Refined

routing

underway



SAN LUIS VALLEY — The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) informed Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Xcel Energy on Thursday that the environmental review for the Southern Colorado Transmission Improvements Project will include the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS).

Tri-State and Xcel plan to build the San Luis Valley-Calumet-Comanche Transmission Project, a proposed east-west 150-mile transmission line and new substation.

The Southern Colorado Transmission Improvements Project is proposed to provide back up power for the Valley, which now relies solely on lines over Poncha Pass, and to provide a means of exporting out of the Valley power generated by renewable resources, primarily solar.

The transmission line project is subject to a federal environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NEPA review originates from a request for financing to the RUS for Tri-State’s ownership portion of the project. The NEPA process began as an environmental assessment (EA) with a public scoping process based on RUS environmental policies and procedures.

Based on initial review of the draft scoping report, as well as additional comments received beyond the official scoping period, the RUS has determined that the appropriate level of environmental review for this project includes preparation of an EIS.

The process to date, including the hosting of public scoping meetings, was structured to accommodate the development of either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement.

The NEPA review process began in August 2009 with several public scoping meetings hosted by the RUS and a public comment period.

Comments received during these meetings and through the end of the initial comments period are summarized in a draft scoping report that is being finalized for public release by the RUS. Comments received after the initial comment period ended, along with comments received in an additional comment period, will be included in a supplemental scoping report. Details will be available in a future notice published by RUS in the Federal Register.

Comments made to date on the proposal have been considered and additional field investigations have been completed as part of the route refinement process.

Refined routes are now available on the project website (www.socotransmission.com). Notification will be made to persons located in the project area and on the project mailing list. A detailed comparative analysis is also being performed on the revised routes.

Route refinement open houses will be held in early 2010 to encourage further public and stakeholder participation in the routing analysis. Dates for these open houses will soon be announced.

One of the larger property owners to be affected by the new transmission line, Trinchera Ranch (formerly Forbes Trinchera), responded to the latest environmental review development in the project by saying it was a good first step but urged the Rural Utilities Service to continue to look at alternatives to the proposed route across the Trinchera and La Veta Pass.

“This is a good first step by the Rural Utilities Service. It acknowledges the likelihood of serious negative environmental impacts along the currently proposed transmission route that require the highest degree of analysis,” said Cody Wertz, spokesman for Trinchera Ranch.

“It is now vital that RUS expand the study area to ensure that all reasonable alternatives for siting this transmission line are objectively evaluated. This includes the northern route options and any others that satisfy the electrical and environmental needs of the San Luis Valley,” he said.

The Trinchera Ranch recently submitted a study report to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) outlining alternatives to the currently proposed route. Trinchera Ranch maintained these alternatives would be: better, cheaper, faster than current proposal; fully address the Valley’s energy reliability needs; cost $40-$50 million less than the current proposed route; accommodate significantly more new electrical generation from the Valley than is proposed by the utilities for the foreseeable future; accommodate up to 1300 megawatts of combined new generation in the Valley and Walsenburg areas - more than double what is proposed for the foreseeable future; and eliminate the need to build a new west-east transmission line.

James Dauphinais of Brubaker & Associates, Inc., who conducted the study that Trinchera Ranch spokesmen referred to, maintained that the Valley’s current power reliability issues and future power needs could be handled through thermal solar generation with storage and the addition of a transformer and new transmission line to the north, at Poncha.

“The need to address reliability in the San Luis Valley and accommodate proposed renewable resource commitments in the San Luis Valley and Calumet areas can be adequately met by substituting any one of a number of significantly lower cost alternatives for the San Luis Valley to Calumet transmission line portion of the Companies’ Proposed Project,” Dauphinais testified to the PUC.

A Colorado PUC administrative law judge will take public comment Nov. 9 in Walsenburg and Nov. 10 in Alamosa on the new electric transmission project.

Public hearings are scheduled from 6-9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9, at the Huerfano County Community Center, 928 Russell Ave., in Walsenburg; and from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Family Recreation Center, 2222 Old Sanford Rd., in Alamosa.

Utilities are required by law to seek PUC authority to build and own certain major electricity infrastructure projects in Colorado. The PUC determines whether there is a need for the project, and whether the application is in the public interest. The proceeding before the PUC will not determine the routing of the line.

Along with authority to construct the project, the companies are asking the PUC for specific findings that the expected noise and electro-magnetic field (EMF) levels associated with the project as designed and quantified in the application would be reasonable. The two companies also seek approval to transfer ownership interest as needed when the project is completed.