Idaho Power tweaks plans

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&ArticleID=22658

12/16/2009 by Scott Callister

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. . .

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. . .

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. . .

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.

Application to run massive power line through Va. withdrawn

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/29/AR2009122902973.html

By David A. Fahrenthold Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The backers of a proposed electricity-transmission line from West Virginia to Maryland have asked to withdraw their application to run parts of it through Virginia, citing a study that shows its power will not be needed as soon as they had predicted.

That request is the latest setback for the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH), a joint venture of Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Energy and Ohio-based American Electric Power. . .

"We remain committed to the project," said David Neurohr, a spokesman for Allegheny Energy. "We're saying we'd better have the full-blown, comprehensive . . . information in our hands before we go forward."

. . . In a series of public hearings -- in Loudoun County and other places in the line's path -- residents had criticized it as an unnecessary blight on rural areas and scenic views. . .

Earthjustice staff attorney Abigail Dillen said her group had contended that, because of a declining economy and improvements in energy-efficiency, the East Coast did not need the line's power. She said the line would have high environmental costs, because it would bring in energy from coal-burning power plants in the Ohio River Valley.

"We feel really vindicated" by the new data about electrical demand, Dillen said. "Because this is precisely what we've been saying."

South PAT Meeting #4: Preliminary Routes

As I was told by a patient man attending the PAT meetings, Idaho Power's efforts in its community advisory process may be more clumsy than cynical. Perhaps he is right.

Tuesday's meeting included a discussion of why the route following Idaho Power's Treasure Valley Electrical Loop (submitted last February) involves engineering constraints and unacceptable risks and must be abandoned, and why Idaho Power's pre-defined Study Area (the limits in which they wish to keep all route boundaries) also precludes the two Idaho routes drawn outside of it. Which means three Idaho routes were taken off the map before any analysis began. Exception to the limits was taken and noted.

This information would have been helpful a long time ago, before it could be construed that cynicism or double-dealing has been driving decision-making, and the not-so-subtle impression of metaphysical certitude that this will end up mostly in Oregon. It would have been helpful to be able to contribute to the constraints under which Tetra Tech formulated its original proposed Red Route, which precipitated last year's uproar in the first place, until many months had passed and we were finally considered worthy of engagement.

Tuesday's meeting presented thorough and helpful material and addressed a year's worth of questions. As rocky and fraught with misunderstanding as this community process has been, at least we are closer to understanding one another, and if we do not agree, we have stayed engaged.

There was even preliminary agreement among the Oregon and Idaho groups on what routes would eventually be acceptable, and which will most likely be abandoned. One of the biggest causes of resentment in this process has been routes being drawn by out-of-county NIMBY proponents, leading to some wild or erroneous lines obviously headed for abandonment. It might have helped to request that all Oregon and Idaho groups draw at least one route they could live with inside their own county lines.

It was announced that analysis for all remaining routes was necessary to proceed. Some lobbied for an immediate conclusive route vote, which, as the same patient man warned, would be a mistake in the counter-regulatory climate of Idaho, which stands to benefit most from the power supplied and where the political pull operates most locally, and Oregon, with the stronger legal position when it comes to the placement of utility corridors even as its farmers have far less freedom to do what they want with their property.

So we will meet again following more route analysis, in a stronger position to be able to defend the routes that seem to be headed for approval. Rosemary and her group have been dogged in their facilitation and appear to be earning whatever they are getting paid. I suppose being a facilitator would be a good way to lose weight through enormous stress, but it's one method I wouldn't want to try.

Idaho Power schedules public meeting for Dec. 17

by Ed Merriman Dec. 4, 2009 http://www.bakercityherald.com/Local-News/Idaho-Power-schedules-public-meeting-set-for-Dec-17

After a series of fall meetings in Grant and Harney counties, Idaho Power officials are preparing to resubmit plans to the Bureau of Land Management for building a 500-kilovolt transmission line with proposed routes across Baker County.

Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power’s community advisory process leader, said meetings in Grant and Harney produced no new or alternative routes for building the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line through those counties.

