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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022
146th Year, No. 62
MAY 11–1
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Idaho Power gains access for surveys, withdraws lawsuits
PA GE 3
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
PENDLETON — Idaho Power
Co. has withdrawn all of its lawsuits
it fi led this winter against North-
eastern Oregon landowners seek-
ing access to their property to do
surveys related to the proposed
Boardman-to-Hemingway trans-
mission line project.
The 516 Ranch Partnership in
Union County was the last case.
Idaho Power on Tuesday, May 10,
according to state court records, fi led
a notice to dismiss its petition. Five
days before that, state court records
show Idaho Power withdrew its
remaining open case in Umatilla
County, when Robert and Colleen
Burns reached an agreement to allow
the company to access their land.
Attorneys for the company fi led
the civil petitions between Novem-
ber 2021 and early February. In all,
according to state court records,
there were 12 cases in Union County,
10 in Baker County, seven in
Umatilla County and six in Morrow
County.
Idaho Power was asking courts
to order the landowners to allow
access to their properties for a vari-
ety of surveys, including look-
ing for certain plant species and
wildlife, including raptors, three-
toed woodpeckers and northern
goshawks. Sven Berg, an Idaho
Power spokesperson, said in most
cases the company sought to dismiss
the lawsuits because it was able to
obtain rights-of-entry out of court
from most landowners.
In fi ve cases, however, there were
East Oregonian, File
The setting sun silhouettes transmission lines Feb. 3, 2022, near the future starting point for the 290-mile Board-
man to Hemingway transmission line in Boardman.
court hearings, he said. Four of those
were in Union County and one in
Morrow County.
In two cases, a judge granted
Idaho Power a default judgment
granting the company access for
surveys.
Three others went to trial, Berg
said. In two cases the court granted
Idaho Power access for surveys.
Idaho Power has been work-
ing since 2007 on the Board-
man-to-Hemingway project, a
293-mile, 500-kilovolt line that
would run from near Boardman
to Hemingway, near Murphy in
Owyhee County, Idaho.
Although sections of the proposed
route runs through public property
— Idaho Power has received permis-
sion from the federal government to
do so — the line, as proposed, also
would cross several dozen parcels
of private land in multiple counties,
including Baker, Union, Wallowa
and Morrow in Oregon.
Idaho Power would have to pay
private landowners for an easement
to build the power line across their
property. This would be a one-time
payment, not an annual lease,
according to the boardmantohem-
ingway.com website.
PA GE 4
of
PA GE 15
Berg said Idaho Power does not
pay for access to private property to
do pre-construction surveys.
In each petition fi led in court,
Idaho Power’s attorneys, Timo-
thy Helfrich and Zach Olson of the
Yturri Rose fi rm in Ontario, state
either the company or its contrac-
tor, Cornerstone Energy Inc. 21,
acting on the company’s behalf, had
contacted landowners several times
to request access to survey, test and
sample properties.
Because construction on the B2H
project is to start as early as 2023,
according to the petitions, Idaho
Power needs to begin surveying,
testing and sampling land in 2022.
Berg said Idaho Power typically
sends three letters to each prop-
erty owner before fi ling petitions in
court.
Most of the dismissals were brief
documents, often no more than
a couple of paragraphs explain-
ing Idaho Power was voluntarily
dismissing the petition and the court
was granting the dismissals without
imposing costs or attorney fees to
any party. A few of the judgements
were longer and got into specifi cs of
when and where Idaho Power or its
representative could access land.
In the Burns case in Umatilla
County, the stipulated general judg-
ment between the landowners and
the Idaho Power states the company
agrees to provided the Burns with
the results of any studies or surveys
on the property, which it anticipates
delivering in nine to 12 months.
— East Oregonian news
editor Phil Wright contributed to
this report.
UMATILLA COUNTY
Position 1 commissioner candidates address issues, plans
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY — Nine
candidates are vying in this election
for two seats on the Umatilla County
Board of Commissioners.
The Position 1 seat is open and
has drawn six candidates: Bob
Barton of Hermiston, Jesse Bonifer
of Athena, Susan Bower of Pend-
leton, David Nelson of Pendleton,
Cindy Timmons of Milton-Freewa-
ter and Alvin Young of Hermiston.
For Position 2, Commissioner
John Shafer is running for reelec-
tion against HollyJo Beers and Rick
Pullen, both of Pendleton.
The East Oregonian contacted
each candidate and asked them to
answer the same set of questions and
to limit the length of their answers.
