Commissioners approve transmission line

After nearly two months, Rocky Mountain Power finally received approval for construction of a transmission line between the Shirley Basin Substation in Carbon County and the Windstar Substation in Natrona County.

As was previously reported (see “Rocky Mountain permit tabled” on page 1 of the December 30, 2020 Saratoga Sun), following concerns raised by the Medicine Bow Conservation District and land owners in the area the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) tabled approval of the conditional use permit on December 15, 2020 until February 2, 2021.

When the commissioners tabled the permit, they requested that Rod Fisher, community relations director for Rocky Mountain Power, return with the estimated costs to relocate three miles of the proposed transmission line from the west side of Wyoming Highway 487 to the east side of the highway.

The request stemmed from the fact that 3.3 miles of the project would be built on private land while the rest would be on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property and State of Wyoming property.

“I did want to make sure the commission understood that we did have some conversations with your County Attorney (Ashley) Mayfield last week and gave her an advanced preview of the presentation and she helped us make sure that we were providing the answers to the questions you asked during the last meeting,” said Fisher. “She had some good input.”

Before he went into the proposed costs of moving the transmission line, Fisher stated that property owned by Pacificorp, the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power, in Carbon County had increased in valuation in 2019 from $315 million to $383 million. Fisher added that the 20 miles of new powerline would generate approximately $445,000 in sales and use tax revenue from 2022 to 2023 and an additional $59,000 in property taxes beginning in 2025.

Fisher then informed the BOCCC that the numbers he would be presenting to them were based on historical costs incurred by Rocky Mountain Power since 2007 for the GatewayWest Transmission Project. Adding to those costs was the time it would take to go through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process again and recent orders issued by President Joe Biden’s Administration.

“I think the county is probably well aware of all the presidential executive orders that have been coming out of the current administration … and they are rolling back all of the NEPA streamlining efforts and many of those things that were put in place with the prior administration,” Fisher said. “I can tell you that our experience in getting through this BLM office with any new project or any modified project is not an efficient process and it takes a significant amount of time. We believe that to be roughly 18 months.”

That timeline, however, increased to 20 months with the consideration of a recent order issued by the Acting Secretary of the Interior, Scott de la Vega. Order Number 3395 puts a 60 day moratorium on authority delegated to lower interior offices.

That means, no decisions can be made at a local or state BLM office without getting Assistant Secretary level approval. So they put a 60 day hold on all of that. I would suggest it’s reasonable to add two more months to that 18 month estimate,” said Fisher. “The bottom line here is we think it might be doable to relocate the project. It would be a cost impact of 18 to 20 months and we believe that cost to be roughly $2.4 million.”

That cost of $2.4 million, however, was not for three miles of powerline but for 20 miles of powerline. Fisher added that Rocky Mountain Power had already spent $3.6 million over the past 13 years on the 20 miles from the Shirley Basin Substation and the Windstar Substation. Along with the cost and the timeline, Fisher stated that delaying the project would put future projects at risk.

“Those projects will generate more than $112 million in tax revenues during development, those are sales and use tax dollars, and the additional annual property tax and wind tax is estimated to be $12.7 million in 2025 and that grows after the three year exemption of the wind tax to roughly $16 million in property taxes in Wyoming in 2028,” Fisher said.

Following Fisher’s presentation, Commissioner Sue Jones thanked Rocky Mountain Power for taking the time to work with the Medicine Bow Conservation District and the private landowners.

“I apologize if I was asleep during this part of it, I don’t think I missed it,” said Commissioner Byron Barkhurst. “My memory was that we had requested that PacifiCorp bring back data to move three miles of line and I went back and looked through the minutes and confirmed that.”

When asked by Barkhurst who made the decision to move the whole 20 miles of new transmission line, Fisher stated that he was the one who had made that decision. He clarified that he believed it was the intention of the BOCCC to reduce the disturbances caused by the construction.

Barkhurst, in response, stated that he had left the December 15 meeting thinking the cost of moving the lines would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and not millions of dollars.

Following discussion that saw the commissioners add further conditions to the permit, such as purchasing mobile machinery permits in Carbon County and establishing road use agreements with local municipalities, the permit was approved on a vote of 3-2.

Barkhurst and Chairman John Johnson provided the dissenting votes.

The Board of Carbon County Commissioners will have met on February 16. The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on March 2 at the Carbon County Courthouse in Rawlins.