“These weren’t routes that were proposed by Idaho Power. They were proposed by a central project team representing Baker and Union counties, and the southern team in Malheur County,” said Piper Hyman of Idaho Power corporate communications.

McCarthy said meetings were held over the past two months in Burns, John Day and Mount Vernon after the central and southern project teams made a proposal in September to shift the proposed transmission line from Malheur, Baker and Union counties to an alternate route across Harney and Grant counties.

He said the meetings were well attended (a total of about 25 people at Burns and 70 at the John Day and Mount Vernon meetings), but instead of presenting alternative routes, residents of Harney and Grant counties presented arguments against putting the proposed transmission line across their counties.
Due to the higher projected cost and greater length for a transmission line across Harney County, McCarthy said locals felt it would be better to pursue a shorter and less costly route across Malheur and Baker counties.

McCarthy said locals argued that the potential environmental damage, including damage to wildlife habitat, should rule out any route across Grant County.

“I don’t want to say they said ‘not in my county,’ ” McCarthy said. “We are not trying to pit county against county. They gave us some very well thought out reasons” for opposing building the transmission line across Grant and Harney counties.

“We don’t know what to do next over there, since there were no routes or route adjustments” proposed by representatives of the local government, landowners, community members and environmental groups who attended the meetings in Grant and Harney counties, McCarthy said.

Idaho Power cancelled a Wednesday meeting in Baker City and rescheduled it for 4 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Best Western Sunridge Inn.

That meeting will update Baker-area residents on the Grant and Harney meetings, and provide details of an analysis being completed by TetraTech engineering consultants on some 45 potential segments for the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line.

“The analysis hasn’t been completed yet, but we didn’t want the (Baker-area) team members to go a long time without knowing what the status was,” McCarthy said. “We will have some analysis to present on each individual section of the transmission line.”

“We invite people to the team meetings, but anybody who shows up is welcome. We put the names on the list of anyone who shows up at a meeting, and send them notices and invitations to future meetings, so the teams tend to grow,” he said.

In addition to information on siting the transmission line, McCarthy said TetraTech has also collected the data and has completed much, but not all, of its analysis of the northern route through Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Due to opposition that surfaced last spring, Idaho Power withdrew its original transmission line application with BLM in May, as well as a National Environmental Protection Act review.

McCarthy said the original transmission line application was withdrawn in part to consider suggestions from the counties.

Idaho Power has approximately 470,000 customers in Idaho and 19,000 customers in Eastern Oregon, mostly in Malheur County and the southern part of Baker County as far north as Durkee.

McCarthy said the transmission line has been proposed to bring energy from the Boardman area and other parts of the Northwest into the Boise area and southern Idaho, and to increase the electricity carrying capacity of the Northwest power grid, which carries power back and forth between the California/Nevada region and the Northwest.

“I can’t say we aren’t building this transmission line to transmit energy to California,” McCarthy said.

He said the transmission line is needed to accommodate energy transmission both ways, since power from California is transmitted to the Northwest during those seasons when demand in this region is higher, and in turn power generated in the Northwest during the spring and summer is transmitted to California.

McCarthy said the power grids that allow the transmission of power along that route and into Southern Idaho are nearing full capacity, and the proposed Boardman to Hemingway line is needed to accommodate projected growth in energy demand.

Getting residents and project teams from different areas to agree on where the transmission lines should be routed, however, has cost the company millions of dollars and taken longer than expected. McCarthy said Idaho Power has had to extend it’s projected completion timeline from 2013 to 2015.

With a tentative goal of resubmitting the transmission line route applications to BLM, the Oregon Energy Facilities Siting Council and to a NEPA review, Hyman said Idaho Power is planning to present route analysis and mapping information to local project teams during January.

The goal is hone in on a primary route and a secondary route by the end of January, and then submit new applications on those routes in February, if possible.

She said the purpose of the local project teams is to “leverage the expertise and knowledge of people living in these areas, who know where farmland and environmentally sensitive areas, and wildlife habitat are, so we can adjust the (proposed transmission line routes) to accommodate that.”

