U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORBUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Wyoming
Link to Interactive Project Map.
Mailing List
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Proponent's Website
Please visit Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power's Gateway West project website. Visit the Proponents’ Parcel Search Map to search by private land owner, organization, or address and to zoom in along the routes.
NEW – BLM releases final Environmental Impact Statement
The BLM has released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public review and comment. The publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register marks the beginning of a 60-day comment period, which ends June 28. The BLM will host 13 public open house meetings throughout the project area the weeks of May 6 and May 13.
About this project

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Caribou-Targhee, Medicine Bow-Routt and Sawtooth National Forests are conducting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for the proposed Gateway West Transmission Line Project. The BLM is the lead federal agency for the NEPA process.

NEPA Process

The final environmental impact statement was released on April 26, 2013 and is now available for public review and comment. The public comment period will run from April 26 through June 28.

The BLM released the draft environmental impact statement for the project on July 29, 2011, which was followed by a 90-day public comment period and 17 public meetings throughout the project area. Public comments received by the BLM are available to search and view on this website.

Project impacts to sage-grouse were analyzed and incorporated in the DEIS as part of the "Analysis Framework for Interstate Transmission Lines" (Appendix J). All components of the Analysis Framework were presented in the DEIS, with the exception of the habitat equivalency analysis (HEA), released on June 29, 2012 as part of a Sage-Grouse Addendum to the DEIS. The BLM will incorporate comments received on the sage-grouse analysis into the final EIS (FEIS). The BLM also hosted two public meetings in February 2012 to present information and answer questions regarding the status of the sage-grouse HEA at that time. View information made available at those meetings.

The BLM identified the agency preferred alternatives for the project in August 2012. Preferred alternatives were selected after reviewing draft EIS comments, coordinating with local, state and federal governments and cooperating agencies, briefing BLM Washington Office program and policy staff, and considering changes to the proposal identified in a February 10, 2012 letter from the Proponents.

Project Overview

This project is jointly proposed by Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power. The companies plan to construct and operate 230 and 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines from the Windstar Substation near Glenrock, Wyoming to the Hemingway Substation near Melba, Idaho.

The proposed project is composed of 10 transmission line segments with a total length of approximately 1,000 miles across southern Wyoming and southern Idaho. The proposed line crosses approximately 500 miles of public land managed by the BLM, including 300 miles in Idaho and 200 miles in Wyoming. In February 2012, Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power submitted a revised project application to update their originally proposed routes, as presented in the DEIS. All route changes and updates to the plan of development (POD) will be analyzed in full in the FEIS.

Cooperating Agencies

Cooperating agencies include the U.S. Forest Service; National Park Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; State of Wyoming; State of Idaho; Idaho Army National Guard; Cassia, Twin Falls and Power counties, Idaho; City of Kuna, Idaho; Elko County, Nevada; Carbon, Lincoln and Sweetwater counties, Wyoming; and the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins and Medicine Bow conservation districts in Wyoming.

For questions or to share additional information about the project please email: Gateway_West_WYMail@blm.gov.

Announcements
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