Local residents chastised Idaho Power officials during a public meeting Wednesday in Baker City for failing to make substantial changes to the proposed route of a transmission line near the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center east of town.
About 70 people packed into the Senior Center, where Idaho Power officials showed slides of various proposed routes and described how factors such as construction difficulty, environmental and other permitting issues, as well as costs and public concerns were weighed in identifying the preferred routes to be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management for review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Idaho Power officials described the process they went through in eliminating alternate routes proposed by affected landowners and other area residents who want to keep the 130- to 140-foot-tall steel towers away from irrigated land zoned for exclusive farm use, and away from the viewshed around the Interpretive Center.
“The two things that really drive this is permitability and constructability,” said Bill Perry, an engineering consultant with Idaho Power. He described how alternate routes proposed by the public were assessed and compared to the routes Idaho Power proposed originally.
“We started the routing process in Baker City because Baker County had the most miles,” Perry said.
He said Idaho Power will accept written comments for two more weeks and then choose one or two routes to submit to state and federal agencies for review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
“We tried to take the routes people proposed and looked at them to make sure we avoided all of the issues we could,” Perry said. “If there is something we have missed on these routes, we’d rather get it right now, than get corrected later.”
Despite widespread public opposition to Idaho Power’s initial proposal to build the transmission line near the Interpretive Center, Perry and other Idaho Power representatives told those attending the meeting that after looking at all of the other alternatives, that’s still the company’s preferred route.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” said Gary Marlette of Baker City, after he walked out of the meeting in frustration. “They are obviously planning to run the line wherever they want, and aren’t really paying any attention to public concerns.”
Nancy Peyron, who lives near the Interpretive Center and helped start the local group Move Idaho Power last year, also criticized the company for making what seems to her a mockery of the public advisory process. . .
At Wednesday’s meeting, Porter said PacificCorp has signed an agreement to work with Idaho Power on building the line, and that the Bonneville Power Administration is also considering joining the effort.
“This transmission line is important to the region,” Porter said. “It will benefit people and businesses in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.”
He said existing transmission lines between Boardman and the Treasure Valley are at maximum capacity, and the new line is needed to power a new data center planned for the Ontario area.
In response to questions from the audience, Porter said that other than the data center he isn’t aware of any need for additional power to accommodate growth or new industry across much of the route in Northeastern Oregon, such as Baker, Union and Grant counties.
While Idaho Power brought its public meeting portion of the public advisory process to a close this week with meetings in communities along proposed routes in five sections between Boardman and Hemingway, officials said written comments would be accepted until March 25. The address is: Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power Company, P.O. Box 70 1221 W. Idaho St., Boise, ID 83702. . .
While Idaho Power brought its public meeting portion of the public advisory process to a close this week with meetings in communities along proposed routes in five sections between Boardman and Hemingway, officials said written comments would be accepted until March 25. The address is: Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power Company, P.O. Box 70 1221 W. Idaho St., Boise, ID 83702. . .
