BLM and CPUC Announce Final Joint Environmental Review of Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission Project

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today published a Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Report / Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIR/FEIS) for Southern California Edison's Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission Project, a joint environmental review with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
 
Southern California Edison has applied for a right-of-way (ROW) authorization to upgrade and replace approximately 35 miles of an existing 115-kilovolt (kV) transmission line on public lands with a new double circuit 230-kV transmission line.

The proposed transmission line would handle projected electricity produced from several renewable energy project proposals in and around the Ivanpah Valley including the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generation System planned by Solar Partners, LLC. The proposed transmission line and new substation would be constructed mostly within an existing designated utility corridor on public lands in San Bernardino County, California and Clark County, Nevada.

BLM, as the lead agency under the National Environmental Policy Act, and the California Public Utilities Commission as the lead state agency under the California Environmental Quality Act, prepared the analysis of site-specific impacts of the proposed grant of the ROW.  The proposed upgrade to the transmission line, if approved by the agencies, would be initiated in 2011.
 
The joint FEIR/FEIS is now available for a 30-day public review ending January 17, 2011. The BLM will not issue a Record of Decision until at least 30 days following the publication of the Environmental Protection Agency’s notice of availability of this document in the Federal Register.

The joint FEIR/FEIS is available for public review at the following website:  http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/ene/ivanpah/Ivanpah_FEIR-EIS.html.

For more information contact BLM project manager Tom Hurshman at 970-240-5345, or email caeitp@blm.gov.

California Desert District   22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553