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BOISE, ID – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today published the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the final two sections of the Gateway West Transmission Project that go through southwest Idaho. The identified routes avoid to the greatest extent possible private land, sage-grouse habitat and the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA). 

The routes are identified as “Alternative 5” in a Final Supplemental EIS announced today in the Federal Register. In total, the SEIS analyzes seven pairs of possible route combinations for Segments 8 and 9 of the Gateway West Project, which would each span more than 125 miles between substations at Cedar Hill and Midpoint in south-central Idaho and the Hemingway substation in western Owyhee County. Comments received on the Draft SEIS published in March helped the BLM prepare the Final SEIS and select Alternative 5 as the Agency’s Preferred Alternative. 

Segments 8 and 9 as aligned in Alternative 5 would cross 17.6 miles of public land in the NCA, 8.8 miles per line, separated by 250 feet in a 500-foot-wide right of way. 

“When Congress established the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, the BLM was tasked with ensuring that those lands receive a heightened level of protection and care. That's a responsibility that we take seriously," said Idaho State Director Tim Murphy. "Another important effort we've undertaken is working with the state and other essential partners to protect high-quality sage-grouse habitat throughout southern Idaho. The routes we have selected honor both of these priorities while also providing a path forward for this important project." 

A final decision on whether to authorize construction on public lands of Segments 8 and 9 is expected by the end of 2016. The Final SEIS, including the BLM land use plans proposed for amendment, and other information on the Gateway West project will be available online here upon official publication of the Final SEIS tomorrow. 

About the Gateway West Transmission Project 

The Gateway West Project is a national-level priority and an important component of President Obama’s initiative to transform the Nation’s power grid and spur development of renewable energy. The Final SEIS identifies the Agency’s Preferred Alternative for the final two segments of the proposed transmission line and presents a framework for compensatory mitigation of impacts to the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA, which encompasses lands in Elmore, Ada, Canyon and Owyhee counties. 

Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power jointly proposed the line as 10 segments originating at the Windstar substation near Glenrock, Wyoming and terminating at the Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho, 20 miles southwest of Boise, to deliver up to 1,500 megawatts of transmission capacity in southern Wyoming and southern Idaho – enough to power 975,000 homes. After extensive environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the BLM approved eight of the ten segments (Segments 1 through 7 and 10) in November 2013. 

For Segments 8 and 9, the BLM determined that new information in a revised right-of-way application that the companies submitted in August 2014 would require additional NEPA analysis of potential environmental effects to supplement the analysis completed in 2013. 

Protest Period 

Approval of Alternative 5 would require five amendments to three current BLM land use plans: the Twin Falls Management Framework Plan (MFP), the Resource Management Plan for the Birds of Prey NCA, and the Bruneau MFP. 

Anyone who participated in the process for this SEIS and who has an interest that is or may be adversely affected by the proposed land use plan amendments in the Final SEIS may protest the proposed plan amendments. A person who wishes to file a protest must do so by November 7, 2016. 

Instructions for filing such a protest with the Director of the BLM may be found online at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/home. 

All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of the following addresses: 

U.S. Postal Service Mail: 

BLM Director (210) 
Attention: Protest Coordinator 
P.O. Box 71383 
Washington, D.C. 20024-1383

Overnight Delivery: 

BLM Director (210) 
Attention: Protest Coordinator 
20 M Street SE, Room 2134LM 
Washington, D.C. 20003 

Emailed protests will not be accepted unless the protesting party also provides the original letter by either regular mail or overnight delivery postmarked by the close of the protest period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the email as an advance copy, and it will receive full consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such advance notification, please direct emails to protest@blm.gov. 

Before including your phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware that your entire protest – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.