Bird Alliance of Oregon’s connection with Forest Park goes back way beyond our advocacy over PGE’s proposal. Our members were instrumental in getting the park established over 75 years ago and in passing the Forest Park Natural Resource Management Plan, a document that legally governs how Forest Park is to be managed. The goals of the plan are to (1) grow an ancient forest and (2) protect and enhance the forest for educational and recreational purposes. It should be evident that building a power line in Forest Park does not align with these goals.
As of October 29, 2024, the City deemed PGE’s proposal complete and began the review process. Now anyone can access and read the proposal. It’s several hundred pages long, so understandably, you may not want to tackle that, but we’ve read through it and have done our best to distill the technical jargon into key takeaways.
So, what’s new with the Harborton Reliability Project? The main pillars remain the same: PGE wants to update an existing transmission line and install a new one, which would severely impact 4.7 acres of maturing, complex forest in Forest Park. As required, PGE included a plan to mitigate the environmental impacts of this development, which we believe is insufficient from both an ecological and a legal point of view.
Perhaps the most interesting morsel from PGE’s full proposal is the Toth Report. PGE commissioned an analysis, the Toth Report, to investigate alternative options for development. This report found at least two viable options fully outside Forest Park. The Toth Report came out two years ago, but PGE only disclosed it in October 2024. This means PGE knew of alternative options but withheld this key piece of information from stakeholders until the last minute. The Toth Report indicates that it is possible for PGE to fulfill the goals of the Harborton Reliability Project without impacting Forest Park. But that would involve coordinating with more landowners, so they don’t want to.
The proposal has a windy route to approval ahead, and we need our advocates speaking out at every juncture. The next opportunity to advocate against the proposal is on January 29, 2025. There will be a public hearing at 9 a.m. before the Hearings Officer, who will decide whether to approve the proposal. You can testify at this hearing, as well as submit comments to the Hearings Office beforehand. We expect that our future City Council will also be key decision-makers, and it will be important to send them comments too.
The deadline to submit comments to the Hearings Officer is January 29, 2025. Send them to:
Morgan.Steele@portlandoregon.gov
As we continue to develop our advocacy strategy, stay informed by signing up for Action Alerts. For more information and resources, check out our webpage on the Harborton Reliability Project. You can find details on the project, our advocacy strategy, a recording of our Fight for Forest Park Nature Night, and more resources there. Let’s fight for Forest Park, together.
