IFP Newsletter, Other Thoughts

There were a couple of other statements that came out of the IFP newsletter that I wanted to address.

Idaho Falls Power states:

"IFP is using an acquisition process that invokes fairness to property owners while managing justifiable expenditure of rate payer money."

I find that this statement is an admission by IFP that paying full market value for our property is NOT a justifiable expenditure of rate payer money.  They admit that the offers reflect a balancing of both paying for acquired land and not spending more than their rate payers would want them to spend.  They know that they will eventually be forced by the courts to pay fair market value for our land.  Their hope is that by intimidating and coercing land owners they will get away with paying a fraction of the true cost of the land. 

Idaho Falls Power also states:

"Investigation into route options on the west has not produced a less expensive option (costs range from 120 percent to 350 percent more)."

In other words, "investigation into route options on the west has not produced an option that we can afford, so we are going to trample the rights of county residents (who don't get to vote for city leaders) in order to get what we want."

City Officials know that if they tried to cram this eyesore down the throats of city residents they would all be voted out of office.  IFP knows that if they tried to build transmission lines through the private property of city rate payers they would be met with too much resistance.