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No. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut denied Malheur Mining Company’s request for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against construction of Idaho Power’s Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line. The ruling allows construction to continue for now; it does not decide whether Malheur Mining’s claims are valid or finally resolve the dispute over mineral rights.
What the judge decided—and what she did not
Courthouse News Service reported that Judge Immergut denied the company’s request for emergency relief after a bench ruling. She said, “Under this record, I don’t find there’s irreparable harm by not stopping the building of the power line.” On the public-interest question, the report quotes her saying, “I think the stronger public interest is in the power lines being built.” Courthouse News Service
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This was an interim decision about whether to halt work while the dispute proceeds. It was not a final ruling on the validity of the mining claims, the parties’ competing mineral-rights arguments, or the merits of the case. The report does not establish the federal case number, exact hearing date, or a written order.
Why Malheur Mining sought to stop the line
Malheur Mining said Idaho Power’s planned line crosses its staked, active claims in Malheur County and that concrete footings above the claims interfere with its mineral rights. The company said it has maintained the claims for decades and invested millions. Its attorney, Steve O’Dell, argued that the line would be “fixed, massive infrastructure that, once built, will be there for many, many years.” These are the company’s positions as reported, not findings by the judge.
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O’Dell said the company was seeking an alternative route that could still allow the line to be energized by the end of 2027 or in 2028 while protecting the claims, rather than seeking to stop the project outright.
Idaho Power’s response and the claims dispute
Idaho Power disputed that Malheur Mining had demonstrated valid claims under the Mining Law of 1872. It argued that the company had not shown minerals that could be extracted, removed, and marketed at a profit. Idaho Power also contended that even a discovery claim would not give the company an exclusive right to the surface, because the Bureau of Land Management owns the land and minerals until extraction. Those are litigation arguments; the emergency ruling did not adjudicate them.
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The Courthouse News report says the claims were acquired in the 1980s and had not been developed. Malheur Mining argued that long-held, undeveloped claims on public land are not unusual. Idaho Power estimated that the project would affect about five acres of the company’s 20 acres of claims and pointed to the company’s project-review status. The report says Malheur Mining had submitted a notice of intent to BLM but had not submitted an application to the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
The report describes a known gold deposit as valued at more than half a billion dollars, but does not identify the valuation source, year, or technical report. That figure is therefore an attributed claim, not an independently established valuation.
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Construction and project scale
Courthouse News describes the Boardman-to-Hemingway project as a 300-mile, 500-kilovolt line running from Boardman, Oregon, to Hemingway, Idaho. The report says construction began in late 2024 under BLM authorization and that Idaho Power said work was continuing, with about 70 miles of wire strung and energization expected by late 2027. The report does not provide the date of the underlying project update, so those progress and schedule figures should be understood as statements reported at that time, not independently verified current status.
The disagreement over a possible route change did not produce an agreement. Idaho Power’s attorney, Erica Malmen, said the company made a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute but that it became clear it would be “a never-ending game.” The report says Malheur Mining had staked new claims along some alternatives proposed in the discussions, while Idaho Power considered some proposed routes unviable. Those descriptions reflect Idaho Power’s account. Judge Immergut urged the parties to reconsider settlement talks after denying emergency relief.
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Separate Oregon permitting case
A 2025 Oregon Supreme Court decision concerns an earlier, separate challenge to an amended state site certificate for the same transmission line. In Gilbert/March v. Oregon Department of Energy, decided March 27, 2025, the court affirmed the Energy Facility Siting Council’s order. It explained that the amendment expanded the site boundary but did not authorize construction outside approved micrositing corridors; a proposal to build outside those corridors would require further approval and review. That state permitting decision is context, not the ruling in Malheur Mining’s federal emergency-relief dispute. Oregon Supreme Court opinion
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