Prepare to repel boarders!
Or is that "borders?" I can't remember. Eh.
Anyway, I just got out of a meeting with the county commissioners. A rather boisterous meeting. You see, a question of imminent domain, public good, and not-in-my-back-yardism has cropped up in my own back yard.
No, I mean literally in my back yard.
Allow me to explain.
In order to support the rapidly growing power needs of the Boise area, Idaho Power has decided it needs to bring two high power transmission lines into Boise. One will be coming from Oregon, the other from Wyoming. The one from Wyoming will be running right past my back yard.
Now, for those of you not familiar with my place, I am on the wrong side of the line on the map labeled "The End Of Civilization." I am located just north of "The Middle Of Nowhere." There is nothing between my little "subdivision" (far too grand a name for it, really) and Jackpot Nevada but a couple hundred miles of sagebrush and rattlesnakes.
Now, I am *not* one of those not-in-my-backyard types. You know the ones. They don't mind vital infrastructure and growth... unless it shows up on their doorstep, and then all of a sudden it's an obscenity before God. No, for me, I understand that these things happen for very good reason, and I am quite willing to put up with it so long as it meets three little requirements.
It has to be needed.
It has to be placed in a way it impacts the least number of people necessary.
It has to be done in as open a way as possible, so people impacted know how they will be affected, and what their rights are.
Now, this little project meets that first requirement. Boise is growing like a weed. It's one of the fastest growing places in the country. It needs power. Idaho Power (a private company) is being proactive about this. Okay, I'm cool with that. Sucks to be me, but I'm cool so far.
But the other two? Epic Fail.
Let me explain. Most of Owyhee County (where I live) is empty. Nothing there but desert owned by the government, chiefly the Bureau of Land Management (BLM.) It is being used for the public good, which primarily means it's being leased for grazing cattle on. This feeds people and provides funds to run the BLM. All good there. Well, it has also been designated as a energy transportation coridor. This means that the Fed has designated it as an area specifically intended for running high power transmission lines and pipelines for natural gas. Still okay so far.
But remember how I said there is nothing but a few hundred miles of empty land out there? When the Owyhee County Commissioners asked Idaho Power and the BLM where the lines were going to be run, these two august agencies pulled out a map which showed the lines running primarily across PRIVATE PROPERTY. Not BLM land. There's hardly any private property to be run along. But that's what they picked. The County Commissioners suggested that instead the lines be put several miles out into the BLM land so that they would not negatively impace private citizens. BLM and Idaho Power simply responded with "Imminent Domain, donchaknow?" So the County Commissioners passed a law declaring that Imminent Domain may only be exercised if the agency attempting to exercise it can demonstrate that now path is available using public (ie. BLM) lands. Thanks to the Constitution and Federal and State Law, Idaho Power and BLM had no choice but to comply with the County Law.
So they moved their planned route juuuuuuuuuuuust enough to be about 10 feet off of the private land. Which means that those lines will be almost literally over my neighbor's heads, and within a few hundred feet of mine. Couple hundred miles of space... they're picking the most invasive 10 feet they can. The County is fighting them on this, as are a lot of my neighbors. I think I'll be lending a hand with this.
Further, BLM and Idaho Power are NOT being open at all. They claim they are, but they're not. An example. THey have been asked to provide maps to both the county and to all impacted citizens showing the proposed routes. (There's actually several, they haven't decided which to use, supposedly. But all known routes have these same issues.) Well, they've provided very vague maps showing the proposed routes... with about 2 1/2 miles of wiggle room. Meaning the map shows the route by my place (suspected by the county to be THE prefered route) as being anywhere between 2 1/2 miles north of me to 2 1/2 miles south of me. Very helpful. We've asked for more specific maps, and they've claimed there ARE no more specific maps. Both BLM and Idaho Power are saying this...
Even as their surveyors are using survey equipment and stakes to mark out a 100 foot wide path right past my neighbor's house. So obviously they know exactly where the path is. I'd like to know how they are doing this when "there is no path planned yet." Attempts to get the BLM man who has the actual approving authority for anything to do with putting these lines in to come out and talk with us so we at least know what is planned, even if we can't do anything about it. He keeps blowing off the County Commissioners. Won't talk to them. We country hicks aren't important enough to actually answer, I guess.
Anyway, we're working on putting together a plan to get them to listen to reason and move the lines back a couple miles, but it's gonna be fun. We've won before, but apparently they didn't learn the lesson the last time...