Hyman said this is the first time she is aware within the current environmental era where a project of the scope of the proposed Boardman to Hemingway transmission line has been proposed.

“People weren’t as outspoken in the past as they are now,” Hyman said. “It’s a different world, and probably better for that.”

South PAT Meeting #4: Ethical Considerations

From the Powerpoint Presentation for South PAT Meeting #3 on Sept 30, Slide #22: "The TEAMS will begin revising and eliminating routes."

IPCo did not list any specific "Engineering Constraints" until Nov. 3o, after 44 routes were drawn based on existing constraints at the time. It is not ethical to eliminate routes based on unknown constraints.

IPCo needs to read and FOLLOW its own process outlined in Meeting #3, or admit that Tuesday's Meeting #4 will simply be a rubber stamp process, without validity when it comes to community input.

Boardman to Hemingway Project South Project Advisory Team Meeting #4

December 8, 2009 • 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Four Rivers Cultural Center 676 SW 5th Ave, Ontario, Oregon 97914

AGENDA

Meeting objectives:

• Present analysis methods

• Present analysis conducted to date of each PAT proposed route (44 routes proposed)

4:00 p.m.

Welcome – Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

4:10 p.m.

Team Business – Rosemary Curtin, Facilitator

4:20 p.m.

Idaho Power recommendations – Dave Angell, Idaho Power, Manager of Delivery &

Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

• Routes not to be advanced

• November 30 meeting

5:00 p.m.

Grant and Harney input - Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Leader

5:15 p.m.

Presentation of how analysis was conducted – Tetra Tech

• Tables of opportunities, constraints and rating

Initial analysis of PAT proposed routes – Tetra Tech

• Overview of opportunities, constraints and rating for each route

6:30 p.m.

Dinner

7:00 p.m.

Revised PAT proposed routes – Tetra Tech

• Adjustments made to improve routes

Comparison of PAT proposed routes (geographic grouping) – Tetra Tech

• Likelihood of being permitted

• Ease of construction

• Cost

PAT input

8:45 p.m.

Next steps

• Discuss further detailed analysis

• Select proposed and alternative routes to submit to BLM

The Devil's Invitation

Power company needs to give county a chance to think
From the Blue Mountain Eagle. http://eastoregonian.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=50&ArticleID=100906

Message to Idaho Power: slow down.

Grant County only recently was drawn into the fray over a new mega-transmission line, and we deserve time to sort out our concerns and document our stand.

Not decades, but a reasonable amount of time. At least as much time as the utility gave to our neighbors to the east - the ones who said "put it in Grant County." That little bit of NIMBY aside, it's only fair to allow us to catch our breath before the decision is made for us.

Idaho Power officials have suggested Grant County has always been in the loop for this project. They say we were included when they divvied up the territory for their north, central and south project advisory teams.

That suggestion begs credulity, however, as Idaho Power's original route proposal was down Interstate 84. Neither the publicity for the team meetings nor the Idaho Power Web site gave any hint a route could touch Grant County. It's not reasonable to suggest Grant County residents would turn out in droves for meetings in Baker City and Ontario that ostensibly had nothing to do with Grant County.

Yet here we are today, being asked to chart a route for this monstrosity through our county. (And do it quick - so Idaho Power can present its own recommendation in January or February. . . )

Forgive some of us in Grant County for feeling we haven't been given a chance to decline the devil's invitation. Idaho Power already has drawn up our dance card and we are left to wonder whether the consequences will be worse if we take to the floor or sit this one out . . .

We want that time, Idaho Power. It's only fair.

Note to Grant County: "Fair" and "Idaho Power" are mutually exclusive concepts. They've already thrown out three Project Advisory Team proposed routes through Idaho with no valid reason why. If you live in Idaho, money and political clout have their advantages.

The 2009 IRP Draft Load Forecast

From a letter to Barton L. Kline, senior attorney for Idaho Power Company, from the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power, dated November 20, 2009:

I write on behalf of the Industrial Customers of Idaho Power ("ICIP") to comment on Idaho Power's November 2009 Draft Sales and Load Forecast ("Draft Load Forecast"), which Mark Stokes provided to the Integrated Resources Plan Advisory Council ("IRPAC") on November 4, 2009. . .

