Columbia River navigators grow worried as under-river power line project charges ahead

The Columbian —

Columbia River navigators are growing worried as a project to put a 100-mile power transmission line under the river charges ahead without offering ways to mitigate its impacts on the industry.

The Cascade Renewable Transmission project’s 1-foot-thick line would run from The Dalles, Ore., to the Vancouver-Portland area, with most of it being buried under the river.

But shippers worry that the project’s construction may block vessels carrying grain, trash, riverboat passengers and the fuel that keeps Eastern Washington running.

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