Power rate hike plan draws fire from residents

by Larry Meyer Argus Observer Sept. 29, 2009 http://argusobserver.com/articles/2009/09/30/news/doc4ac395b9b8221958325458.txt

ONTARIO — Approving a rate hike by the region’s biggest power company would be a mistake while the county continues to struggle economically.

That was the prevailing sentiment Tuesday night during a hearing of the Oregon Public Utility Commission held at the Ontario Library.

The event attracted a crowd of a half-dozen people who were unanimous in their views regarding the proposed rate boost. (Note: There were more than six people there. A half dozen people had prepared written comments; the meeting was standing room only.)

Challenging Idaho Power’s assertion in its literature that Oregon is growing as well as Idaho, Gary Pearson, a rural Malheur County resident, said customers in Malheur County represent less than 5 percent of Idaho Power’s customer base. The customer growth has been in southern Idaho, he said.

“The population in Malheur County has remained stagnant.” Pearson said. “Future growth potential is very conservative.”

For residential customers, Idaho Power’s proposed overall average rate increase is 37.34 percent, and the overall increase proposed for agriculture irrigation service is 44.69 percent.

This is the first general or base rate increase in about five years, and is the portion of rates that include administrative costs, operating and maintenance expenses and capital investments. However, PUC staff acknowledged that there were rate increases allowed within that five years for the company’s actual costs in providing electricity.

“Idaho Power needs to cut costs of providing service,” Roger Findley, a rural county resident, said. “In the last 20 years the Oregon customer base has not grown. “

l . . Donald Oakes, Ironside, said the proposed increases in the irrigation charges would put some ranchers out of business. His power costs were already $15,000 to $20,000 per year, he said.

At the start of the hearing, Lisa Hardie, administrative law judge, emphasized Idaho Power had just made, a formal request for the increase and no decision has been made and there was a long way to go in the process.

“We’re getting a lot of comments from the (PUC) Web site,” Hardie said.

Her main job is to receive public comment and make sure it all reaches the commission members.

Carla Owings, a member of the PUC staff, said the role of staff is to investigate the request and documentation.

“We do a rigorous review,” Owings said. That review includes looking at all the documents and asking a lot of questions of the company, she said.

“We look at the Idaho Power system,” she said. That includes how the company allocates costs, she said. Hardie said the deadline for a decision on the rate request was in May. Idaho Power representatives were present to answer questions but did not testify. The number of Idaho Power Oregon customers is 19,303.

Pressure grows for PGE to shutter Boardman coal plant

by Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/09/pressure_grows_for_pge_to_shut.html

After more than a year of analysis and public feedback, Oregon's largest utility unveiled a draft plan earlier this month. . . .

But what attendees came to discuss was Boardman.

PGE's controversial proposal includes two new gas-fired power plants and the installation of more than a half billion dollars worth of pollution control equipment to keep the company's workhorse coal plant in northeast Oregon compliant with federal haze reduction rules while cranking out cheap electricity for the next three decades.

While required to keep the plant running, the pollution controls do nothing to reduce the plant's output of carbon dioxide, the main man-made culprit in global warming. Boardman, the state's only coal plant, is the largest stationary source of pollution and CO2 in Oregon.

Ratepayer and environmental advocates think the utility is squandering a golden opportunity to shut down the plant, while underestimating the risks of future carbon taxes on the plant's viability. PGE's analysis, they insist, shows that the utility could replace Boardman's output without a meaningful difference in reliability or cost.

Bottom line, the advocates believe it's too risky to invest $560 million in pollution controls and still face a possible early closure of the plant. . .

On Wednesday, a coalition of ratepayer advocates and environmental groups sent PGE a letter urging the utility to evaluate shutting Boardman in 2020 rather than installing the pollution controls. A 2020 shutdown was the least-cost option that PGE presented to the Department of Environmental Quality last year when the agency was evaluating what controls PGE should be required to install. . .