Although the Draft Load Forecast is preliminary and may not be technically subject to any formal discovery requirements, it is useful to keep in mind the right of interested parties to review pertinent data and models underlying an electric utility's IRP prior to its acceptance or acknowledgement by a state's utility commission. . .

Without convincing data, ICIP is skeptical the economy will recover as rapidly as the Company expects. The Draft Load Forecast expects the economy to recover rapidly to the levels experienced in the 1993 to 2003 period in the next few years. We expect the economy to recover more slowly and do not expect the near-term growth rate will increase as rapidly as the Company predicts. . .

In sum, ICIP is skeptical of the accuracy of the Draft Load Forecast's projected growth rates without access to additional supporting data and models. We hope that Idaho Power will provide . . . access to the underlying data and models for its final load forecast so that ICIP and others may adequately participate and comment in the IRP process. . .

"Project Order and Idaho Route Meeting"

In response to a request for a meeting concerning our reservations about the outcome of the mostly-Oregon mapping, we have been invited to meet with Idaho Power officials Monday, November 30th, 4-8 p.m. at the Community House of Kirkpatrick Church in Parma, Idaho.

Please RSVP Kara Veit at (208) 377-9688 if you want to attend this meeting.

Meeting objectives:
• Discuss the Oregon Department of Energy’s Boardman to Hemingway Project Order
• Discuss the (presumptive?) project area and proposed routes in Idaho

4:00 p.m.
Welcome and introductions
• Welcome – Kent McCarthy, Idaho Power, CAP Project Leader
• Introductions and agenda – Rosemary Curtin, facilitator
4:10 p.m.
Project Order – Adam Bless, Oregon Department of Energy
• Overview
• Questions and answers
5:10 p.m.
Boardman to Hemingway project area – Dave Angell, Idaho Power
6:10 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
Presentations and discussion with:
• Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) – Idaho representative
• U.S. Forest Service (USFS) – Idaho representative – (Tentative)
• BLM recently participated in three panel discussions for the CAP. (Correspondence from the BLM is available for reference.)
7:30 p.m.
Next steps

Adam Bless of the Oregon Department of Energy will present information on the Project Order, which encourages Idaho Power to route an Idaho corridor as a valid solution to the problems of routing through Oregon. We understand that the ODOE itself does not choose the route, but the Energy Facility Siting Council has the power to deny what routes are proposed across Oregon.

More importantly, it is the disregarding of our requests for information and meetings providing for even-handed mapping of Idaho routes, (as in IPC's original Treasure Valley Electrical Plan loop around the greater Boise area, including the proposed Gateway West south corridor,) that has us wondering why all Idaho routes have been jettisoned in favor of ANY viable alternative through Oregon.

We hope these concerns will be addressed Monday evening.

PGE’s New Power Line: Is This Something We Really Need?

"Cascade Crossing" picks up where Boardman to Hemingway leaves off.

by Dennis Newman, Nov. 13, 2009 http://www.naturaloregon.org/2009/11/13/pges-new-power-line-is-this-something-we-really-need/

In the past two weeks, Portland General Electric has held several public meetings about its plans for a new high voltage power line.

Called Cascade Crossing, PGE wants to build a 200-mile, double circuit, 500-kilovolt power line from Boardman to Salem. Along the way, it crosses two national forests and the Warm Springs reservation. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin in late 2012 and the power line will be operating during the first half of 2015. . .

Do We Really Need This Power Line?

PGE warns that our current transmission system to close to capacity. Despite the growth in population and the increased demand for electricity over the past 25 years, no new major power lines have been built. Without this power line, PGE says our grid may become unreliable, raising the odds of power outages or brown outs. It also says this line will help bring in more renewable energy from the wind farms in Eastern Oregon. It says that will help Oregon meet state mandates to get 15% of our power from renewable energy by 2015. . .

