Suit Aims To Stop Transmission Line Near River

Newport physician Peter Weir filed lawsuits Monday in an attempt to stop construction of a 59-mile power line in a railroad corridor along the Pend Oreille River.

Weir and other riverfront property owners believe the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District’s planned 115-kilovolt transmission line would damage the environment and reduce property values.

In his suit against the county, Weir seeks an order forcing county commissioners to rescind the state shoreline permit they issued in 1993 for the $26.5 million project. His attorney, Doug Lambarth, is requesting a May 30 hearing.

Lambarth has not moved for a preliminary injunction to stop construction, however. That would require Weir to post a potentially huge bond to pay for project delays if he loses.

Weir contends shoreline regulations don’t allow the power line at all and, even if they did, commissioners were wrong when they ruled the line would have no significant environmental effect.

Weir also claims notice of a hearing on that decision should have been mailed to property owners along the proposed route.

County Prosecutor Tom Metzger said commissioners satisfied all the requirements in effect at the time.

“When we signed the declaration of non-significance, we did it assuming our planning director had all the marbles rolling in the right direction,” County Commission Chairman Mike Hanson said.

Weir also filed a class-action lawsuit against the utility district on behalf of all the estimated 700 property owners along the line. The suit faults the district for failing to use eminent domain procedures to compensate land owners for devaluation of their property.

PUD Manger Larry Weis said he doesn’t know what effect the litigation will have on a proposal by Weir and other Newport-area critics to reroute a section of the line away from their homes. He said the district commissioners planned to act today on his recommendation to grant the concession, which wouldn’t increase costs.

But Weis said the legal action “just adds an ever-increasing amount” to the project. He said the district already has spent about $13 million, much of it for substations at Cusick and Newport that won’t be useful without a transmission line to carry power from the utility’s hydroelectric plant at Box Canyon Dam.

, DataTimes