IPC Rate Increase Comments Tues 6-8 p.m. Ontario Library

Possible topics of comment for Judge Lisa Hardie:

1) How have electrical rates affected you in the last few years? Irrigation "surcharges" for our farm increased our electrical costs 25% for 2008, over the previous six years.

2) Remember Malheur County's poverty rate is 17%, the highest in Oregon. We are considered a marginal income area.

3) Malheur County's customer base is a great deal smaller than Idaho's and has not grown in 20 years. This is an agriculture-based economy, and it will not be changing soon, due to Oregon's strict land use laws.

4) As documented in this blog, electricity use has fallen across the country because of the recession. A 44% increase over last year's surcharges on our business, and 22% increase in our household electrical bill, will be a blow to our ability to hire and purchase locally. These rates do not go down, as other market-driven fuel and food costs do.

If you can't make it to the open house to turn in your oral or written comments, please leave comments online at http://apps.puc.state.or.us/commentIdahoPower/message.htm

Make sure you thank the Oregon PUC for responding to our request to hold the hearing in Ontario!!

South Project Advisory Team Mapping Meetings

Wednesday, Sept. 30th Evening Meeting

4:00 p.m. Welcome

4:15 p.m. Team Business

4:45 p.m. Presentation of public meeting outcomes

5:00 p.m. Review criteria and how routes will be analyzed

5:30 p.m. Explanation of mapping workshop

6:00 p.m. Dinner

6:30 p.m. Demonstration and mapping session questions and answers (optional)

Thursday, Oct. 1st Mapping Workshop

The all-day mapping workshop will be divided into three sessions to make the best use of attendees' time. PAT members will be asked to sign up for a time in advance:

• Session 1 - 7 to 10 a.m.
• Session 2 - 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Session 3 - 5 to 8 p.m.

Please arrive on time. Contact Amanda Edge at 208-377-9688 or Amanda@rcbi.net if you plan to attend, or to schedule an alternate time.

Idaho Power and Jean Findley will be available all day.

Two identical mapping stations will be at the workshop. Each station will include:

• A map of the specific project area
• Large reference maps showing cultural and visual resources, land use, physical and natural resources, fish and wildlife resources, exclusion areas, and topography
• Geographic Information System (GIS) stations with a computerized database of opportunities and constraints
• Community criteria
• Mapping reminders and instructions

Team members may choose to lay out routes on the paper maps or work with GIS operators to lay out routes at the computer stations. Idaho Power staff will be availablel to answer questions. County planners have been invited to attend.

Idaho Power will keep a detailed record of all routes. Team members will be asked to provide a written description and comments for the routes they identify. Your comments may simply be that you choose a route already mapped.

After the mapping session, Idaho Power will analyze each route using the regulatory, engineering and community criteria. The analysis will be presented at the next set of PAT meetings. The teams then will begin revising and eliminating routes. Additional mapping sessions may be needed.

Download a petition to support the four SIP mapping routes HERE

Download the six general constraint maps: http://boardmantohemingway.com/documents/SPAT3_GeneralConstraintsMap.pdf

More information on the mapping meetings:

http://boardmantohemingway.com/idaho_power_CAP_PAT_south.aspx

Critical meeting

by Larry Meyer 9/22/2009 ttp://argusobserver.com/articles/2009/09/22/news/doc4ab90a25e7a8b385691502.txt

Ontario — Local resident Roger Findley summed up one clear reality for members of two regional grass-roots leagues opposed to the route of a proposed Idaho Power line Monday night.

There are things that can be done and things that can’t, the chair of Stop Idaho Power explained to the crowd at an informational meeting held at the Grange Hall.

Findley’s words were all the more poignant when framed against the background of a critical public mapping meeting slated Oct. 1 at Four Rivers Cultural Center. At the Oct. 1 session, area residents can draw lines on a map regarding where they think IP’s proposed 500-kilovolt line should go.

An earlier mapping session was held last week in Baker City.

