Today marks the next step in a 1,000 mile proposed power line that would cross most of southern Idaho. Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power want to build the Gateway West Transmission Line to add power capacity.
The Bureau of Land Management releases the Final Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS for the project today. It looks at how the power line would affect the environment along its route from Glenrock, Wyoming to Melba, southwest of Boise.
Heather Feeney is with the Idaho office of the Bureau of Land Management. “It’s important to understand the final EIS is not a decision," she says. "We’re not going to be announcing or telling anyone where the project will be built, that is still in proposed phase. The decision on where the project will be built will come later.”
The BLM will take 60 days of public comment on today's proposal before a decision is made. That includes input on BLM’s idea to phase in parts of the project.
The power line is divided into ten segments. Feeney says the parties involved with the project have reached consensus on some of those pieces. But other segments, including those that cross private land, have been more controversial. “So we’re proposing this idea of a phased decision," Feeney says. "So that we can have more time to work with stakeholders and other interested parties to see if we can’t reach consensus on those segments where we’re not quite there yet.”
Under a phased in approach, some of the ten segments would get the green light, while others are held back to allow time for more discussion.
The two month comment period starts today and runs through the end of June. The BLM will hold nine public meetings in Idaho during that time:
May 6, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Boise, ID Boise Hotel and Conference Center
May 7, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Kuna, ID Old Gym
May 8, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Murphy, ID Owyhee County Museum
May 9, 2013 5:00-8:00 p.m. Melba, ID Melba High School
May 13, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Twin Falls, ID Red Lion Canyon Springs Inn
May 14, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Burley, ID Best Western Burley Inn
May 15, 2013 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Pocatello, ID Ramada Inn Pocatello
May 15, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. American Falls, ID American Falls Intermediate School
May 16, 2013 4:00-7:00 p.m. Montpelier, ID The National OR/CA Trail Center
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