Power station work to start in April

Construction of a new Central Electric Cooperative power station just outside the Tollgate subdivision will start on April 6. The project is expected to take six months to complete.

Representatives from the utility presented plans to Tollgate residents last week.

CEC needs a new, larger station that can accommodate a mandated transition from 69 kv power to 115 kv power. Bonneville Power Administration has mandated conversion by 2010.

Load on the CEC system increased from an average of 44.7 megawatt peak in 1993-94 to 74.4mw in 2007-08, pushing the top end of the system's capacity.

Neighbors of the proposed project, concerned about diminished property values and quality of life, have raised opposition to the project. Some wondered why the substation couldn't be sited further into the woods west of Tollgate where it wouldn't be seen.

CEC spokesman Allan Guggenheim has explained that the Forest Service would not make land available if CEC already owned land - and the cooperative has owned the land near Tollgate for 25 years.

Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony confirmed to The Nugget last year that the Forest Service can only offer up public lands for such facilities if there is no other choice.

The project is now moving forward with some landscape screening to address concerns about visual impact. The berms are supposed to be constructed along with fencing in the sixth week of the project, in mid-May.

The project will start with clearing of vegetation, tree removal and the pouring of a concrete foundation.

CEC officials have assured local residents that construction of the substation would not have as much impact as the earlier erection of steel power poles on the border of Tollgate.