Findley and a group of area residents spearheaded an opposition movement to Idaho Power’s plan to build a 500-kilovolt power line from Boardman to a substation near Melba because early blueprints placed the structure right through prime agriculture land in Malheur County.

Findley’s group, though, was not the only one with an issue regarding the power line. Other grass-roots movements cropped up in Baker County and in Idaho.

This year, Idaho Power reached out to the opposition groups and created community advisory teams. These teams were designed to bridge the gap between landowners and concerned residents and the power firm.
“Make your lines as buildable as possible,” Garth Johnson, vice chair of Move Idaho Power From Baker County, told the crowd Monday night.

When outlining their proposed routes people should try get by or around as many problems as possible, Johnson said.

Sept. 30, Idaho Power representatives will meet with members of the area community advisory team to go over the public mapping process and then Oct. 1, the mapping begins at 7 a.m. and goes to 8 p.m. in three different sessions, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. When they map, people will need to give their address, mark the route with a number they will be assigned and give the reason for choice.

“We just proposed two routes,” Johnson said of his group.

People can piggy-back on lines already drawn, John Faw, Vale, said.

“People can find the maps on Idaho Power’s Web site,” he said.

Idaho Power representatives said several people choosing a particular route will give credence to a line, Faw said.

“Stop Idaho Power is recommending four routes, two in Oregon, two in Idaho,” Findley said. “We believe one of two routes in Oregon will be eliminated.” Information will be available on where those routes are if people want to support them, he said.

Before the mapping session, the Oregon Public Utility Commission will be in Ontario Sept. 29 to hold an open house to hear from customers of Idaho Power on its proposed rate increase.

The company is seeking a 22. 6 percent general rate increase, including an approximate 37 percent boost for residential service and an approximate increase of 44 percent for irrigation users. The open house is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Ontario Community Library. It will be an informal session in which the public will be able to ask questions and give testimony for the record. Written testimony will be accepted.

North Team Mapping

Garth Johnson, VP of Baker County's Move Idaho Power, attended the SIP meeting last night. Below are the yellow powerline routes resulting from their mapping exercise with Idaho Power. Click maps for larger images. The maps are numbered 1-6, except for Map 2 which had no line on it. Two main routes are C-6 and C-9, west of Burns and south of Unity. John Faw of SIP was also at this meeting. He drew a route east from Boardman and down Lewiston through Idaho.

Legend

Map 1

Map 3

Map 4

Map 5

Map 6

Power lines planned from the plains to the Pacific, but not without resistance

Two projects, considered vital to the region's future power needs, can't seem to find the path of least resistance by Rocky Barker 9/12/2009

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/898132.html

Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power, who want to snake a $7 billion network of 190-foot transmission towers across the West, face a tangled matrix of state and local barriers as challenging as the hardships faced by the pioneers who traveled much the same route on the Oregon Trail a century and a half ago.

The 1,500-mile route between Boardman, Ore., and Windstar station in Wyoming would connect power plants to energy users for decades to come.

"These are projects everybody needs and nobody wants," said Lisa Grow, Idaho Power's vice president for transmission.

The opposition - which rose to a fever pitch in places like Parma and Kuna and sparked a regional response along Idaho's southern border - has been a wake-up call for Idaho Power, which has not built a major transmission line in more than 20 years.

"It was impressive," Grow said. "We don't want to steamroll these people and leave a legacy of bad feelings."

The companies have the power to condemn private property to build the line, but to do that, they have to get approval from each of the counties in Idaho and from the states of Wyoming and Oregon.

If they can't get the local OKs, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can step in and force the issue - but along a route of its choosing. That's an alternative that all sides hope to avoid.

Looming behind the scenes is one of the country's most powerful laws. Where the transmission lines are built could determine whether to list the greater sage grouse as an endangered species - which would have wide economic impacts across the region. . .

FINDING THE ROUTE IS PROVING TOUGH

When Roger and Jean Findley learned that Idaho Power was considering routing the lines across their farmland, they wanted to know more.