As we’ve seen recently, PGE isn’t the only company proposing a new power line in the area. The Bonneville Power Administration is looking at a 70-mile high voltage line in SW Washington and a 28-mile line that runs through the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area. In Eastern Oregon, Idaho Power wants to build a 300-plus mile high voltage line from Boardman to SW Idaho.

How Do Projects Like These Affect The Forest and Wildlife?

. . . (Amy) Harwood (of the environmental group Bark) says energy corridors impact the forest in a number of ways. Creating a new path of clear cut makes it easier for invasive weeds to spread into the forest. Not only does it give them a foothold, but without tree cover the weeds thrive and become harder to control. . .

The Coalition for Agriculture's Future

Southwest Idaho group forms around concern for farmland's future
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/southwest_idaho_group_forms_ov.html

(AP) Nov. 22 A coalition concerned about protecting farmland from uncontrolled growth and development in southwest Idaho has formed.

The Coalition for Agriculture’s Future includes about 30 groups with interests ranging from farming to food processing to wine making to meat-packing .

George Crookham, the coalition’s chairman, told the Idaho Press-Tribune that the coalition is concerned about the future of valuable farmland. . .

From the Coalition's website: http://www.agriculturesfuture.org/Index.htm

"The Coalition works to help maintain agricultural lands for the future by developing mechanisms that incorporate future looking planning in land use issues that will allow both development and protection of our agricultural heritage and traditions.

"Our ultimate goal is to preserve for future generations a critical natural resource that feeds the world and a heritage that helps define the character of its society. "

Idaho Power's 2009 IRP

Rocky Barker still on the job reporting on Idaho's energy needs

Will Idaho Power shut down some of its coal plants in the next 20 years? by Rocky Barker, 11/10/2009

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2009/11/10/rockybarker/will_idaho_power_shut_down_some_its_coal_plants_next_20_years

I sat through Idaho Power’s Integrated Resource Planning meeting last week. That is where the utility lays out its future plans to a group of customers, environmental advocates and Idaho Public Utility Commission staff for their comments. The idea is the company gets feedback for its plans to build or buy power generation for the next 20 years.

It’s hard for anyone to look at what will be going on 20 years from now and the plans they make this year will clearly be changed as the utility moves along. But there are key decisions that will set long term paths that will have a major impact on Idaho Power’s rates as time goes on.

When will the company need to build its proposed transmission line from Boardman, Oregon to the Hemingway substation west of Boise? Will it be cheaper over the long run to build expensive solar generation plants in the deserts of Idaho or on people’s roofs than to build more natural gas plants?

Idaho Power’s preferred alternative is to build the transmission line and use natural gas plants to meet its peaking needs.

Earlier this year, the company’s shareholders voted strongly to push the company to do more to prepare to do business in a time of climate change. Its immediate plans don’t seem to reflect that much.

But when you move out to the second 10 years of its planning cycle the utility clearly is looking at a regulatory world where actually reducing existing coal generation makes sense. Its preferred alternative depends on natural gas wind power and the completion of the Gateway West transmission line into Wyoming to meet the need.

Idaho Power is looking at choosing that over keeping all of its coal plants operating. The preferred alternative doesn’t including nuclear, solar or more geothermal as its so-called “nuclear/green” alternative recommends.

Ultimately the most power will come over the next 20 years from improvements in energy efficiency and virtually all experts seem to agree. That’s why the $47 million smart grid stimulus grant is so influential in the company’s future.

Some industrial customers worry that Idaho Power may consider retiring some of its coal plants before the plants are paid off, leaving customers with the stranded costs. And environmentalists worry they may put more capital expenditures in old coal plants like the Boardman Coal Plant shared with Portland General Electric and others.

PGE including adding all the pollution control devices that would be needed to keep the Boardman plant open in its own integrated resource plan proposal. If PGE’s proposal is approved, the plant would require $600 million in new investment. Idaho Power's share is 10% or $60 million, said Betsy Bridge of the Idaho Conservation League.

Bridge thinks that $60 million would be better invested in alternative energy or efficiency programs. Perhaps Idaho Power’s first test for its own commitment to curtailing its coal resource over time will be whether it commits to spending the $60 million for Boardman.

