20061025Comment.pdf

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Jean Jewell
From: fmibuhl (fmibuhl~northrim.netJ
Sent: Tuesday, October 24 20063:31 PMTo: Jean JewellCc: jarodgrover~email.com
Subject: Wind Power Case Comments
Jean , I appreciate your willingness to put my comments into the records as part of case # IPC - E - 06 -
21. I am a customer, I am a past owner of Bell Rapids farmland and currently hold a 40 year easement for wind
power with XRG Energy on that land , my family has been a stockholder in the Power Company, and I also have
had several family members work for Idaho Power over the last 50 years. So understand I am not "against" Idaho
Power Company, but I find their position of attempting to get the small wind development projects such as ours
and Cassia Wind Park LLC to pay for major transmission line upgrades as really negative and counterproductive.
This type of generation will clearly be an important part of all the electrical power generated in the coming years. I
work with a lot of different Magic Valley people in my business and have gotten an overwhelming positive reaction
concerning wind power. This is in complete contrast to the large number of people who are against a coal fired
plant such as the one which was proposed north of Jerome last year. I would not be against, and most of the
people I talk to say the same thing, paying a small increase in the rate of the power I use to make the long term
investment to accommodate alternative or "green " energy sources. The State of Idaho as well as the whole
country needs to pursue energy and fuel consumption independence now, as we really should have been doing
this a long time ago.
Please remove the moratorium on small wind power cogeneration projects and allow the local investors
such as Jarrod Grover and myself to invest in our local economy to create jobs and production dollars which stay
in the valley. I am currently the President of the Buhl Chamber of Commerce and I am very concerned with ways
to keep our local economy active and growing. Idaho Power needs to be a proactive/encouraging entity on this
not a hindrance to keep out the small players.
Thank you for your consideration
John C. O'Connor, President- Farm Management Inc.
10/24/2006