Idaho counties back power alternative
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 10:39 AM PDT
BOISE (AP) — 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 Bureau of Land Management is still deciding where the Gateway West project should go. It’s planned by Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power to run 1,150 miles from Glenrock, Wyo., to Melba in western Idaho.
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. For instance, TransCanada’s Zephyr and Chinook Power transmission lines would also cut across the region on their 1,100-mile routes from Montana and Wyoming to Las Vegas.
