Route change moves MATL from tepee rings on Salois property

3:53 PM, Aug. 4, 2011

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality approved a key route change Thursday for a power transmission line east of Cut Bank that has the support of the company proposing the line and the landowner.

The amendment will allow Tonbridge Power Co. to shift the line of the poles so they do not impact historic tepee rings on land owned by Shirley Salois. Larry Salois, Shirley’s guardian, said he was guardedly optimistic he can come to terms with Tonbridge in the wake of the decision.

“I think we’ll be able to move ahead with this thing I hope,” Salois said.

DEQ and Tonbridge officials met with Salois on the site recently to discuss the changes. Tonbridge’s Darryl James said the decision moves the line so it avoids the entire cultural site.

“It is the final regulatory hurdle at the state level to see if we can’t get this thing moving forward again,” James said.

The project has been stalled because of disputes with landowners over the impact of the line, beginning with Salois.

In 2010, a Glacier County district judge ruled Tonbridge could not condemn an easement across the Salois land. In 2011, the Legislature passed a law allowing developers of merchant transmission lines to use eminent domain.

The law is now being challenged in Teton District Court by landowners living along the southern portion of route between Cut Bank and Great Falls.

The decision on the Salois amendment is the third change the DEQ has approved to shift the line to address concerns raised by landowners in its path.

See Friday's Tribune for more details.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20110804/NEWS01/110804020/Route-change-moves-MATL-from-tepee-rings-Salois-property