OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Idaho Power fi les 13 petitions in Umatilla, Morrow counties
He said he would like to see
the route changed or land-
owners receive a larger
payout for easements, but
the county does not have
power over this. He said a
previous Morrow County
Board of Commissioners
may have been able to do
something, but the opportu-
nity has passed.
Petition would allow
utility to enter and
survey landowners’
private property
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
PILOT ROCK —
Richard and Jean Hemphill
can look out the window of
their Pilot Rock home and
see where massive towers
will stand and carry the
Boardman to Hemingway
transmission line.
Those towers will stand
100-140 feet tall, according
to Idaho Power Co., the
primary force behind
the 500-kilovolt line that
would stretch almost 300
miles from a substation
in southwestern Idaho to
Boardman.
The Hemphills traced
the route with their hands.
They said they felt bad
about a line that they
believe will mar the beauty
of the area.
“I love it,” Jean Hemphill
said of her view, pre-B2H.
“In the summertime, I sit
out on the deck in the eve-
nings and enjoy this beau-
tiful view all the way
around. I’m always sorry
when winter comes and I
can’t do that anymore. I
truly love it.”
She and her husband are
the respondents in a peti-
tion for precondemnation
that attorneys for Idaho
Power fi led. The petition,
if a judges grants it, would
allow Idaho Power to enter
and survey their property.
The petition is one of
seven Idaho Power fi led in
Umatilla County to gain
access to private property,
according to state court fi l-
ings. The company has fi led
six petitions in Morrow
County and about two
dozen more in Malheur,
Baker and Union counties.
Jean Hemphill said her
family moved to a nearby
property in 1942. She and
her husband moved into
their home after its con-
struction in the early 1970s.
“For us, who have
Feeling powerless in
face of power line
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jean Hemphill fl ips through a folder of information on the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022, at her home
near Pilot Rock.
lived here all our lives, we
cherish our lands and our
views,” Jean Hemphill said.
While many areas
nearby have grown a great
deal, they said their own
view has changed little,
by comparison, since they
moved in roughly half a
century ago.
The region means a great
deal to them, they said.
Both Hemphills trace their
family tree to ancestors
who farmed the land with
their hands.
The land also is mean-
ingful to the Hemphills
because of their dreams for
the future.
“My granddaughter’s
starting a sheep herd,” Jean
Hemphill said. She said
it would be nice to have
this land available for her
granddaughter and future
generations.
Idaho Power claims
surveys necessary
Sven Berg, Idaho Pow-
er’s communications spe-
cialist, said permitting
on the project will con-
clude sometime this year,
and geotechnical, cultural
and biological surveys are
underway now. These sur-
veys will reveal important
information, he said, such
as area wildlife and archae-
ological sites.
“We’re working with
landowners along the route
to try to negotiate rights of
entry to their property and
easements,” he said.
These easements would
give Idaho Power and its
partner on B2H, Pacifi -
Corp, rights to land use on
properties where they may
someday build a structure,
Berg explained.
He said there are 98 par-
cels that 47 landowners
own where the companies
need right of entry. These
include not just properties
on the route, but ones that
need to be crossed to access
other lands, public and pri-
vate, he said.
There will be hundreds
of towers, and the entire
line will be over ground,
Berg said. He described
them as steel lattice and
H-frame structures. The
steel lattice structures
average 140 feet tall with
a 40-foot-by-40-foot foot-
print. The steel H-frame
towers are, on average, 100
feet tall, he said.
These are large struc-
tures, he said, but land-
owners will be able to farm
under and around them. He
added there are no safety
concerns from electromag-
netic frequencies, as long
as you are not “right up on
them.”
The power companies
would make one-time pay-
ments to the landowners as
compensation, Berg said.
B2H aff ects ranchers
but helps data centers
Jim Doherty, chair of the
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners, expressed
mixed feelings about the
line. He said he has spoken
with landowners, including
cattle ranchers, to hear
their anger. For himself, he
said, he also has negative
feelings.
“Generally, I’m kind of
opposed to it,” he said.
Adding tons of steel and
wires across Mother Earth
is not ideal, he said, but the
construction of the Long-
horn substation is an $80-
$100 million project and
would make possible new
data centers and other area
businesses.
“There are a lot of things
looking for that power and
needing it, and there’s a
shorter and shorter supply
down here all the while,”
Doherty said.
He could get behind the
project, he said, if the route
could be altered to do less
harm to local landowners.
“We’re taking one for
the team, and those cattle
ranchers on the century
farms that built Morrow
County, they’re really
taking one for the team,”
the commissioner said.
He said the county
board, at this point, lacks
leverage in this situation.
On the land Idaho
Power soon will survey
for the transmission line,
the Hemphills farm wheat.
That property alone is
1,000 acres, they said. Jean
Hemphill said her family
has owned that particular
piece of land since 1917.
One family member
died of the fl u epidemic of
the early 20th century, she
recalled, and others lived
on the land without indoor
plumbing. This is a land
that has a lot of history, she
said. Some of the history
even predates her family’s
ownership. One landmark
on the property is a stone
structure, which may have
been made during confl icts
with Native Americans, she
said.
And though the
Hemphills have many more
acres in the area, they said
they are far from royalty.
Just as the land has a his-
tory of people struggling,
the Hemphills said they
have their own concerns.
Rising costs for seed, fuel
and chemicals have made
business diffi cult, they
said.
The planned construc-
tion of B2H has added to
their worries. They said
they are upset about work
disrupting their farming.
Also, they are bothered by
the possibilities that towers
will trouble farming and
wildlife, long after they
receive their one-time
payment.
“It’s been really, really
hard,” Jean Hemphill said.
She said she believes the
line is inevitable, and she
and her husband are power-
less in comparison to much
more powerful groups that
are set on the line.
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