"They hardly gave us the time of day," said Roger Findley, an Ontario farmer and instructor at Treasure Valley Community College.

The angry couple and their neighbors organized the group Stop Idaho Power to force the Boise utility to reconsider its plans for the 500,000-volt line between Murphy and Boardman, Ore. Hundreds of people turned out for public meetings, and the group got the ear of Oregon political leaders.

Homeowners and civic leaders in Parma and Kuna joined the chorus.

Idaho Power listened, scrapped the proposed route and is working with Findley's group and other communities to draft a new route and alternatives. It met with the public last month in Marsing, Parma and Ontario.

"It makes you feel good when you see that the system works," Findley said.

But if Idaho Power moves the lines away from Findley's farm, the company simply will run into different opponents.

And the changes make a difference - for Idaho Power and the energy users who pay the company's rates.

For every mile added, Idaho Power's costs increase between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, estimates Paul Kjellander, director of Idaho's Office of Energy Resources.

PRIVATE LAND VERSUS WILD LAND

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide in February 2010 whether to propose listing sage grouse in 11 states. But the BLM won't have its draft environmental impact statement
completed at least until spring.

That means every new alternative that increases development on public lands increases the chance the bird may be listed. . .

THE ROUTE HAS TO BE BROKERED PIECEMEAL

Kjellander, Idaho's top energy official, has to depend on the power of persuasion to keep the discussion moving, since Idaho has little state authority over the process.

Unlike in Oregon, where one central panel can make the decision, Idaho's complex web of oversight is just another hurdle that Idaho Power has to navigate. . .

General Meeting Reminder

Don't forget the general SIP meeting Monday night, Sept. 21st, 7:00 p.m. at the Boulevard Grange. We will be discussing the mapping meetings set for Sept. 30th and Oct. 1st, and the PUC rate hike meeting to be held in the Ontario Library Tuesday, Sept. 29th from 6-8 p.m.

IPC Rate Increase Open House

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF OREGON

In the Matter of

IDAHO POWER COMPANY

Request for a General Rate Revision.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT OPEN HOUSE

Idaho Power Company (Idaho Power) seeks to increase its rates for electric service in Oregon. To provide an opportunity for customers to comment on Idaho Power’s request or to ask questions, the Public Utility Commission of Oregon (Commission) will hold an open house, as follows:

DATE: Tuesday, September 29, 2009

TIME: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

PLACE: Ontario Community Library

388 SW 2nd Ave.

Ontario, OR 97914

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Lisa D. Hardie

The public is invited to attend the Public Comment Open House at anytime from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to learn more about the Commission’s review of Idaho Power’s request. Open House meetings are informal; attendees can come and go as they please, take information, ask questions, and make comments for the record. Members of Commission Staff, Idaho Power, and customer groups will be available to answer questions from the public during this time. Interested persons not able to attend the open house may mail written comments to the Commission at:

Attn.: UE 213
Administrative Hearings Division
Public Utility Commission of Oregon
PO Box 2148
Salem, OR 97308-2148

Comments may also be sent through the Commission’s website at: http://www.puc.state.or.us under Idaho Power Rate Request.

Customers may call the Administrative Hearings Division for more information at (503) 378-6607.

Dated this 9th day of September, 2009.

Download the document HERE

DLCD Letter of Support

Department of Land Conservation and Development
635 Capitol Street NE, Suite 150
Salem, Oregon 97301-2540
www.oregon.gov/LCD

September 15, 2009

Eric Hackett
Idaho Power Project Analyst

RE: Boardman to Hemingway 500 kV Transmission Line

Dear Eric:

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed Boardman to Hemingway 500 kV Transmission Line project. As the route was initially envisioned, the transmission line extended through Malheur, Baker, Union, Umatilla and Morrow counties in Oregon. I understand that the project has been temporarily suspended while Idaho Power conducts public outreach through its Community Advisory Process (CAP). I also understand that the purpose of the CAP is to develop an alternate route in response to community concerns.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development strongly recommends that Idaho Power consider a number of significant local and regional impacts as it decides where to site the proposed transmission line.

