Tension high in Powell Butte as PacifiCorp considers it for transmission line location

Published 6:39 am Wednesday, July 30, 2025

More than 100 residents in Powell Butte showed up Tuesday night to hear about and protest against a transmission line that could run across ten miles of prime farm and ranch lands.

Powell Butte is in the heart of one route PacifiCorp has proposed for a 500-kilovolt transmission line called the Blueprint South Transmission Line Project. Local residents said it was not the best option for a nearly 180-foot-high transmission line that will run through Deschutes, Crook, Klamath and Lake counties. 

“You would destroy our property,” said Powell Butte resident Cheryl Ehnisz. “We couldn’t use our property. What’s the benefit of that?”

Crook County scheduled the meeting to provide residents an update on the proposed project. Residents heard directly from PacifiCorp about the current phase, routing considerations and an anticipated timeline. There was a question-and-answer session that lasted two hours. 

John Aniello and Alisa Dunlap, two representatives from the company, provided information about the current phase, routing considerations and the anticipated timeline. The impact of the line on community health, data centers, flight paths, environmental and economic concerns and fire were all concerns brought up at the meeting. Tensions were high at times between the representatives and the residents at the meeting, as both sides considered long-term benefits and problems with the line/

“John, what is your definition of a generation?” resident Mark Lambdin asked. “Do you live on land that your parents lived on? That your grandparents lived on?”

The theme for the night was impact. Aniello told residents that their goal was to find the best possible route, both to economic cost and negative impacts to the community.

“We’re trying to find the least impactful route that impacts the least amount of people,” Aniello said.

PacifiCorp argues the transmission line is necessary, due to growing energy consumption throughout the region. Their goal is to reduce transmission system restraints and have backups in order to reduce outages. There are currently four alternative routes that the company is considering, including the one through Powell Butte.

Earlier in the year, residents discussed concerns at open meetings in Prineville, Chiloquin, Bend, Klamath Falls and Redmond. A total of 365 people show up to those meetings and 535 people emailed their comments to PacificCorp. According to Aniello, the company is hopeful the project will be built and operational by 2032. 

For residents of Powell Butte, the hope is that it will not be in their backyard.

“We’re not pushpins on a map,” said resident Steve Oberg. “We’re not collateral damage for people out of this community.”