Corrected Link: We Made It to the Supremes!

On January 18 David met Goliath at the Oregon Supreme Court! Six years ago that seemed like a far distant possibility, but after years of having our arguments dismissed or ignored by state agencies, we knew that the Court would be our only opportunity for an objective hearing. Thanks to your incredible support, we did it!

Justices peppered the attorneys with informed questions. Our attorney, Karl Anuta, effectively presented some of STOP’s important issues, and Hailey McAllister clearly argued her father’s (Michael McAllister) case that Idaho Power erred in ignoring BLM’s NEPA environmentally preferred route in Union County.

Our opponents--Idaho Power and ODOE/EFSC--were obviously concerned. Idaho Power engaged yet another legal firm to argue their case. ODOE sent a staff attorney that was not involved in the case, and in our estimation neither measured up. The video of the entire case is one hour: 15 minutes for each B2H opponent, and 15 minutes each for Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) and Idaho Power.

Watch the video of our oral arguments right HERE. The hearing starts at about 5 minutes into the video. A caveat: there are more issues within the written legal briefs than what was actually argued verbally. Our attorneys said this was normal; when the court rules, they will address all topics.

Extensive legal briefs were also filed by Stop B2H members: Irene Gilbert and Anne Morrison; but they were not able to provide oral argument without an attorney. Irene addresses mitigation measures around protected Oregon Trail sites and Anne filed a comprehensive “amicus brief” which outlines the extent of ODOE and EFSC regulatory failure.

The Court’s decision must be issued by June 20^th 2023, or it could be sooner. We hope to share more good news with you then. In the meantime, thank you again for helping us achieve a monumental goal.