Idaho Power Company has agreed over the past several weeks to pay almost $1 million to gain access to private properties in Baker County through which the company plans to build a major transmission line.

The payments are part of stipulated agreements the company’s attorneys have reached with nine property owners who are defendants in condemnation lawsuits the company filed.

According to records from Baker County Circuit Court, the payments total $978,410.

Since September 2023, Idaho Power has filed about 17 condemnation lawsuits, also known as eminent domain, to gain access to private land in Baker County for the Boardman-to-Hemingway power line.

The company tried to negotiate easements with those property owners but failed to reach an agreement.

Idaho Power instead is using eminent domain, 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.

The 293-mile-long, 500-kilovolt line would pass through several other counties along its route between Boardman, Oregon, and Hemingway, Idaho, in Owyhee County south of Boise.

Idaho Power officials say the line, first proposed in 2007, is needed to handle growing demand for electricity that existing transmission lines can’t accommodate.

Oregon and Idaho state agencies have approved construction of the power line. 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.

Critics also contend that the line will increase the risk of wildfire, contribute to the spread of noxious weeds, and mar scenic views.

Sven Berg, a communications specialist with Idaho Power, said on Monday, April 14, that the company is “on track to start construction this year with a goal of bringing B2H online in 2027.”

Berg said he couldn’t comment about the condemnation lawsuits.

At least two condemnation suits have been settled, according to court records.

Baker County is the defendant in one of those suits, the only one in which the property sought is county land rather than private property.

Timothy Helfrich, an attorney with Yturri Rose LLC in Ontario, filed the suit Nov. 19, 2024, in Baker County Circuit Court.

According to the lawsuit, Idaho Power 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 was seeking easements totaling about 29 acres. That land includes a rock quarry the county uses.

The county and the company agreed on April 11 to settle the suit, according to a noticed filed in Baker County Circuit Court and signed by Idaho Power’s attorney, Zach Olson of Yturri Rose LLC, and the county’s attorney, Drew Martin of Baker City.

The notice doesn’t list terms of the agreement.

The other settled condemnation suit was the first that Idaho Power filed for the B2H project. The defendants are Scott and Kylie Gressley of Baker City.

Martin, who also represents the Gressleys and several other defendants in Idaho Power suits, declined to discuss terms of the settlement, which was reached in late January of this year, just before a trial was scheduled to start on Feb. 4.

On Feb. 28, 2024, Judge Matt Shirtcliff gave Idaho Power permission to enter the Gressleys’ nearly 2,000-acre property, which is along Interstate 84 about 5 miles southeast of Baker City.

Shirtcliff ordered Idaho Power to pay the Gressleys $83,960 for the easement.

The company had offered $18,960.

The Gressleys had asked for $392,542.50, arguing that they should be compensated for the long-term loss of value for the property, which they use for cattle grazing.

The nine lawsuits that have recent stipulated agreements haven’t been settled, but the parties have agreed to allow Idaho Power access to the properties in exchange for payments.

Payments include:

• $76,700 to defendants John and Erin Aldrich.

• $26,070 to defendants Mark and Savannah Kerns.

• $112,870 to defendant Heritage Trail Ranch.

• $46,720 to defendants Larry and Rocky Morris.

• $40,160 to defendant Bokides Properties.

• $180,150 to defendant The DLX.

• $220,480 to defendants Bert and Terri Siddoway.

• $137,480 to defendant Troy Family Ranch.

• $137,420 to defendant Trindle Land.