BLM Announces the Availability of a Record of Decision for the Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission Project in the Mojave Desert

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today published a Notice of Availability of a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission Project electric transmission line in San Bernardino County, Calif. and Clark County, Nev.
 
Southern California Edison applied for a right-of-way authorization in 2009 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 transmission line will handle projected electricity produced from several renewable energy project proposals in and around the Ivanpah Valley including the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generation System currently under construction by Bright Source Energy Partners, LLC.  The transmission line and new substation will be constructed within an existing designated utility corridor connecting at Edison’s Eldorado Substation near Boulder City, Nev.

BLM, as the lead agency under the National Environmental Policy Act, prepared a final environmental impact statement that analyzed the site-specific impacts of the proposed grant of the ROW.  The CPUC as the lead California agency for the licensing of electric transmission lines and for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, also prepared a final environmental impact report.  The CPUC approved the proposed transmission line on December 27, 2010.  Construction of the proposed upgrade to the transmission line is expected to take 18 months beginning in late 2011. 

The ROD is available on the BLM Eldorado-Ivanpah webpage at: www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy/fasttrack/Eldorado_Ivanpah/fedstatus.html.

For further information please contact 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