Baker Ruling Clears Way for Idaho Power B2H Work in Eastern Oregon

A written order issued Feb. 20 by Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff reaffirmed Idaho Power Company’s legal authority to secure private easements for the 500-kV Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line, including by condemnation if necessary, and found the project will benefit electricity customers, including those in Eastern Oregon. The decision removes a key obstacle that has slowed land access in Baker, Union, Umatilla, Morrow and Malheur counties.

The B2H project spans about 293 miles and is planned to run through parts of Baker, Union, Umatilla and Morrow counties, with construction in Malheur County previously slated for fall 2025 and a company aim to finish the line by 2027. Project opponents and some intervenors have argued the line primarily serves “certain large new loads” such as data centers, an issue raised repeatedly in administrative and court proceedings.

The ruling follows a multi‑year litigation record in Baker County. Idaho Power filed its first Baker County condemnation complaint in September 2023 for a parcel near Interstate 84 roughly five miles southeast of Baker City, and had filed 14 condemnation suits in Baker County as of a Nov. 9, 2024 report. Attorneys Tim Helfrich and Zach Olson of Ontario were identified as the filers of the Baker County complaints; additional condemnation complaints were filed in Union and Morrow counties.

Judge Shirtcliff has issued divergent outcomes across individual landowner cases during the litigation. In March 2024 he ruled in the eminent domain lawsuit against Scott and Kylie Gressley of Baker City, granting Idaho Power access to a privately owned parcel but increasing compensation to the landowners to $83,960 total - a breakdown of $45,000 for loss of grazing rights, $10,000 for shipping and fuel, $10,000 for loss of other uses, plus the $18,960 Idaho Power had offered. Shirtcliff wrote that construction on B2H likely will force the Gressleys to cease grazing cattle on their property for at least one year; the Gressleys run about 200 cow‑calf pairs and eight bulls on a roughly 2,000‑acre property they bought in September 2022.

By contrast, another Baker County ruling favored landowners. “Judge Matt Shirtcliff in Baker County Circuit Court on Oct. 29 granted a summary judgment to Tel and Lacey Abbe, who own a ranch near Farewell Bend,” and “Although Shirtcliff’s ruling dismisses the lawsuit, the judge issued his order without prejudice, meaning Idaho Power can file a new lawsuit against the Abbes.” That dismissal, reported in late 2024, left the company able to refile but temporarily blocked immediate easement acquisition on that parcel.

The Feb. 20 order also arrives amid contested administrative proceedings. An Oregon administrative law judge in 2021 issued multiple rulings in OAH Case No. 2019‑ABC‑02833, including a Nov. 2, 2021 ruling declining to dismiss a set of contested issues and an Aug. 10, 2021 order dismissing Issue HCA‑2. Opponents cited those administrative records and a pending motion by an attorney identified only as Martin, who argued that Idaho Power “no longer has that authority because the purpose of the power line has changed since the PUC granted the permit in 2023.” Martin raised that argument at a Dec. 29 hearing before Shirtcliff where Tim Helfrich also appeared.

With Shirtcliff’s Feb. 20 written ruling upholding Idaho Power’s condemnation authority and the 2023 Public Utility Commission certificate that the company relies on, Idaho Power can move to secure easements more aggressively across affected eastern Oregon parcels. If Idaho Power proceeds, the decision could accelerate right‑of‑way acquisitions that the company has used to schedule Malheur County construction and to pursue its goal of completing B2H by 2027.