BLM withdraws right-of-way approval for transmission line project

The Rock Creek Wind Gen-Tie Transmission Line hit a snag last week as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) withdrew its decision to grant a right-of-way for the project to cross federal public lands in southeastern Wyoming.

The announcement came in a press release from the group Albany County Conservancy who, along with retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Mike Lockhart, were plaintiffs in a legal challenge to the decision. The Rock Creek Wind Gen-Tie project is part of the Rock Creek I and Rock Creek II wind energy projects which straddle the Albany-Carbon county line.

Approximately 7,000 thousand acres of the project are in Carbon County with the remaining 37,000 acres in Albany County. While the project was started by Invenergy, ownership of Rock Creek I will be transferred to PacifiCorp, parent company of Rocky Mountain Power, upon its completion.

Lockhart appeared before the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) last year, presenting his concerns over permitting of wind farms and the danger it could pose to golden eagle habitats. As part of the filing against the right-of-way decision, the Albany County Conservancy and Lockhart claimed that BLM “conducted its review of the project in secret - without any public notice or input whatsoever.”

In a court filing, Timothy Novotny, Rawlins BLM Field Office Director, said “The Bureau of Land Management has decided further NEPA analysis is warranted to give the public an opportunity to provide input on the potential environmental impacts of the right-of-way.”

The Rock Creek wind energy project was approved by the Albany County Commissioners in January 2022. A special use permit for the transmission lines for the project was approved by the BOCCC in March of this year.

Anne Brande, director of Albany County Conservancy, said the organization was “encouraged by the BLM’s action of voluntary remand.”

“However, it is astounding and disturbing that the BLM, a federal agency tasked with protecting federal lands, imperiled wildlife, and historic sites associated with this area, was solely focused on opening public land to exploitation by private interests without any public transparency,” said Brande. “That is until we, a grassroots coalition of concerned residents, discovered that the decision was signed without public input.”

Lockhart cited the withdrawal of the decision as a win for the golden eagle population and other species.

“This critical, year-round habitat for golden eagles is also home to many endangered species including the greater sage grouse, mountain plover, black footed ferret and the northern leopard frog,” said Lockhart. “All these species are of enormous social and economic importance to Wyoming and the nation.”

In his appearance before the BOCCC last year, Lockhart said both the Laramie and Shirley basins are the most important locations in North America for the golden eagle. In the proposed transmission line project, one portion of the wind energy project would connect to the nearby Foote Creek substation while the other would connect to the Aeolis Substation, northeast of Medicine Bow.

“One of the things we have determined, absolutely, is that Shirley Basin and Laramie Basin are perhaps the two most important focal areas for Golden Eagles in the country. They’re hugely important and they support a resident breeding population, a non-breeding resident population,” Lockhart said in May 2022. “They also serve as a migration corridor and support over-wintering birds through the winter.”