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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 12/16/2009 11:04:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article
Comment on this article | Idaho Power tweaks plans
By SCOTTA CALLISTER
Editor
BOISE - Idaho Power is tweaking its routes as planning proceeds for development of a new 500-kilovolt transmission line between Hemingway, Idaho, and Boardman, in northeastern Oregon.
Kent McCarthy, community advisory process leader for the project, said last week that new maps reflecting the latest changes will be posted on the Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) website as soon as possible.
The adjustments resulted from an initial review of the route options by Tetra Tech EC Inc., the utility's environmental consultants for this project and other powerline and substation projects across Idaho and Wyoming.
This stage of the review focused on permitting issues. In Grant County, route adjustments were made to avoid a wilderness study area and a wildlife management area, McCarthy noted.
The adjustments also take into account some practical concerns.
For example, McCarthy said, a line might be redrawn if it ran right through an existing building, or if it ran diagonally through a farm field and could be routed along a property line instead.
Idaho Power dropped its easternmost route, which would would have looped north from Hemingway through Idaho, into Washington state and then southwest to Boardman. The line was one of the longest, but McCarthy said the rationale for deleting it wasn't keyed on the distance but on the potential conflicts with a separate project already in the works to serve Idaho's Treasure Valley.
The utility still has about 42 routes or route segments set for further review, McCarthy said.
He also stressed that alternatives proposed for the Interstate 84 corridor are still on the table. He said he's heard concerns from people who mistakenly believe that those routes have been dropped in favor of routes through Grant County.
The I-84 routes drew intense opposition from residents in Baker and Malheur counties, but they are still under consideration, he said. Residents in Grant County have been vocal in support of putting the line along I-84.
McCarthy said the latest route information was discussed earlier this month at meetings with Idaho Power's South and North Project Advisory Committees. A meeting for the Central committee is set for Thursday, Dec. 17, in Baker City.
No meetings have been held in Grant County since Nov. 19, when the utility held a mapping session at which local residents declined to propose or recommend any routes for the line.
McCarthy said another meeting in Grant County is likely, but nothing is scheduled at this time. He urged local residents to check out the route maps online.
Idaho Power hopes to have its route analysis completed by sometime in January and to forward recommendations in February to the Bureau of Land Management, the lead public agency for the project. The BLM will conduct the National Environmental Policy Act review, which also will include a public comment process, and make the final decision on the route.
Idaho Power hopes to begin construction of the line in 2013.
The utility is still accepting public comment on the routes.
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