The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council heard a detailed project overview on the Cascade Renewable Transmission Project during a combined informational and land‑use consistency hearing.

Chris Hawker, an on‑site representative for the applicant and identified with PowerBridge, described the project as a roughly 100‑mile high‑voltage direct‑current transmission route that begins at the Big Eddy substation in The Dalles and terminates in the Rivergate industrial area of Portland. "It is about a 100 miles in length, of which about 80 is underwater," Hawker said, adding the cable would be "buried 10 to 15 feet below the sediment of the river" rather than laid on the riverbed.

Hawker and applicant representatives described technical elements including converter stations at each end (roughly a 5‑acre property footprint for a converter station), horizontal directional drilling (HDD) landings, and in‑water installation using a hydroplow or jet‑plow that "jets a trench" and lays the cable bundle. The proposal calls for construction to take about 3½ years, with in‑water work scheduled only during environmental agency work windows in winter (typically November through March) to avoid sensitive fish migration and spawning periods.

The applicant said the line would be direct current to minimize mechanical complexity over long underwater distances and that the system capacity would be roughly 1,100 megawatts. Hawker noted prior comparable projects (Neptune, Hudson, Transbay) and said the company has performed geophysical, sediment transport and magnetic‑field modeling and biological assessments to inform siting.

FSEC staff confirmed the role of the council and the steps that follow an application: public informational meetings, land‑use consistency hearings, SEPA review (DNS/MDNS or EIS), and, where necessary, adjudicative proceedings. Executive Director Sonya Bumpus urged the public to sign up for project notifications and explained how SEPA scoping would be used to set the scope of any environmental impact statement.

The applicant and staff said coordination is underway with the Oregon Department of Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; staff noted the 401 water‑quality certification and Corps 404/408/section‑10 permitting would be part of the permitting sequence and that FSEC seeks to coordinate to avoid duplicative or conflicting requirements.

The hearing did not resolve permitting outcomes. FSEC and applicants said a draft site certification agreement would be prepared if the council ultimately recommends approval and that the governor then has a 60‑day window to approve, reject or remand the recommendation.

The council moved from the informational portion into a separate land‑use consistency hearing for Skamania County after public comments concluded; those hearing comments focused on consistency with local shoreline and zoning rules and on procedural questions about the application status.

Provenance: topicintro SEG 017; topfinish SEG 1083