Thursday, April 2, 2015

Bonneville Power Administration Selects Final Path for Its Hooper Springs Transmission Project (Bonneville Power Administration)

(PORTLAND, OR) -- The Bonneville Power Administration has decided to build a 24-mile, 115-kilovolt transmission line and substation in southeastern Idaho so it can continue to provide stable and reliable transmission service in southeastern Idaho and northwestern Wyoming.

For the past nine years, BPA has worked with elected officials, local landowners, interest groups, cooperating agencies and other interested stakeholders to reach this decision.

“We thank everyone who has provided input that led to this decision,” said Richard Shaheen, senior vice president of BPA Transmission Services. “On balance, we believe the selected option achieves the objective of minimizing impacts to the environment while maintaining electric reliability in the area.”

BPA has selected the South Alternative’s Option 3A, as it is referred to in the project’s final environmental impact statement. This option, selected over the North and South alternatives and their options, will have fewer transmission structures and less miles of new access road construction. Option 3A has an estimated cost of $65 million, which is $9 million less than the North Alternative and about the same cost as the other build options.

BPA will spend the balance of 2015 acquiring land rights to construct the new transmission line and substation. It expects to start substation, transmission line and access road construction in spring 2016.

“We look forward to working with individual landowners as we begin to plan construction activities,” said BPA project manager Erich Orth. “Our goal of having the least amount of impact to landowners and property still remains the same.”

Additional information about the decision is available on the BPA website.