Elko District Office
| Contacts: | Lesli Ellis | , 775-753-0386 | , lellis@blm.gov |
BLM Approves ROW for Tuscarora Geothermal Plant and Electric Transmission Line
Elko, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Elko District, Tuscarora Field Office has signed the Decision Record for the Right-of-Way (ROW) for an access road for the Tuscarora Geothermal Plant and corresponding Electric Transmission Line proposed by Ormat Nevada, Inc. The decision record follows the completion of an environmental assessment which was made available to the public July 15, 2011.
The DoE and the BLM prepared a joint EA providing current analysis regarding the impacts of the proposed geothermal power plant and electric transmission line. The EA, decision record and Finding of No Significant Impacts are available at www.blm.gov/rv5c.
The transmission line will be 24.5 miles long, with a carrying capacity of 120 kilovolts from the 18 net megawatt Tuscarora Geothermal Plant, located about 10 miles north of Tuscarora, Nev., at the north end of Independence Valley. The transmission line will run from the power plant east to State Route 226, then roughly parallel the highway until it ends at Nevada Energy's Humboldt Substation about seven miles west of the intersection of State Route 225 and State Route 226. The transmission line will affect 8.5 miles of public land managed by the BLM Tuscarora Field Office and 16 miles of private land. The geothermal plant is entirely on private land.
For any questions or additional information, please contact Kirk Laird at (775) 753-0272.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.