Attorneys for Idaho Power Company have filed another condemnation lawsuit, the sixth in Baker County, seeking an easement across private property for the Boardman-to-Hemingway power line the company wants to finish in 2027.

Attorneys Tim Helfrich and Zach Olson of Ontario filed the suit Oct. 11 in Baker County Circuit Court.

The property owner is John Taylor Rohner of Baker City.

Idaho Power is seeking a 160-foot-wide easement for the power line totaling 19.7 acres, a 75-foot-wide easement for an access road totaling 0.9 of an acre, and a temporary construction easement covering 2.4 acres.

The property is in the eastern part of Baker Valley.

Idaho Power offered to pay $34,551 for the easements but could not reach an agreement with Rohner, according to the lawsuit.

Also known as eminent domain, condemnation is a legal process in which a judge or jury orders a property owner to sell land, or an easement, to make possible a particular project, and decides the price.

Eminent domain lawsuits can be filed by public agencies, such as a state department of transportation to acquire land for a highway or other project, or, as in this case, by a private firm.

In addition to the easements, Idaho Power is seeking permission for immediate access to Rohner’s property while the lawsuit is pending.

The company has also asked for immediate access to other properties in the county for which it had filed condemnation suits.

Helfrich and Olson, who are with the Yturri Rose law firm in Ontario, filed a suit seeking easements for property near the base of Flagstaff Hill, close to Highway 86, on Sept. 27. They filed two similar complaints on June 18 for properties near Durkee, and one complaint on May 20 for land near Huntington.

They filed the first suit for Baker County property in September 2023 for a parcel near Interstate 84 about five miles southeast of Baker City.

B2H history

The 293-mile-long line, first proposed in 2007, will run from near Hermiston to the Hemingway substation in Owyhee County, Idaho.

Oregon and Idaho state agencies have approved construction of the power line. Idaho Power and its partner, PacifiCorp, say the line is needed to handle growing demand for electricity that existing transmission lines can’t accommodate.

Although Idaho Power has overseen the project, PacifiCorp has a 55% ownership in the line, Idaho Power 45%.

Opponents, led by the Stop B2H Coalition, based in La Grande, dispute the companies’ claims that the power line is needed.

Jim Kreider of La Grande, a member of STOP, said the group has urged Idaho Power to rebuild the three existing transmission lines from Oregon and Washington into the Hells Canyon Complex (Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams), and rebuild all lines from the complex into Idaho.

Kreider said public utility commissions in Oregon and Idaho have not required Idaho Power to include that proposal in the company’s biannual integrated resource plan.

Kreider said STOP is also advocating that all new transmission lines be buried, rather than suspended on poles as with B2H and other traditional designs.

The opponents say the construction and operation of B2H could cause a variety of problems, including spreading noxious weeds and increasing the risk of wildfire.