Irene Gilbert, a member of the Stop B2H coalition, reviews official documents at her desk in her La Grande, Oregon home on June 10, 2025. Gilbert has spent years researching and filing public records requests related to the proposed Idaho Power transmission line, becoming one of the coalition’s most knowledgeable and persistent watchdogs in the fight to protect eastern Oregon’s landscapes.
Steve Lenz / OPB
Meet Irene Gilbert, a 76-year-old retired state employee, former gun store owner and avid elk hunter from La Grande, Oregon. She’s a citizen activist who considers herself an environmentalist and is on a mission to keep wind turbines and transmission towers from blighting the rural landscape.
She’s using regulations originally set up to address concerns about nuclear power plants in Oregon to oppose renewable energy projects. She has filed more challenges to energy projects than any other individual in the state. And some renewable energy advocates say the processes Gilbert uses could be one reason that Oregon is lagging behind almost every other state when it comes to green energy projects.
OPB investigative reporter and editor Tony Schick joins us to talk about the story he recently did for OPB and ProPublica featuring Gilbert and examining Oregon’s renewable energy challenges.
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.
