roughly four months of input, the launch of several grassroots landowners organization and re-evaluation by planners at Idaho Power, a portion of the proposed route of the Boardman-to-Hemingway (B2H) 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line has been relocated. Its planned date of initial operation has been backed up slightly, as well, to 2014. Initial project schedules had given a start date of June 2013.
The section, formerly plotted north of the existing PacifiCorp 500kV lines west and south of Homedale, has been rerouted south of the line, away from private property and onto the West Wide Energy Corridor (WWEC). The line as now proposed stays on public land to a far greater extent — in that section — than it did before. It has also been moved west of the heavily cultivated strip south of Adrian, and has relocated on Bureau of Land Management ground, only returning to cultivated land north of the city as it turns toward the proposed Sand Hollow substation. Shown in red on the map, the new route adheres more closely to the purple West-Wide Energy Corridor (WWEC) approved in January and designed for transmission projects, whether pipeline or powerline. The former route, shown in blue, impacted much more private land.
The map does not show any major changes in routing in neighboring Malheur County, however, with the line following its original track through Adrian. The move was announced just days prior to the Planning and Zoning-requested public meeting held Feb. 24 at the Marsing American Legion Community Center. Approximately 60 interested landowners, activists and legislators attended the meeting. Land-use expert Fred Kelly Grant served as moderator.
At the meeting’s outset, Grant said that Nevada-based BLM director Lucas Lucero had confirmed that the newly plotted route is under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) examination. Lucero heads the Environmental Impact Statement studies for B2H.
The meeting was well-attended by a spectrum of those concerned, including numerous landowners, District 23 state Sen. Bert Brackett (R-Rogerson) and Rep. Stephen Hartgen (R-Twin Falls), all three Owyhee County Commissioners, county planning and zoning commissioners, Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association president Bodie Clapier, South Board of Control manager Ron Kiester and director Dave Shenk, Stop Idaho Power president Roger Findley, Boise BLM district manager Aden Seidlitz and Owyhee BLM field office manager Buddy Green.
The section, formerly plotted north of the existing PacifiCorp 500kV lines west and south of Homedale, has been rerouted south of the line, away from private property and onto the West Wide Energy Corridor (WWEC). The line as now proposed stays on public land to a far greater extent — in that section — than it did before. It has also been moved west of the heavily cultivated strip south of Adrian, and has relocated on Bureau of Land Management ground, only returning to cultivated land north of the city as it turns toward the proposed Sand Hollow substation. Shown in red on the map, the new route adheres more closely to the purple West-Wide Energy Corridor (WWEC) approved in January and designed for transmission projects, whether pipeline or powerline. The former route, shown in blue, impacted much more private land.
The map does not show any major changes in routing in neighboring Malheur County, however, with the line following its original track through Adrian. The move was announced just days prior to the Planning and Zoning-requested public meeting held Feb. 24 at the Marsing American Legion Community Center. Approximately 60 interested landowners, activists and legislators attended the meeting. Land-use expert Fred Kelly Grant served as moderator.
At the meeting’s outset, Grant said that Nevada-based BLM director Lucas Lucero had confirmed that the newly plotted route is under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) examination. Lucero heads the Environmental Impact Statement studies for B2H.
The meeting was well-attended by a spectrum of those concerned, including numerous landowners, District 23 state Sen. Bert Brackett (R-Rogerson) and Rep. Stephen Hartgen (R-Twin Falls), all three Owyhee County Commissioners, county planning and zoning commissioners, Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association president Bodie Clapier, South Board of Control manager Ron Kiester and director Dave Shenk, Stop Idaho Power president Roger Findley, Boise BLM district manager Aden Seidlitz and Owyhee BLM field office manager Buddy Green.
