Published Feb. 16, 2004

The Oregon committee that will decide the fate of a proposed 1,130-megawatt power plant 30 miles east of Klamath Falls met Friday to consider the power project.

The Oregon Facility Siting Council spent Friday morning considering a tentative recommendation from the Oregon Department of Energy to give the Cob Energy Facility a thumbs up. But the council made no decision.

The recommendation, which is in draft form, is 300 pages and incorporates advice from state agencies such as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Water Resources Department.

Catherine Van Horn, the Department of Energy analyst in charge of handling the Cob proposal, walked council members through the minutiae of the project in slide-show format.

While Van Horn wrote the draft proposed order that recommends Cob approval, it will be the council which ultimately decides whether a site certificate should be granted to the company.

About 20 people attended the meeting in addition to the seven-member council. Some were state officials, while others were project advocates and opponents who have been regulars at Cob meetings in the past year. Because the event was a council meeting, there were no opportunities for the general public to speak for or against the project.