Questions are stirring about whether PGE’s proposed 176-mile transmission line will be necessary.
Portland General Electric says a 500-kilovolt transmission line from Boardman to Salem will be needed transmit energy from Eastern Oregon wind farms, but some think the need may not be there.
The line would be 250 feet wide, and pass through national forests, private land, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation.
Portland General Electric says the Cascade Crossing Transmission Project is needed to transmit electricity from existing and future wind farms planned in Eastern Oregon and to meet future energy demands. But convincing the public, property owners and environmentalists that the need is real will be PGE’s greatest challenge, said Deb Schallert, permitting manager for PGE…
For Amy Harwood, program director at Bark, a nonprofit that works to preserve and restore the Mount Hood National Forest, PGE’s project seems based more on speculation of future energy use than actual need. One alternate route proposed for Cascade Crossing would cut through the national forest along a similar path as another energy project, the Palomar Pipeline.
Read more at the Daily Journal of Commerce.
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