Jim Johnson, Oregon Dept of Ag

Lou Wettstein of the Malheur County Court, Ken Teramura, Jim Johnson of the Oregon Dept. of Ag, County Zoning and Planning's Bill Lawrence, and Bruce Corn at a midday lunch meeting in Nyssa

Jim Johnson was one of the writers of Oregon land use law ORS 212.275. If you aren't familiar with this law, it became Oregon statute about nine years ago. ORS 212.283 allows utilities to be sited on exclusive farm use land, but ORS 215.275 spells out the need for alternative utility corridors analysis, a legal definition which Idaho Power is finally realizing they have not been in compliance with.

Members of Stop Idaho Power took Johnson on a tour along the original proposed Idaho Power transmission line route Tuesday, March 10th, talking to property owners along the way. At a Twilight Cafe lunch meeting, Johnson reminded us that if Idaho Power is worried about feasibility problems in siting an alternate route, "there are no feasibility problems staying in Idaho."

Johnson also attended a dinner with members of SIP's Board of Directors. He gave us some valuable advice and said he would be giving his input to Oregon agencies, including ODOE and EFSC, that have jurisdiction over issuing a site certificate to Idaho Power.

Jean Findley, Reid Saito of Idaho-Oregon Onion Growers, and Les Ito

Reid Saito, president of the Onion Growers, told about how "vectors" of iris yellow spot virus caused by thrips would be untreatable under transmission towers, according to Stan Bybee, who does aerial spraying six to eight times a year. "You can lose a field in a matter of days," Saito said.

24,000 acres of onions are currently being grown in western Idaho and eastern Oregon ,providing 26% to 40% of all onions consumed in the U.S. It is a "mature industry--there is no more farm ground to expand to."

"It disrupts at the least and destroys at the worst," added Bruce Corn, an Ontario and Nyssa onion grower.

Jay Chamberlin, Owyhee Irrigation District

Jay Chamberlin of the Owyhee Irrigation District brought up the real concern that water rights might be taken away from landowners whose property would be Idaho Power right-of-ways. "We've spent $250,000 in automation equipment and canal improvements. Our growers have become water micro managers. The outcome could be catastrophic" if transmission lines would disrupt the carefully orchestrated interplay of water and prime farmland.

Chamberlin is also worried about the 75-year-old, 4 1/2-mile-long Owyhee Siphon, which would suffer from accelerated degeneration from electrolysis if the transmission line were situated anywhere nearby. "Equipment gets bigger," he said, referring to clearances around the towers and below sagging lines, and the loss of farmable land. "Costs to growers keep increasing. We ARE Ag. There is nothing else here."

Bill Lawrence of Malheur County Planning and Zoning brought land classification maps, since county land use requires utility siting to take place across the lowest classified land (Zone 8) before it crosses higher zoned land. Most of the land under original routes is Class 1, 2 and 3 exclusive use farm ground, and he noted that most Class 4 farm ground has been improved and becomes prime farm ground under irrigation.

Jean Findley showing the latest alternative route maps and describing how sage grouse leks need to be verified and mitigated.

Jean Findley, a range botanist who helped write Oregon BLM's Resource Management Plan and studied Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, reported how TetraTech, the hired company that sited IPCo's original and alternative routes, rejected SIP's alternate route Option #1, saying it was 100 miles longer than the preferred route. "We measured the route," Jean said. "It is only 40 miles longer," a length that Jim Johnson, a writer of Oregon's statute, said was "not unreasonable" extra cost, reminding us that cost "is not an individual determinant" in siting utilities in the state of Oregon.

Jean also said that problems concerning sage grouse have to do with predators perching on electrical towers, noting that placing spikes on towers could do much to mitigate this problem.