Idaho Power Company has filed another condemnation lawsuit in Baker County seeking permanent easements for the Boardman-to-Hemingway power line, but this time the defendant isn’t a private property owner, as with 16 other suits, but rather Baker County itself.

Timothy Helfrich, an attorney with Yturri Rose LLC in Ontario, filed the suit Tuesday, Nov. 19, in Baker County Circuit Court.

According to the lawsuit, Idaho Power has offered to pay the county $54,490 for easements across county-owned land along Grey Eagle Mine Road near Highway 86 a few miles east of Interstate 84, an area also known as the “Dino Pits.”

The company is seeking easements totaling about 29 acres.

That land includes a rock quarry the county uses.

Shane Alderson, chairman of the Baker County Board of Commissioners, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Alderson and commissioners Christina Witham and Bruce Nichols discussed the potential for a lawsuit during an executive session, closed to the public, on Oct. 16. Commissioners met with attorney Drew Martin of Baker City.

The route for the power line near Baker City is mainly along the eastern edge of Baker Valley, close to the route of Idaho Power’s existing 230-kilovolt transmission line. That line crosses Highway 86 on Flagstaff Hill, west of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.

Other lawsuits

Since September 2023, attorneys have filed 16 other condemnation lawsuits, all against private property owners, for the 500-kilovolt transmission lines Idaho Power wants to finish by 2027.

Three suits, including the one naming Baker County as the defendant, were filed on Nov. 19.

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.

The two other suits filed Nov. 19:

• Defendants are Bokides Properties LLC, Oregon RSA No. 2, and Durbin Creek Windfarm LLC. Idaho Power is seeking easements totaling about 61 acres for property near Huntington, including a wind farm. The company offered $40,160 for the easements.

• Defendant is the DLX LLC, which owns a cattle ranch. The property is in Baker County, just south of the Union County border southeast of North Powder. Idaho Power has offered $180,510 for easements totaling about 160 acres.