For Findley, civic action is a reality
Local man helps spearhead effort against Idaho Power project
BY Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Sunday, January 11, 2009 2:19 AM PST
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| Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
Roger Findley is one of the principal organizers of the Stop Idaho Power group working to put the route of a planned electrical transmission line on mostly public land. |
ONTARIO —Roger Findley said, when plans were set in motion for the first public meeting regarding a proposed plan by Idaho Power to situate a new power line through Malheur County, organizers expected about 50 people.
Findley, along with his wife, Jean, are among the leaders of Stop Idaho Power, a civic-action group consisting of local residents. The group was formed to pressure Idaho Power to change the preferred route of its planned 500-kilovolt transmission line, to run from southwest Idaho to northeast Oregon, away from prime farm ground and put it through mostly public ground.
As the first meeting of the group loomed, Findley said neighbors began to team up and the number of participants kept growing as more people heard about it.
People volunteered to call people. The Boulevard Grange declined to charge for use of its hall. The initial meeting proved to be a surprise to Findley. Instead of 50 people, more than 300 packed the Boulevard Grange Hall to express their support for the cause or to find out more information. Findley said he realized how big a deal the power line plan was after going to a scoping meeting sponsored by the United States Bureau of Land Management and the Oregon Department of Energy.
“This goes through the middle of farm ground,” he said. Findley said he was told by an Idaho Power representative that another route away from farm land on public land had been analyzed and was considered too long and too expensive.
One of the first actions planned at the initial meeting was to seek a meeting with Idaho Power officials, and the group had 1,302 signatures on petitions to present at the session.
“There are over 400 entities in Malheur County that would be affected by the line,” Findley said. “Most are rural families.”
He said he and his wife spend an average of one to two hours per day on the Idaho Power issue and Findley said he has two meetings this week — Monday at 7 p.m., at the Four Rivers Cultural Center, and he was invited to speak at a meeting in Parma on Tuesday to a group of people organizing there.
“We’ve gotten literally hundreds of e-mails since this started,” Findley said, and they are still getting calls from people who have just heard about the line and want to find out what is going on. A lot of people are involved and are putting in a lot of time, he said.
