Paper Company Changes Power Line Plan Inland Empire Paper’S Needs To Be Met With Underground Line

Inland Empire Paper Co. will build an underground transmission line to bring electricity from Inland Power & Light Co. to its Millwood plant.

The proposed 115,000-kilovolt line will replace an overhead line Inland Power was preparing to install across Pleasant Prairie until Spokane County commissioners in February blocked the use of county rights of way for the project.

Area residents, fearing loss of property values and possible health impacts, opposed the overhead line.

That line would have upgraded an existing distribution circuit along Lehman Road.

Kris Mikkelsen, Inland Power acting manager, said the underground cable will lie about one-half mile east of the distribution line. The exact route and length will not be known until negotiations for easements from private landowners are completed, she said.

Inland Empire Paper President Wayne Andresen said he did not want to discuss progress in those talks, but added he is optimistic the company will obtain permission to build the line.

He said Inland Empire has discussed the new plan with county commissioners, who must approve three road crossings but have little other jurisdiction.

Inland Empire Paper has undertaken a $102 million expansion that will increase its electricity needs by 20 megawatts. Future plans may push requirements up another 50 megawatts, Andresen said.

Electricity expenses constitute 20 percent of the cost of paper-making.

Avista Corp., which already sells 30 megawatts of electricity to Inland Empire Paper, competed with Inland Power for the contract to serve the additional demand.

Inland won, but because of the increased cost of putting the line underground - about $2.5 million - Mikkelsen said the utility and paper company are renegotiating terms of the electricity sales contract.

Still, she said, Inland will net about $250,000 annually from the contract. After the first year that will be passed on to members in the form of lower rates.

Inland Empire Paper may not save money on its power bill in the immediate future, Mikkelsen said, but having access to competing providers over the long term will save the company money.

To support that argument, Inland Empire Paper commissioned a study of the amount saved since the company built a pipeline directly connecting the plant to nearby natural gas lines.

Author Kevin Rasler estimated the line, which bypasses Avista, had saved Inland Empire Paper $5.3 million in transportation costs over the past 11 years. The gas was also cheaper, he wrote.

The paper company would save at least $657,000 on its power bill annually buying from Inland Power, the study says. Savings will increase if the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approves a proposed rate hike for Avista.

Andresen said the ability of Inland to act without regulatory oversight was a big factor in the decision to go with the member-owned cooperative.

“It’s strictly about our ability to purchase power free of outside influence,” he said.

Andresen added that speed is important. The company hopes to have its new equipment operating by next March, and Inland Power may not have a new franchise agreement in place with the county that would allow for the timely start of line construction.

Mikkelsen said negotiations toward and a pact with the county have been extended another 90 days.

She said Inland Power and Inland Empire Paper plan to hold informational meetings on the new line, which will create an electromagnetic field below thresholds set by other states that have set standards.

In trying to proceed earlier without more public notice, she said, “We were naive about the concerns people have.”

The proposed line, between three and four miles, would be the longest underground high-voltage line in Spokane County. The Bonneville Power Administration has no buried cable, and Avista has only a short piece downtown.