Officials wary of power line project

Local officials are expressing displeasure over a lack of public notice regarding a plan for a new 600-mile transmission line that would span Northern California, possibly passing through Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties.

The Western Area Power Administration and the Transmission Agency of Northern California, a consortium of 15 North State public utilities, in February announced plans for the new electrical route expected to cost $1.5 billion to potentially generate up to 4,000 megawatts of renewable energy.

“We had not heard of any public meetings or been included in any so-called ‘loop,’” Glenn County Supervisor Leigh McDaniel said Monday.

McDaniel has received numerous complaints from constituents wanting to stop the project, he said.

“It’s important to stress that the scoping period is just the first opportunity for public comment,” said Patrick Mealoy, a TANC spokesman. “It’s by no means the last chance.”

The TANC Transmission Project would add or replace up to 600 miles of wires and cable, carrying 230 to 500 kilovolts, and would be held in place by towers 150 feet tall.

Mealoy said TANC would only purchase land where substations would be constructed. The rest of the land would be acquired through easements, he said.

“Essentially, we’d be leasing the land beneath the transmission lines,” Mealoy said. “But they could still continue to use the land for whatever it’s currently used for,” including farming.

Transmission agency officials say the project will connect the California power grid to future renewable-resource power plants planned in Lassen County. Power companies are facing new state mandates to use electricity made without fossil fuels.

Mealoy said the California Energy Commission has estimated Lassen County could potentially generate anywhere between 2,000 to 4,000 megawatts of energy through wind, solar, geothermal and biomass resources. Mealoy called it a “significant amount” of potential energy, enough to power between 1.5 million and 3 million homes, according to California Energy Commission estimates.

It would also tie into the California-Oregon transmission line built about 15 years ago, Mealoy said.

The new project is in the final stages of the public scoping process, with a draft environmental impact statement expected next year. The transmission line would not go live until 2014 at the earliest, according to Mealoy.

Local officials spotlight transmission project

Two proposed routes would pass through Glenn and Tehama counties. A third route would skirt the Coast Range in western Glenn and Colusa counties. All the choices endured criticism during recent forums from landowners fearing falling property values and increased health risks.

At the April 14 forum in Williams – the only one held in the Mid-Valley – many audience members complained they and their neighbors only learned of the proposed project last month, despite TANC’s efforts to mail notices to landowners within 300 feet of the three possible routes.

Following the April meeting, officials announced a one-month extension of the public comment period for the project. The deadline was pushed back from April 30 to May 31, extending the opportunity for locals to write the agency or the federal Western Area Power Administration about a preliminary study to choose one of the three possible routes for the project.

The so-called Central Segment would span 172 miles along the west side of the Sacramento Valley, which would parallel a five- to 20-mile stretch of the Interstate 5 corridor, west of Orland and Willows.

Glenn County Chief Administrative Officer David Shoemaker said area landowners need to have an opportunity to comment on the project’s proposed routes, two of which would cut through either side of Glenn County. He said the project was “still in the infancy stage.”

“They don’t have any exact locations planned yet,” Shoemaker said. “They haven’t even begun working on any land or right-of-way issues. It has a long way to go.”

At a town hall meeting April 22 in Ord Bend, McDaniel said many residents were angry and felt left out of the planning process.

“It was a full house and a lot of people are pretty upset and panicked, feeling the project was being developed kind of under the radar,” McDaniel said.

He said he plans to ask the Board of Supervisors to submit a letter to TANC requesting a workshop be conducted in Glenn County and an extension of the scoping period for an additional 30 days.

Mealoy said he could not comment on the proposed comment extension, saying it was an administrative decision.

“I can say that TANC is completely to committed to ensuring the public is fully involved in the process,” Mealoy said Monday.

Mealoy said TANC would continue to meet with local groups to address any specific concerns about the project. The next official opportunity for public comment will come sometime next year after the draft environmental impact report is published.

INFO

Send comments on the TANC Transmission Project to David Young, NEPA Document Manager, Western Area Power Administration:
• Mail: 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, CA 95630;
• Online: TTPEIS@wapa.gov;
• Fax: 916-353-4772.
The deadline is May 31.