Last week the Community Advisory Committee developing a “Wood River Electrical Plan” held its fifth meeting. My four previous reports are available here, here, here, and here.
At the fifth meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee I observed an amazing amount of sincere diligence among all the members in evaluating the potential alternatives in front of us. I am impressed by how everyone is concerned for what is best for our greater community in the long-term. There is a great deal of thought and concern going into how to supply reliable power to the Wood River Valley, how to make it cost-effective, how to protect our environment to the greatest extent possible while doing so, and at the same time evaluating alternative sources of energy and conservation to reduce the demand and possible need for new transmission lines. At the end of the day, even though we have been at this for five months, we all decided we needed more time to consider the alternatives in order to make better recommendations.
We are still on track for a planned public release of a preliminary plan in mid- to late summer this year. This will lead to full public discussion and input on the proposal.
As always, I will continue to report on our progress and you can also follow it at the Wood River Electrical Plan website provided by Idaho Power. The website has a great deal of information, including copies of all the presentations and minutes of our meetings.