The economy of eastern Oregon counties is strongly tied to agriculture and outdoor recreation. The siting of a major transmission line through these counties would have significant and long-term consequences for several counties and cities, including potential adverse impacts to high-value agriculture, sensitive wildlife habitat and the recreational tourism industry.

My staff has been in contact with the planning directors of the affected counties, who feel strongly that any proposed transmission corridor should avoid high-value farmland and scenic Oregon view sheds. This office has also received several letters from farmers in Malheur and Baker counties, including a letter from the Malheur County Onion Growers Association, all of which express concerns with the routing of the transmission line through private farmland in the Treasure Valley and Baker Valley. The letters raise specific concerns about the likely need to alter irrigation practices, modify aerial application of chemicals, and change tilling practices, all of which would disrupt and add additional costs to farming operations. In addition, high-value farmland would be lost. We share these concerns from counties and farm interests.

Oregon’s statewide land use planning program as set forth in statewide planning goal 3, “Agricultural Lands,” and ORS Chapter 215 requires counties to protect agricultural land, with preference given to high-value soils such as those found in the Baker, Grande Ronde and Treasure valleys and the irrigated row crop-producing areas of Umatilla and Morrow counties. These areas boast some of the best farmland in Oregon and are subject to strict safeguards protecting them from conflicting nonfarm development. The farmers who are stewards of Oregon’s working landscape now and into the future deserve our commitment to make every effort to accommodate agricultural production needs.

Other parties, including the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, raise concerns with potential impacts to sensitive wildlife habitat, including highly sensitive sage grouse habitat. Statewide planning goal 5 calls for local jurisdictions to inventory and protect a variety of resources including wildlife habitat, wetlands and riparian corridors. In some cases, the best wildlife habitat or natural areas are found on land that would be considered poorly-suited for agricultural production. In eastern Oregon, significant areas of sensitive habitat are also located largely on public lands. Idaho Power must work to find an appropriate balance between protection of agricultural lands and wildlife habitat.

Tourism also provides a significant contribution to eastern Oregon’s rural economy. The tourism and outdoor recreation industry also has tremendous opportunity for growth. Statewide land use planning protections maintain and enhance recreation opportunities such as the proposed 870-mile multi-county Blue Mountain Heritage Trail, the Oregon Trail and its historic view shed, and the Snake River through Hells Canyon. The siting of a major transmission corridor in any of these areas could significantly detract from the scenic, cultural and historic values of these unique places, and could impact tourism and economic values as well.

Thanks again for the opportunity to comment and please enter this letter into the record of proceedings on this matter. I would be happy to answer any questions or provide any additional information to you. You may contact me at 503-373-0050 ext. 280 or richard.whitman@state.or.us.

Sincerely,
Richard Whitman
Director

ec: Adam Bless, ODOE
Rep. Greg Smith
Bob Valdez, OPUC
Rep. Cliff Bentz
Lucas Lucero, BLM
Scott Fairley, Governor’s Office
Mark Bennett/Holly Kearns, Baker County Planning
Jim Johnson, ODA
Roy Elicker, ODFW
Jon Beal, Malheur County Planning
Todd Davidson, Oregon Tourism Commission
Hanley Jenkins, Union County Planning
Tamra Mabbott, Umatilla County Planning
LCDC Commissioners
Carla McLane, Morrow County Planning
DLCD regional and technical staff
Sen. Dave Nelson
Rep. Bob Jenson
Sen. Ted Ferrioli

Download the letter HERE

General Meeting Monday Sept. 21st

There will be a Stop Idaho Power meeting Monday night, Sept 21, 7:00 p.m. at the Boulevard Grange on Hwy 201 between Ontario and Nyssa. The agenda will include upcoming powerline mapping meetings, as well as IPC's rate increase request to the Oregon PUC.

