Siting Study - Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project

Siting Study
Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project
3.3.12 Weatherby Region
The Weatherby Region extends for about 8 miles between Durkee, Oregon, and Weatherby, Oregon,
along I-84 in Baker County (Figure 3.3.12-1). The topography of the region is severe, with Gold Hill
located in the central part of the region. The Burnt River runs through the valley along the west side of
I-84 with the Union Pacific Railway.
CAP route C4, identified during the Central PAT routing session, is located on the east side of Gold Hill
and I-84 within this region. The route was drawn with the intent to avoid the leafy spurge area to the west
side of I-84, just north Durkee. CAP route C41 was a minor revision of C4, and was intended to maximize
the distance of the line from existing residences in the area. These CAP routes were revised to avoid the
intact segments of the Oregon National Historic Trail and was designated BA11-BA13, the East Route in
the Weatherby Region.
The West Route within the Weatherby Region was developed from CAP routes C8 and S6. Beginning in
the north, the route crosses the National Historic Oregon Trail north of Gold Hill, crosses to the west side
of I-84 just north of the Ash Grove Cement plant, and then parallels the existing 138-kV transmission line
south to Weatherby, where it crosses I-84 and the Oregon National Historic Trail once again before
meeting the East Route at BA13.
Permitting difficulty, construction difficulty, and mitigation cost analyses were performed on the East and
West Routes as shown on Figure 3.3.12-2. Table 3.3.12-1, while not indicating one route to be clearly
superior, does indicate the East Route may have slightly less permitting and construction difficulties.
Table D-12 in Appendix D shows the East Route is 1.4 miles shorter than the West Route and crosses 0.8
fewer miles of 1,200-foot Historic Trail Buffer Zone and 0.6 fewer mile of intact Oregon National
Historic Trail segments.
For the reasons described above, it was recommended that the East Route, BA11-BA13 (CAP route C4
and C41), is more reasonable than the West Route (BA11-BA12-BA13).
August 2010 3-67