1) What is your biographical
information, including age, occupa-
tion and education? (200 words max)
2) What is your current or past
political or public service experi-
ence? (200 words max)
3) Homelessness is a signifi cant
problem in Umatilla County. If you
are elected, what is your plan to
address homelessness in the county?
(400 words max)
4.) List and discuss your top three
goals if you are to be elected. (500
words max)
The EO edited answers for read-
ability, style, punctuation, grammar
and to keep answers within the word
limit of each question. Due to space
constrains in print, the responses
to background and experience are
online at www.eastoregonian.com.
The EO is publishing responses from
Position 1 candidates fi rst and will
publish responses from Position 2
candidates in the Saturday, May 14,
edition along with similar responses
from Morrow County commissioner
candidates.
Position 1 candidates are in alpha-
betical order of last names.
Robert “Bob” Barton, 61,
Hermiston, business owner
If you are elected, what is your
plan to address homelessness in
the county?
First, the cause of homelessness
in our area must be determined. Is
it social, economic, behavioral, a
combination of all three? Each of
these will need to be handled in a
diff erent manner, one solution will
not fi t all.
Not wanting to
recreate the wheel
I have researched
many cities which
have some very
viable solutions.
It will be interest-
Barton
ing to see where
our communities
and commissioners have developed
the solution by the end of this year.
God willing, if I make the cut in the
primary I will be spending more
time with offi cials to help form a
solution.
The current county commis-
sioners have been making neces-
sary changes by bringing in a
new provider of mental health and
substance abuse services. A byprod-
uct of this is taking some of the
demand off of our sheriff ’s offi ce so
2008 during the economic crash.
Who do you want to represent you
through these next challenges?
Jesse Bonifer, 40, Athena,
city councilor and
business owner
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
Umatilla County commissioner candidate Susan Bower speaks to the au-
dience during a candidates forum on March 31, 2022, at the Pendleton
Convention Center. She is one of six candidates running for the open Po-
sition 1 seat on the county board.
they can deal with criminal issues
and not mental ones.
I will make a good asset to the
team of commissioners with my
experience in negotiations, housing
options and meeting with legisla-
tors to bring funding into Umatilla
County.
List and discuss your top three
goals if you are to be elected.
I have to say from the start of my
campaign till now challenges have
changed. My No. 1 goal will be to
provide services outlined in the
new budget. With 7% infl ation, the
global impact of Russia, shortage in
the supply chain and transportation
issues we will all be challenged.
Housing options
Through collaboration with cities
and developers we can build a range
of housing options to meet the needs
of families and individuals who want
to make Umatilla County home.
I think we will need to be creative
on the permitting process and how
or when we charge fees for devel-
opment. Another place I believe we
need to look is zoning. I have fought
for aff ordable housing in Oregon
and know fi rst-hand the rising costs
of construction and what it takes to
implement the infrastructure needed
in our area.
Economic opportunity
Small businesses and the men and
women who run them are Umatilla
County’s strength. I will advocate
for these leaders and their ability to
grow and add family-wage jobs.
I am also an advocate for youth.
They are the next generation of resi-
dents, and we need to help them
become productive members of soci-
ety. I want to implement programs so
that all kids could learn necessary
skills and trades not taught in K-12.
Responsible oversight
As a business owner and father,
I understand what it means to
live within our means. I will have
respect for taxpayers in all budget-
ing and management decisions. In
my younger years I experienced 18%
interest rates and made ends meet.
My wife and I survived business in
If you are elected, what is your
plan to address homelessness in
the county?
If elected I would like to form a
task force to get to the root of the
homeless problem to fi nd out exactly
where these folks are coming from
and why. I have spoke to several
Pendleton police and some of the
county sheriff s deputies. Yes, we
do have some local
folks who are home-
less, but the major-
ity of them have
came here from
somewhere else and
are not locals. Then
we may be able to
Bonifer
get to the bottom
of the problem and
come up with some solutions and
support for some of these folks.
List and discuss your top three
goals if you are to be elected.
No. 1, to cut the commissioners’
pay by a signifi cant amount. We are
paying our representatives entirely
too much. I would like to save our
taxpayers some money.
No. 2, I would like to cut nones-
sential jobs within the county
government. There are too many
people making money off our
taxpayers out there. For the essen-
tial jobs that we do need I would like
to give those jobs to the individuals
in the county rather than building
bigger government and asking our
taxpayers for more money to support
these new jobs.
No. 3, I would like to work
together with our local governments
and citizens of the county to come up
with support and solutions for our
mental health crisis. It is not the sher-
iff ’s duty to take care of our mental
health. It was dropped in their lap
since all the facilities and funding
See Candidates, Page A7