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.
