Brocato worried about power line
Baker City Manager Steve Brocato doesn’t want Baker City to “start looking like Boardman.”
He’s afraid a proposed Idaho Power transmission line that will pass through Baker County — and perhaps skirt the east side of Baker City — might do just that.
Brocato told city councilors Tuesday the proposed power line “will detract from the beauty of this area” and believes its presence will spawn more wind farms, which he said are “detrimental to the beauty of the community and don’t contribute to economic development.”
Jeremy Thamert, president of Baker City-based Oregon Power Solutions, which develops wind power sites in the region, was unavailable for comment this morning.
County Commission Chair Fred Warner Jr. said this morning that although wind farms could spring up in the area as a result of the proposed transmission line, the project’s main purpose is to strengthen the West’s power grid.
He said he’s “99 percent certain” that the Oregon Department of Energy will allow the Oregon portion of the project.
There are currently no wind projects pending in Baker County, Warner said.
Last month, Idaho Power announced plans to seek regulatory approval to build a 260 kilovolt transmission line from southern Idaho to Boardman. The company has three alternative routes through Baker County. The company’s preferred route is about two miles east of Baker City and passes between the Baker Municipal Airport and the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.
The other alternatives are through Washington Gulch west of Baker City and across Virtue Flat about five miles east of town.
Brocato told city councilors he wants them to “rapidly organize a work session” to advise the Baker County Commission how the city feels about both the Idaho Power proposal and any wind farms it might spawn.
“If the county grants a wind farm, it should be somewhere where we can’t see them and I would like the caveat that it has to be built by a local industry.”
“It is a controversial issue, and the county has been quiet about it,” Brocato added. “We are concerned that if the city doesn’t step up, we might lose some control.”
“Union County put windmills in our view, and another 100 are coming,” said Councilor Beverly Calder. “I hope we won’t do what was done to us.”
Brocato said conversations with Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative indicate the power rates will jump in the coming years and that “not enough windmills can be built to have an impact.”
He urged councilors to talk with residents “so you can form your own opinions.”
Mayor Jeff Petry may have already formed his. When asked about trying to keep wind projects out of the region, he replied, “If everyone says that, we will never gain energy independence.”
By Mike Ferguson
13 August 2008
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
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