The setting sun silhouettes transmission lines in Boardman Feb. 3, 2022, near the possible future starting point for the proposed 290-mile Boardman to Hemingway transmission line.

Passionate comments flew across cyberspace as opponents of the proposed 290-mile Boardman to Hemingway transmission line had another opportunity to speak their minds about the controversial project at a virtual Oregon Public Utility Commission hearing.

The hearing, conducted Monday, Dec. 5, was for public comment on Idaho Power’s application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Those speaking included Malheur County farmer Jim Foss, who raises onions and alfalfa hay on a large farm near Adrian.

Foss said large B2H transmission towers are set to be installed on his farmland and they have the potential to seriously disrupt his computerized irrigation system. Foss uses a center-pivot irrigation system, a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers.

Foss controls his system remotely using a smartphone. The app he uses allows him to maximize efficient use of water by applying different levels of it in different sections. Foss said officials with the company that supplies him with his automated center pivot irrigation system, are worried that the electromagnetic field from the 500-kilowatt B2H transmission lines that may pass over his property would disrupt its operation, resulting in portions of his fields going without water for two or three days in the heat of summer and others receiving more water than they need.

Foss said Idaho Power, a major funder of the proposed B2H line, has told him that if the transmission lines disrupt his irrigation system it would step in to correct the issue, something he fears might only happen after he has experienced significant crop losses. He does not believe he should have to assume all of the initial risk regarding his irrigation system.

“It is not right that I have to take all of the chances,” he said.

Foss also said the Bureau of Land Management, which has land adjacent to his farm, does not want to have B2H transmission line towers on its land while plans are in place to put them on his property.

“It is a double standard,” he said. “We should not have double standards.”

Lois Barry, of La Grande, a member of the Stop B2H Coalition, also spoke at the hearing and encouraged the members of the Public Utility Commission to make it their priority to protect the interests of Oregonians.

Barry and Foss were among 13 people who spoke during the 90-minute hearing, all of whom were from Union, Malheur and Umatilla counties. Jim Kreider, of La Grande, co-chair of the Stop B2H Coalition with Irene Gilbert, said many of those from Umatilla and Malheur county who spoke, did so because they had not had a good chance to speak to the PUC in person during a hearing last month at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

Kreider said he can understand why someone from southern Malheur County would not have wanted want drive to La Grande to speak since it would have involved a five-hour round trip for the opportunity to talk for five minutes.

“That is not good math,” he said.

Idaho Power earlier asked the PUC to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the B2H project. If granted, Idaho Power would use this certificate in court proceedings where it seeks to condemn an interest in land along the transmission line’s path. The certificate would demonstrate to the court that the transmission line is a public use and necessary for public convenience.

In September, Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council approved a site certificate for the B2H project. The permit authorizes construction of the line across five Eastern Oregon counties, including Umatilla County and Morrow County. Federal agencies have already granted permission for the line to cross land they manage.

The chance to submit verbal comments to the PUC is over, but there is still time to send in written comments. The deadline for submitting written comments is Jan. 10, 2023. Comments can be emailed to PUC.Public comments@puc.oregon.gov or mailed to Oregon Public Utility Commission, Attn.: AHD-PCN 5, P.O. Box 1088, Salem, OR 97308-1088.

For additional information call 503-378-6600 or 800-522-2404.