Power line plan
Residents turn out to hear details of Idaho Power’s new power line project
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Friday, October 24, 2008 11:17 AM PDT
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| Malheur County Planner Jon Beal reviews detailed maps of the proposed route of the transmission line which Idaho Power wants to build. |
ONTARIO — The joint scoping meeting conducted by the Oregon Department of Energy and the United States Bureau of Land Management to solicit public comment on Idaho Power’s proposed transmission line through southwest Idaho and Eastern Oregon drew a large crowd to the Four Rivers Cultural Center Wednesday afternoon.
Most area residents on hand at the session were curious about the project, seeking more information and wanting to know if their property would be impacted by the ambitious power line venture.
Idaho Power has filed a notice of intent to build a 300-mile, 500 kilovolt transmission line from Boardman to a planned substation near Melba, southeast of Nampa. A scoping meeting helps determine the key issues related to the proposed project.
Wednesday’s meeting was the second of six public sessions scheduled in communities along the anticipated power line corridor. Exactly what path the line will take was the focus of the meeting as participants were interested in whether their property would sit in the proposed power path, the alternative route or in neither.
The proposed routes swing into Malheur County from Idaho, south of Adrian, and skirts, around the town to cross the Snake River, between Adrian and Nyssa, to connect with a planned substation near Sand Hollow. From there the line recrosses the Snake River into Oregon, between Nyssa and Ontario, and heads north, west of Ontario, and out of the county.
Since it crosses public lands, the BLM will be doing an environmental impact statement and will come out first with a draft, according to Lucas Lucero, BLM project manager.
“We have to go through a NEPA (National Environment Policy Act) process,” Lucero said. It will take about a year to write the draft impact statement, he said.
“It takes a long time to get from here to draft. We’re at a very early stage of the process,” he said.
Adam Bless, ODE project manager, said the agency’s Energy Facility Siting Council will review the site application from Idaho Power. What information ODE takes from the current public comment period will be used to determine what Idaho Power will must provide in its formal application.
“We make sure standards are met, including county land use. We don’t tell the applicant what to design or where to design it,” Bless said. Both the BLM and ODE must take several steps in their own internal processes before final decisions are made. According, to Idaho Power’s timeline permitting and engineering process will continue until December 2011, with construction to take place between January 2011 and June 2013, when the line would go in service.
“We don’t have a definite plan yet,” Eric Hackett, Idaho Power project manager, said. Every person who has property within 750 feet of the proposed route or the alternative route, received notification about it and the scoping meeting. The right-of-way will be 250 feet wide, Hackett said. Asked how Malheur County may benefit from the transmission line, Echo Chadwick, Idaho Power corporate communications director, said the benefit would be indirect, as the whole region will be strengthened by the new power grid.
Also, she said, the company will be paying property tax on the line.