Anyway, I just got out of a meeting with the county commissioners. A rather boisterous meeting. You see, a question of imminent domain, public good, and not-in-my-back-yardism has cropped up in my own back yard.
No, I mean literally in my back yard.
Allow me to explain.
In order to support the rapidly growing power needs of the Boise area, Idaho Power has decided it needs to bring two high power transmission lines into Boise. One will be coming from Oregon, the other from Wyoming. The one from Wyoming will be running right past my back yard.
Now, for those of you not familiar with my place, I am on the wrong side of the line on the map labeled "The End Of Civilization." I am located just north of "The Middle Of Nowhere." There is nothing between my little "subdivision" (far too grand a name for it, really) and Jackpot Nevada but a couple hundred miles of sagebrush and rattlesnakes.
Now, I am *not* one of those not-in-my-backyard types. You know the ones. They don't mind vital infrastructure and growth... unless it shows up on their doorstep, and then all of a sudden it's an obscenity before God. No, for me, I understand that these things happen for very good reason, and I am quite willing to put up with it so long as it meets three little requirements.
It has to be needed.
It has to be placed in a way it impacts the least number of people necessary.
It has to be done in as open a way as possible, so people impacted know how they will be affected, and what their rights are.
Now, this little project meets that first requirement. Boise is growing like a weed. It's one of the fastest growing places in the country. It needs power. Idaho Power (a private company) is being proactive about this. Okay, I'm cool with that. Sucks to be me, but I'm cool so far.
But the other two? Epic Fail.
Let me explain. Most of Owyhee County (where I live) is empty. Nothing there but desert owned by the government, chiefly the Bureau of Land Management (BLM.) It is being used for the public good, which primarily means it's being leased for grazing cattle on. This feeds people and provides funds to run the BLM. All good there. Well, it has also been designated as a energy transportation coridor. This means that the Fed has designated it as an area specifically intended for running high power transmission lines and pipelines for natural gas. Still okay so far.
But remember how I said there is nothing but a few hundred miles of empty land out there? When the Owyhee County Commissioners asked Idaho Power and the BLM where the lines were going to be run, these two august agencies pulled out a map which showed the lines running primarily across PRIVATE PROPERTY. Not BLM land. There's hardly any private property to be run along. But that's what they picked. The County Commissioners suggested that instead the lines be put several miles out into the BLM land so that they would not negatively impace private citizens. BLM and Idaho Power simply responded with "Imminent Domain, donchaknow?" So the County Commissioners passed a law declaring that Imminent Domain may only be exercised if the agency attempting to exercise it can demonstrate that now path is available using public (ie. BLM) lands. Thanks to the Constitution and Federal and State Law, Idaho Power and BLM had no choice but to comply with the County Law.
So they moved their planned route juuuuuuuuuuuust enough to be about 10 feet off of the private land. Which means that those lines will be almost literally over my neighbor's heads, and within a few hundred feet of mine. Couple hundred miles of space... they're picking the most invasive 10 feet they can. The County is fighting them on this, as are a lot of my neighbors. I think I'll be lending a hand with this.
Further, BLM and Idaho Power are NOT being open at all. They claim they are, but they're not. An example. THey have been asked to provide maps to both the county and to all impacted citizens showing the proposed routes. (There's actually several, they haven't decided which to use, supposedly. But all known routes have these same issues.) Well, they've provided very vague maps showing the proposed routes... with about 2 1/2 miles of wiggle room. Meaning the map shows the route by my place (suspected by the county to be THE prefered route) as being anywhere between 2 1/2 miles north of me to 2 1/2 miles south of me. Very helpful. We've asked for more specific maps, and they've claimed there ARE no more specific maps. Both BLM and Idaho Power are saying this...
Even as their surveyors are using survey equipment and stakes to mark out a 100 foot wide path right past my neighbor's house. So obviously they know exactly where the path is. I'd like to know how they are doing this when "there is no path planned yet." Attempts to get the BLM man who has the actual approving authority for anything to do with putting these lines in to come out and talk with us so we at least know what is planned, even if we can't do anything about it. He keeps blowing off the County Commissioners. Won't talk to them. We country hicks aren't important enough to actually answer, I guess.
Anyway, we're working on putting together a plan to get them to listen to reason and move the lines back a couple miles, but it's gonna be fun. We've won before, but apparently they didn't learn the lesson the last time...