Entire line must go underground
By Eric Valentine
Blaine County Commissioners say a backup utility line Idaho Power wants to install east of Highway 75 to serve the northern Wood River Valley is OK with them, as long as the entire powerline is buried underground—a caveat that will cost at least $30 million.
It’s a victory for a group of local stakeholders who created an online petition against the project, including Kiki Tidwell—a 2020 candidate for a Blaine County Commissioner seat. The group has been asking commissioners to protect the scenic beauty of the corridor ever since the county had approved permitting for the line. Then, two formal appeals came forward in April asking commissioners to make those permits conditional: that any so-called redundant powerline be placed under the ground.
All of this figures to trigger significantly more discussion and debate over the next several months. That’s because Idaho Power considers the undergrounding to be above and beyond their fiduciary responsibility to ratepayers. In other words, residents in the area of the undergrounding project should foot the bill.
“There’s clear interest and demand to bury the lines, but no one has volunteered to pay for it yet,” said Commissioner Dick Fosbury. “We’ll see now if people are willing to invest in undergounding.”
The Payment Options
Fosbury said there are essentially four ways the county can decide to fund the project.
Option 1: Establish a so-called Local Improvement District (LID) wherein mostly the residents who benefit from the project would pay for it. “I have experience using the LID and I know it’s a system that can work,” Fosbury said.
Option 2 involves a fee hike on power bills. The so-called franchise tax would require voter approval. Option 3 also involves voter approval—of a bond that would increase property taxes over a to-be-determined number of years. Option 4 would be some other one-time or annual levy over a portion of the county.
The Project Details
Specifically, the project is to construct, maintain, and operate a 138-kV redundant (backup) transmission line from the Wood River Substation north of Hailey to the Ketchum Substation located on Sun Valley Road in Sun Valley. The transmission line is proposed to run east from the Wood River Substation to Buttercup Road, then north along the west side of Buttercup Road, and then north along the east side of Hwy. 75 until it crosses to the west side of Hwy. 75 north of the East Fork traffic light.
This proposed line would then continue north along the west side of Hwy. 75 to Hospital Drive and then along Hospital Drive and the bike path to an undergrounding transition structure at the intersection of Hwy. 75 and Elkhorn Road. This transmission line will range from 4 feet to up to 15 feet higher than the existing powerlines along this route. The line is proposed to run through six different zoning districts before entering the cities of Sun Valley and Ketchum.