20170801Comment.PDF

David Woodward
P.O.Box 7680
Ketchum,ID 83340
July4,2017
To:Idaho Public Utilities Commission
Fr:David Woodward
Re:Redundant Power Line
I am a year around resident of Blame County,living off Broadway Run just south of
St Luke’s Hospital.I am writing to voice my position that the Public Utility
Commission reject Idaho Power Company’s appeal to build a second redundant
power line from Hailey to Ketchum.
While I support the need for reliable power,the expenditure of $30 million to build
a second line that would ultimately wind up in my rate base is not a justified or
appropriate expenditures.Past outages have not been caused by a lack of a
redundant power line,and in fact,the one serious outage that occurred on
December 24,2009 was the result of problems with the WDRI substation south of
the proposed new line.A second line would not have prevented this outage.
Virtually all of the past power outages have been short term and limited in nature
and created only minor inconveniences to residents of the Wood River Valley.Part
of the price of living in a rural community is the risk of occasional power outages
and I would much prefer these minor disruptions to having my utility bill increased
in order to pay for a second line.
Instead of spending $30 million to bring in emergency power from outside the area,
the PUC should consider a variety of local alternatives that could give us some level
of energy independence from the electrical grid in the event of a catastrophic failure.
This could consist of a combination of back-up generators,solar and natural gas
fired power generation.While this alternative would not provide power at 100%
capacity,it should at least allow critical services such as the hospital and local
governments to function.
Of equal importance is the negative scenic impact of a second line.I am a big
proponent of maintaining a scenic corridor for residents and visitors traveling on
highway 75 between Hailey and Ketchum.In the past,I lobbied for the
undergrounding of existing power and cable lines and in fact was very disappointed
that this was not undertaken several years ago when the road bed was torn up in
order to widen the highway.The last thing I would like to see would be a new set of
even higher power poles and electrical wires crisscrossing the valley.
Please reject the IPC appeal.It is a complete waste of money and not in the best
interest of those who live in the impacted area.
Regards,
David Woodward