Big Eddy-Ostrander Conductor Replacement Project
The following comments were submitted in response to the open comment period described below.
Comments are numbered consecutively as they are received. Breaks in the number sequence result when comments are deleted because they
were submitted in error or have inappropriate content (such as SPAM). If you do not see your comment two business days after
you submit it, please contact (800) 622-4519.
BPA proposes to replace the existing conductor on 68.5 miles of the BEOS 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line. The line begins at BPA’s Big Eddy Substation in The Dalles, Oregon and continues west to Ostrander Substation near Eagle Creek, Oregon. The transmission line was originally constructed in 1960 and consists of lattice steel structures. The existing conductor is past its service life and is in need of replacement. In some locations, the existing transmission structures would be increased in height to maintain a safe distance between the ground and the conductor.
Your comments will help BPA determine the issues that should be addressed in the environmental review.
For More Information:
https://www.bpa.gov/learn-and-participate/public-involvement-decisions/project-reviews/big-eddy-ostrander-project
Close of comment: 7/18/2022
- BEOPROJ220001 -
WilentI live a few hundred yards from the Big Eddy-Ostrander corridor. Suggestions:
Allow solar and/or solar-agriculture farms in corridors.
Implement technologies/methods to reduce noise from lines, which is especially loud during rain/snow.
Study non-wires alternatives for power lines.
Consider restricting access by off-road vehicles. Some OHV users in my area have caused significant damage to soils and streams.
- BEOPROJ220002 -
Dougherty/Wasco County PlanningComments were mailed. Please see attached comment letter.
View Attachment
- BEOPROJ220003 -
Russell/Pacific Crest Trail AssociationDear Bonneville Power Administration:
On behalf of the Pacific Crest Trail Association and our 13,300 members, I want to thank you for soliciting comments on the Big Eddy-Ostrander Conductor Replacement Project. The PCTA is a national non-profit organization and the Forest Service’s major partner in the maintenance and management of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and an active participant in management decisions affecting the experience of users of the PCT.
I would like to thank the representatives from Bonneville Power Administrator who took the time to meet with me, explain the project and discuss mitigations for the below items. I very much appreciate your time, and I look forward to continued collaboration on protecting the PCT through this project. Below lists what we have discussed, and what I would like to highlight as continued priorities for PCTA.
Please have your studies look at
1) Mitigation measures to minimize visual impact of road improvements.
2) Invasive weed prevention.
3) Ensuring that unauthorized uses are not drawn to improved access roads, and subsequently on to the PCT.
4) Operations timing to reduce impacts to PCT users during peak season.
I need more information about:
1) What the improvements will look like from the PCT, and how we might collaborate on visual mitigations.
2) What the plans are to discourage unauthorized uses of the improved utility access roads.
I have these other comments:
The PCT is widely known as the most remote of our National Scenic Trails, and passes through more miles of designated Wilderness than any other NST. A good deal of its international significance as a recreation resource is that hikers and equestrians can experience an extended corridor of landscapes that appear pristine, wild, and free from alteration by humankind. Protection of this unique resource is particularly challenging because, along its 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, hundreds of developments are proposed each year by an array of different agencies, industries, and private owners.
While it is unavoidable that the PCT must cross roads, power lines, and other existing developments from time to time, our management objective is to keep such interruptions to an absolute minimum, and to deflect new impacts that would have an incremental and detrimental cumulative effect on the trail experience.
I appreciate your continued communication about the project, and I will be in touch with further mitigation strategy recommendations. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this project. I look forward to working with you.
Thank you,
Jeanine Russell
PCTA Columbia Cascades Regional Representative
- BEOPROJ220004 -
Cooper/Cooper OrchardsPlease see the attachment.
View Attachment
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