Published 8:15 am Thursday, September 29, 2022
The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council has approved a site certificate for the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line.
The approximately 290-mile power line would connect the proposed Longhorn Substation east of Boardman, Ore., to Idaho Power’s Hemingway Substation in Owyhee County, Idaho. Cost is estimated at $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
Several steps remain in the approval process, said Sven Berg, an Idaho Power spokesman.
The company will ask public utility commissions in both states to recognize that Boardman to Hemingway is in the public interest, he said. It will seek a permit from Owyhee County to build the eastern stretch of the line across county land. The project also needs a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for any part of the line that crosses wetlands.
The council’s site certificate can be appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court. “We would expect that to be fully adjudicated by mid-2023,” Berg said.
The company is conducting environmental, cultural and geotechnical surveys. It is acquiring easement options and rights of entry for private land on or near the route. These steps likely will be part of the conditions of one or more approvals still needed, he said.
Demand grows in the winter in the Northwest and in the summer in the Mountain West, but transmission lines connecting the growing regions cannot carry more energy when it is needed most, the company said.
The Boardman to Hemingway line is less expensive than building carbon-emitting plants or solar or battery storage facilities, the company said. Plus, it would meet new needs.
More energy from wind, solar and other sources is under development. Better transmission connections to surrounding regions “will help incorporate this clean energy while enhancing grid reliability and keeping customer prices affordable,” Lindsay Barretto, Idaho Power senior manager for high voltage and joint projects, said in a release.
The company aims to provide all electricity from “clean” sources by 2045.
Idaho Power leads federal, state and local permitting. It is working on the project with PacifiCorp and the Bonneville Power Administration. Federal agencies previously granted permission for the line to cross land they manage.
Construction is expected to start in 2023 and take three to four years.
“Many problems with the site certificate are unresolved or incomplete,” said Jim Kreider of the Stop B2H Coalition. “There’s still a ways to go.”
Various mitigation plans that the certificate addresses are still in draft form and need to be completed and approved, the coalition said. They cover issues from wildfire and sage grouse habitat mitigation to weed control and underground blasting for tower footings.
The coalition is evaluating the site certificate and its conditions of approval with respect to compliance with state laws and standards. It is considering an appeal, it said in a release.