Please attend this important meeting!

BC Hydro's Powerlines

Pat Phillips took these photos near the Williston Dam on the Peace River to the Vancouver area, and near Quesnal, central British Columbia, on her recent trip to Canada.

BC Hydro's service area is much larger with much rougher terrain than Idaho Power's service area.

"Alternatives" to "WWE"

The Boardman to Hemingway glossary of terms. You might learn something.

http://www.boardmantohemingway.com/glossary.aspx

Troubling Questions

For several members of the eastern Oregon community, the Boardman to Hemingway Community Advisory Process came under question after several comments made by Idaho Power personnel at last week's informational open house.

In answer to the questions of one Malheur County resident, a senior Idaho Power official said there was no way the proposed powerline will go near or through a sage grouse lek, and that it just will have to go on farm land somewhere. From past experience, the resident assumed this meant Malheur County farmland. Any legitimate concerns were minimized or denied as not important enough to worry about. As the resident said following the meeting, "I thought they were going to be reasonable for awhile, but now have my doubts."

According to another IPCo official, a questioning Malheur County resident was told that the powerline route would be through Oregon, and when the possibility of a route through Idaho was raised, the comments were ignored.

Other IPCo officials emphasize that they are "absolutely committed to the CAP process. We mean it when we say that we will accept any proposed route and alternate routes that are buildable from a community perspective that also recognize engineering, environmental and regulatory perspectives. . .

"We honestly don’t have any routes pre-determined at this point. . . There is no 'backdoor' CAP process going on. . . In the long run, we value our company’s reputation above all else. It will do us harm if we build a line in a manner that an entire community is against."

Stop Idaho Power's citizen group has given Idaho Power the benefit of the doubt in the CAP process, and has participated fully. Comments like those heard at last week's Informational Open House are troubling.

Idaho Power Showcases Planning Criteria

By Larry MeyerArgus Observer, August 31, 2009

http://argusobserver.com/articles/2009/08/31/news/doc4a9c0bd6698c9375979493.txt

ONTARIO — Idaho Power Thursday presented the criteria a group of citizen advisory teams will use when they make their final recommendations on a proposed transmission power line that cuts across a large segment of Oregon to Idaho.The company delivered the information during the meeting that attracted an ample number of people from across the region.

Some people at the meeting, though, conceded most of the information furnished by the firm was already well known.“There is a little bit of new information, but otherwise, it’s old hat,” Matt Ure, rural Nyssa resident, said. . .

Based on community concerns and suggestions identified by the South Project Advisory Team, which includes representatives from Malheur County and Idaho, placement opportunities identified are existing energy corridors, public lands and transportation and rail corridors. . .

The teams will start the mapping process in September, Lynette Berriochoa, Idaho Power spokesperson, said.“There will be another round of public meetings,” Berriochoa said.The public should contact members of the advisory team or the company if they have ideas about siting, Berriochoa said.

“We really value the input of the team members. she said. “They know the land. We appreciate their time.”

Idaho Power would like to complete the community advisory team process by the end of the year but will continue it if the teams have not wrapped up their work, Kent McCarthy, manager of the community advisory process, said. . .

For Ure, key questions are where, exactly, the company wants to place the power line and whether the advisory process has been worthwhile.

The same sentiments were expressed by Evelyn Sayers, rural Ontario, who is a member of the South Community Advisory Team.

“I’m still waiting to see if Idaho Power will pay attention to the route we propose. Then I will know if its been a waste of time or has been useful,” Sayers said. Jean Findley, one of the co-chairs of the Stop Idaho Power, a local, grass-roots group opposed to the placement of the power line on prime agriculture land, agreed the meeting was mainly informational and benefited people who were not familiar with the project. . .

“How will it be decided which routes will be used for analysis?” she wondered. She asked Idaho Power representatives if the company includes its own proposals, and they were noncommittal, she said.