Idaho Power offers mea culpa to Idaho cities

The utility "dropped the ball" when it came to communicating its intentions to communities that would sit in the path of the Gateway West Transmission Line Project, said Douglas J. Dockter, Idaho Power's engineering manager for the project.

"We didn't get them involved in the process as soon as we should have," Dockter said.

The Gateway project is a joint venture between Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp. The partnership plans to build 1,150 miles of transmission line from a substation near Casper, Wyo., to the Hemingway substation outside of Melba. The 500,000-volt lines running through Idaho would ease the strain on a system that is at capacity, Dockter said. The additional power also could be used to lure new manufacturing companies that might bypass the state because Idaho Power can't meet its energy demands.

Construction could begin in the spring of 2011, with the most important segments coming online in 2014. Dockter estimated the cost of line construction at $1.5 million per mile, not counting the cost of constructing substations or negotiating rights-of-way agreements.

Idaho Power executives will sit down with Kuna city officials Wednesday to address their fears that massive power line towers will go through city limits, potentially killing a mixed-use development and affecting the city's growth.

The utility also must convince Parma officials that a related project, which origi-nates near Boardman, Ore., and travels south to the Hemingway substation near Melba, will not pass through Parma exclusively on private land. Mayor Margaret Watson said that would degrade the value of the landowner's holdings and make it impossible to develop.

In the case of Parma, Dockter said, a citizens advisory committee is being created to determine exactly where the transmission lines will be strung.

Dockter said the proposal for the Gateway project that shows the transmission lines going through Kuna was drafted before that area was annexed into the city. He said the proposal was a starting point that needed to be submitted so the U.S. Bureau of Land Management can decide whether it will allow any part of the project to be built on federal land, a process that could take until 2011.

"So there is time to include the cities in this process," Dockter said. "For an engineer, the best solution is a straight line because it costs less. But we knew from the beginning that the final project was not going to look like our original proposal."

During Wednesday's meeting, Idaho Power will discuss alternatives to running the transmission lines through Kuna, including the possibility of skirting the city, and using smaller transmission towers or even single poles similar to those on the east side of Eagle Road to limit aesthetic damage.

Steve Hasson, Kuna city planner, said Idaho Power's alternative plan for running the lines along the city limits only works if the city remains at its current size of 16 square miles. A new comprehensive plan drafted over the last 18 months calls for Kuna to grow to 70 square miles over the next 20 years, with the population increasing from 16,000 to 70,000.

Now, Hasson said, he must find a way of incorporating the new power system into his plans for Kuna's future growth.

"This stands our comprehensive plan on its head," Hasson said.

In addition to being skeptical, city officials in Kuna and Parma are angry that they had to learn about the original proposed route of the power line from local landowners after Idaho Power approached them for permission to go on their land for surveying purposes. When Hasson called Idaho Power to ask about the surveying, Dockter called him back and asked for a meeting, he said, which is scheduled for Wednesday.

"In my mind, you don't start surveying unless you have a path in mind," Hasson said. "I've been doing this for a long time. And I've learned that where there is smoke, there is fire. That's why I want to look these people in the eye on Wednesday."

Dockter said the joint venture with Rocky Mountain Power, or Idaho Power's Boardman-to-Hemingway project, cannot begin acquiring rights of way until the BLM makes its decision about whether it will allow its land to be used.

Also expected to have input into where Idaho Power places its transmission lines in Kuna will be Osprey Ridge Partners LLLP, whose 1,500-acre, 4,500-home and mixed-used development would have the towers and power lines running through it if Idaho Power's original proposal was approved.

In a March 23 letter to the BLM, Osprey attorney Jedd K. Jones said the Gateway project would have a "significant adverse impact" on the Osprey Ridge project and might "possibly completely destroy the viability of our project all together."

Hasson said pulling the plug on Osprey would mean the loss of an estimated $1 billion in economic growth for the city, including municipal taxes that would never materialize.

Joe Estrella: 377-6465