Nuclear Plant Plan on Track

Second firm looks at Payette County for site of a new nuclear power plant
By Brandi Stromberg Argus Observer Nov. 18, 2009 http://www.argusobserver.com/news/doc4b044530ca4a2777545774.txt

Payette — The spokesman for a firm looking to build a nuclear power plant in Payette County said atomic energy is more cost effective than conventional sources.

Don Gillispie, 66, Eagle, one of seven owners of the firm Alternate Energy Holdings, Inc., said his company first began to look at Idaho as a viable place for a nuclear power plant several years ago. . .

Gillispie said the proposed plant could produce at least 5,000 jobs during its construction and about 1,000 jobs during operation. He said the tax intake, alone, will be beneficial to the county as a revenue, generating nearly $100 million in property taxes. Construction costs would be near $10 billion and will begin after land acquisition, hopefully in 2013. The plant has a 60-year life span and will essentially be more efficient and beneficial to the county than a solar or hydro-energy power plant, he said. Gillispie said the average salary for a nuclear power plant engineer is around $80,000.

Gillispie said the company currently operates eight plants in the Midwest. He said the proposed plant is an advanced plant, and no others exist in the world like it. Gillispie said he enjoys being a good neighbor to local businesses, charities and the population in general. He said they donate their time, resources and thousands of dollars annually.

“We try to be good neighbors,” Gillispie said. “Part of this company is trying to give back to the people.”

The Payette County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday regarding the proposed nuclear plant. If anyone would like to contact Gillispie or visit the Web site, Gillispie encourages questions, concerns and comments about the proposal. The Web site address is www.aehipower.com and the email is info@aehipower.com. . .

Idaho's generation capacity

We've reported on Alternate Energy Holdings' efforts to establish a nuclear energy presence in Idaho. In looking over their website, http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/ you might find the following pdf article interesting:

"Idaho ranks near the bottom of western states preparing to add generation capacity" http://www.alternateenergyholdings.com/Portals/51/Media/Files/aehinews052609.pdf

The date of the article is May of this year, so perhaps the effort to get CHP and solar energy online since then, are an effort by Idaho Power to rectify the situation.

One man's trash: Landfill operator plans gas generator

http://www.magicvalley.com/news/local/article_0d72324c-cdc2-11de-87fb-001cc4c03286.html Nate Poppino, Magic Valley Times News 11/10/09

That bag of trash you're about to toss could soon power someone's home.

Southern Idaho Solid Waste is looking to build a methane-fueled generator at Milner Butte Landfill, which was established in the early 1990s in southern Cassia County and houses trash tossed by residents of seven south-central Idaho counties.

A methane-gas collection system came online in September and is currently feeding data to Josh Bartlome, the environmental specialist conducting the system's initial testing. The landfill's methane gas currently flows at between 315 and 330 standard cubic feet per minute, more than enough to support a generator in the future, Bartlome said. . .

Milner Butte would become only the second landfill in Idaho to generate power from methane gas and sell it back to a utility. The only landfill that currently has such a sales agreement is the one run by Ada County, said Gene Fadness, spokesman for the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

There, county officials partnered with a private company four years ago to set up generators now supplying 3.2 megawatts to Idaho Power Co. - enough to power 2,400 homes. The company supplied and owns the generators and buys the gas from the county, paying about $225,000 a year, said Ted Hutchinson, Ada County's landfill manager. The arrangement works well enough that the county is currently drilling more gas wells that the company might then expand to include. . .

Power line packs the house

by Scott Callister 10/28/2009 Blue Mountain Eagle http://MyEagleNews.com subscriber only

JOHN DAY - More than 70 people turned out last week to pore over maps and charts as Idaho Power unveiled recent, close-to-home proposals for its 500-kilovolt transmission line.

For many, the information was sobering.

"Grant County doesn't stand to get anything out of this, but it would rob us forever of being a premier jewel in terms of scenic and recreational attractions. . . "

. . . The line has drawn stiff opposition in some . . . counties, where residents recently suggested shifting the route to the west - through Grant and Harney counties. . .

(. . . or east into Ada and Gem counties. . . )