BOISE -- Five counties plan to back an alternative route for a proposed Wyoming-to-Idaho power transmission line next Monday, contending the path now favored by two utilities bankrolling the $2 billion project cuts a disruptive swath through too much private land. . .
The alternative favored by Idaho's Bannock, Oneida, Power, Cassia, and Twin Falls counties includes a detour further south along Idaho's border with Utah and Nevada.
The counties and a lobbying group that calls itself "Move It" have been working with the BLM and private contractors for several months to develop an alternative transmission corridor for Gateway West, as well as any other transmission projects. . .
The existing Gateway West proposal would cross about 42 percent federal lands, 10 percent state lands and 48 percent private lands.
The dispute illustrates the challenge utilities are increasingly facing: Satisfying demand for energy, while appeasing private landowners, environmentalists and local governments with clashing fears over how huge projects will affect them. . .
Idaho Power, responsible for the Gateway West section covered by the Idaho counties' alternative, was forced earlier this year to abandon its original plan for another proposed transmission line in southwestern Idaho, after residents of the farming town of Parma complained about private property impacts. . .
