PORTLAND, Ore. - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has signed off on a right-of-way that will allow Idaho Power to build a 293-mile transmission line from Oregon to Idaho.
The Interior Department announced the approval Friday, saying it will create nearly 500 jobs.
Known as the Boardman-to-Hemingway project, the line will provide additional capacity for exchanging energy between the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West.
The overhead electrical line will run across 190 miles of private land, 100 miles of federal land and 3 miles of state land. It will stretch from just east of Boardman, Oregon - along the Columbia River - to a substation southwest of Boise.
Construction is expected to start in 2021 and take two to three years.
