Still No Answers In Power County Closure

More than 100 people attended a meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation in American Falls on Monday.

Those people are unhappy about the bureau’s closure of 2,100 acres around the Snake River in Power County, and they were looking for answers.

County Commissioner Delane Anderson said several people gave testimony in opposition of the closure, but local attorney and landowner Ryan Petersen said the bureau was lacking in answers.

Petersen said most people at the meeting just wanted to know why the closure is happening, and the most the bureau could offer was that there may be some archeological artifacts it wants to find and protect.

But Anderson said the Bureau of Reclamation may have violated federal regulations in closing the land so quickly, and disputes the claim that this is an emergency situation as the bureau said it is.

Petersen said as a landowner in the closure area, he would definitely consider legal action.

“A lot of depends on finding out more information on what happened. Certainly as an attorney, you can’t fight something unless you know what you’re fighting, and here, they’ve given us no information,” Petersen said.

Anderson said the county is considering legal action against the bureau as well. It is now trying to figure out what options exist in terms of filing suit.