Governor finds agreement on power lines
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CHEYENNE — Gov. Dave Freudenthal said the Obama administration agrees with him in principle that federal lands should no longer be prioritized over private lands during the routing of electrical transmission lines.
Under federal law, power companies seeking to build transmission lines on public land must first examine alternative routes on private land.
During a White House meeting on energy with President Barack Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and 10 other governors Wednesday, Freudenthal raised the power line siting issue after hearing concerns last week from Lincoln County residents over the proposed route of new transmission lines through the area.
The lines would be part of the Gateway West Transmission Line Project, a proposed $2 billion, 1,150-mile power line that would carry electricity to customers in Wyoming, Idaho and other Western states. The project is a joint venture between Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power.
“Increasingly, people aren’t real fond of power lines,” Freudenthal said. “And they want to know why public lands aren’t equally available as private lands.”
Freudenthal said administration officials seemed receptive to his suggestion to change federal law to an “ownership-neutral” strategy in which federal, state and private lands would be considered equally during the power line siting process.
“At the 40,000-foot level, they think they agree,” Freudenthal said. “We’ll see how it works out when it gets down to the ground.”
Freudenthal said in particular that it’s “really hard to get anything sited” on U.S. Forest Service land, and he questioned whether any presidential administration would be able to change that mindset.
“My guess is the Forest Service looks at secretaries of ag and presidents and says, ‘Yeah, they come and go,’ ” Freudenthal said. “It’s always good to wait and see if people are able to follow through.”
Forest Service officials were not available for comment Friday afternoon, as federal offices in Washington, D.C., were closed ahead of a major snowstorm approaching the area.
Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen previously said that while the exact route of the Gateway West lines is still being worked out and the power companies have usually been able to find alternative routes on private land, the transmission lines will end up crossing some federal land.
Contact Jeremy Pelzer at jeremy.pelzer@trib.com or 307-632-1244.
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