Portland General Electric wants to cut down 375 trees in Forest Park, and Bethany and Cedar Mill residents have until Tuesday, Oct. 13, to weigh in.
PGE's revised application for its Harborton Reliability Project would clear 4.7 acres of mature forest in what the city's management plan calls the park's most protected section. The project would remove the trees, permanently fill two wetlands and affect two streams to upgrade an existing transmission line and add a new quarter-mile segment, according to the city's land use staff report.
The upgraded line runs from Harborton to Washington County, where increased energy demand from new data centers is driving the project, according to Forest Park Conservancy. The group says that means the power-line corridor through Forest Park would directly serve the grid feeding Bethany and Cedar Mill.
How the deal happened
Portland City Council voted 12-0 in May 2025 to deny PGE's original application. Council members agreed with city staff, Forest Park Conservancy, and Forest Park Neighborhood Association that the project violated the Forest Park Natural Resource Management Plan.
PGE appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals. The city and conservation groups entered mediation at PGE's request. But after four months, city leadership entered bilateral negotiations with PGE, cutting conservation partners out of the final deal, Bird Alliance of Oregon said in a July 7 press release.
Under the agreement reached in July, PGE agreed to pay $5.5 million in environmental mitigation, up from $2.4 million in the original proposal. In exchange, the city administrator directed staff to write a favorable report supporting PGE's new application, as first reported by KATU. Conservation groups had pushed for at least $8 million during mediation, according to KATU.
PGE spokesperson Andrea Platt told KATU in July that the project is urgently needed because the system could face outages by 2028 without the upgrades. Portland City Administrator Raymond Lee said in the same July statement that the agreement "reflects significant improvements compared to the proposal that entered mediation."
What opponents say
Micah Meskel, director of urban conservation at Bird Alliance of Oregon, said in a July 7 press release that the city "caved to PGE's pressure campaign" and that the deal "lets the investor-owned utility off the hook for their poor planning and lack of serious consideration of alternative routes."
The stakes go beyond this project. Carole Handy, board vice chair of Forest Park Conservancy, warned in the same press release that PGE plans two more development projects in the same area over the next decade. Phase 5 alone would affect an additional 15 acres.
No trees would be allowed to regrow under the new power lines, Forest Park Conservancy says. An independent analysis cited by the group found a viable alternate route along Marina Way, parallel to Highway 30, that would avoid the park entirely.
How to comment
Written comments must be emailed to [email protected] by Tuesday, Oct. 13. Include Hearings Office case number 4260012 and planning case number LU 26-051203 CU EN GW.
A public hearing before a city hearings officer is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. The hearings officer's decision can be appealed to City Council within two weeks.
Conservation groups are organizing a rally before the hearing on Oct. 14. Forest Park Conservancy, Bird Alliance of Oregon, Sierra Club, 350 PDX and others are encouraging supporters to wear green.
Upcoming community events
- Coffee with a Cop, Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Bethany Village Starbucks
- Library maze and free classes, throughout October at Bethany and Cedar Mill libraries
