Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Otter backs cell tower

Idaho gov says safety issues outweigh the environmental concerns of 90-foot tower


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

C.L. "Butch" Otter

The ongoing debate over a local company's bid to construct a 90-foot, self-supporting cellular tower at Galena Summit northwest of Ketchum has caught the attention of Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.

In a Dec. 30 letter to Jane Kollmeyer, supervisor of the Sawtooth National Forest, Otter argued that recent accidents and deaths near Galena Summit highlight the "critical" need for reliable emergency communications along state Highway 75. The two-lane roadway traverses the rural area between Ketchum and Stanley and the length of the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

"I believe this project will increase safety and security for Idahoans and our visitors," Otter stated in the letter.

Otter's letter stems from the denial last July by Kollmeyer of the proposed "stealth" tower, designed to look like a fir tree. In denying the project, she cited the "substantial impairment" the project would have on the scenic ridgetop. Idaho Tower Co.—the company that hopes to construct the tower—has appealed the decision.

This past fall, a regional official with the U.S. Forest Service reversed Kollmeyer's decision denying the proposed cell tower, on the grounds that the forest provided insufficient opportunity for public comment. Sawtooth officials have said they will reopen public comment on the application sometime soon.

Otter wrote that serving the public safety needs of all Idahoans and its visitors is a high priority for the state. He stated that cellular phone coverage for public use is just one of the benefits that this project could offer to the Sawtooth National Forest.

"Increased communications in this area would facilitate more timely responses to emergency situations," he wrote. "The tower would enable state agencies to communicate in support of law enforcement and highway departments along one of the most-used highways in the state."

Otter isn't the first current or former Idaho governor to wade into the controversial topic affecting what many would argue is the state's prized natural area.

In an opinion piece published in the Idaho Mountain Express on Dec. 31, Cecil Andrus, a former Idaho governor and secretary of the Interior under President Jimmy Carter, argued that cell towers and the SNRA do not mix.

The letter—cosigned by Gray Reynolds, retired deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tom Kovalicky, former SNRA assistant superintendent and Linn Kincannon, central Idaho director of the Idaho Conservation League—alleges that the tower would likely be the first of many.

"No thinking person can seriously believe that proponents of the Galena tower will be content to stop at just one tower," the letter states.




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