Utility Board Rejects Compromise

Wed., June 5, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

Hopes for a settling a dispute over a high-voltage power line along the Pend Oreille River may have been dashed Tuesday.

The three commissioners of the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District unanimously rejected a proposed compromise to reroute a six-mile section of the line just north of Newport.

Riverfront residents in that area had indicated such a move might have satisfied their objections to the 59-mile line from Newport to Box Canyon Dam north of Ione, Wash.

Utility District Manager Larry Weis recommended adopting the compromise, although he feared it would simply give the district a new set of opponents.

The decision to reject the compromise came as no surprise to Newport physician Peter Weir, who has filed lawsuits to block the project. Weir said last week he would consider dropping the suits if the line were rerouted, but “they have no intention of rerouting it.”

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