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PHOENIX, AZ (June 5, 2012) – On May 25, 2012 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for public review and is seeking comments on the DEIS over the next 90 days. The close of the comment period is schedule for August 22, 2012.
“Although BLM’s release of the DEIS does not constitute approval of SunZia’s request for a right-of-way over lands under its management, nor does it provide any permit for such use, it is a major step toward that goal,” said SunZia’s Project Manager, Tom Wray.
Mr. Wray also went on to clarify that “it would be premature to expect that any federal permit or right-of-way authorization has or will be granted by the BLM until a thorough review of public comment and input is fully considered and analyzed by the BLM”.
The Draft EIS and instructions for providing comments, along with the agency’s project timeline can be found at BLM’s SunZia Project website at: http://www.blm.gov/nm/sunzia.
The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project is an extra-high-voltage transmission project that will help enable the delivery of energy, including renewable energy to customers in the Desert Southwest, while greatly improving the reliability of the existing high voltage electrical grid. The system will span approximately 500 miles between Arizona and New Mexico. It includes up to two new 500 kV transmission lines and five electrical substations that will provide up to 3,000 megawatts of new capacity. Once all local, state and federal permits have been obtained, final design and engineering, acquisition of rights-of-way, and construction are scheduled to begin in 2013, with initial operation scheduled by 2016. For more information, please visit www.SunZia.net.
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