A private developer wants to build a new transmission line stretching 100 miles from The Dalles to Portland — pitching the project as a critical fix for one of the region’s most pressing energy problems.
But there’s a catch. Most of the high‑voltage cable would be buried beneath the Columbia River. It would be the first project of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.
The proposed line, dubbed the Cascade Renewable Transmission System, would bring wind and solar power from eastern Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana into western Oregon, helping to break a bottleneck that has long stymied efforts to move renewable energy to the population centers that need it most…