Idaho's most important elections are won in the primaries. If you want to have a say in how Jerome County is run, you have to vote in the primary.
The Southwest Intertie Project–North is a $1.1 billion, 285-mile, 500 kV transmission line terminating at the Midpoint Substation near Jerome. It deserves full public process — not a shortcut.
SWIP-N is not a Jerome County project. It is a California-bound transmission line that happens to plug into Jerome County. That distinction should shape how the county handles the special use permit — with full scrutiny, direct landowner notice, and an independent assessment of long-term impacts.
The Southwest Intertie Project–North (SWIP-N) is a 500 kilovolt high-voltage transmission line being developed by Great Basin Transmission, LLC, a subsidiary of LS Power. The line runs approximately 285 miles and terminates at the Midpoint Substation just outside Jerome, Idaho. The project cost is reported at approximately $1.1 billion.
SWIP-N is not a project that delivers power to Jerome County. It moves power through our county on its way to markets primarily in the western U.S. grid — and, under the tariff structure filed with FERC, primarily into California.
Approximately 80% of the Idaho energy transmitted across SWIP-N is destined for California per FERC filings, and the transmission line’s tariff is governed by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Jerome County hosts the terminus — and hosts the siting, easement, road, construction, and land-use impacts — while the commercial benefit flows elsewhere. That imbalance should be priced into every county-level decision.
A Special Use Permit application is before Jerome County. The Board of County Commissioners has already remanded the decision back to the Planning & Zoning Commission once. Residents have raised concerns about how:
Whether any specific procedural step violated Idaho Code is a legal question for a court or the Attorney General. What this page does is lay out the standard I will apply at the dais — so that, whatever has happened, what happens next is done correctly.
Idaho Code § 67-6509 requires proper public notice and hearings before any zoning ordinance or land use decision is adopted or amended. "Proper" is not the same as "minimum." For a project of SWIP-N’s scale, the county should:
Every landowner within a defined radius of the transmission corridor, associated roads, staging areas, substation expansion footprint, and ancillary infrastructure should receive direct written notice — not a one-column legal notice buried in the back of the newspaper. Current practice of notifying only adjacent parcels is not adequate for a 285-mile line.
A project applicant’s own impact analysis is not an independent assessment. The county should either commission the review directly (with applicant cost recovery) or rely on a third-party review retained by the county — not a consultant hired and paid by the applicant to produce documents for the applicant’s own permit.
Applicants sometimes frame local scrutiny as an obstacle to "clean energy" or "grid reliability" or "economic development." Those are real considerations. They are not substitutes for the conditions a county is legally required to apply before issuing a conditional use permit for an industrial facility of this scale.
Idaho Code Title 67, Chapter 65 makes counties — not developers, not out-of-state grid operators — the final local authority on land use. That responsibility comes with an obligation to actually exercise judgment: to ask hard questions, insist on real answers, and decline to vote until the record supports a decision.
A transmission line whose tariff is governed by CAISO and whose energy primarily serves California markets is not inherently bad. But it is also not inherently a "Jerome County benefit" project. Commissioners have a duty to ask, on the record: what does Jerome County specifically receive in exchange for hosting the terminus, and is that exchange fair?
The 2026 Idaho Republican Primary is Tuesday, May 19, 2026. A commission that does the reading, asks the questions, and writes conditions with teeth is the only protection Jerome County has when a $1.1 billion developer sets up at the counter.
Complete agenda packet, staff report, and any independent studies posted at least 10 days before any SWIP-N vote.
Written notice to every landowner within a defined radius of the corridor, roads, staging, and substation footprint.
County-retained or county-commissioned assessment — not a document produced by the applicant’s own consultant.
Financial assurance that infrastructure is removed and land restored at the end of service life. No “trust us.”
Every claim on this page is grounded in public law, public records, or directly observable public conduct.
"A $1.1 billion developer is not a partner the county needs to impress. It is an applicant that needs to meet the same standard as every other applicant — in full view of the public."— Jerry Holton