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Developers, landowner strike deal to advance 2 Western US power lines

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Developers, landowner strike deal to advance 2 Western US power lines

  • Author Molly Christian
  • Theme Energy

The developers of two high-voltage transmission projects have reached an agreement with a Colorado landowner that could facilitate the delivery of wind energy across parts of the Western U.S.

TransWest Express LLC and PacifiCorp reached a settlement agreement that resolves a "complex dispute" over a small section of the 500-kV lines' paths that will run through northwest Colorado, according to a Dec. 23 filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Under the settlement, the Cross Mountain Ranch LP and the Colorado Cattleman's Agricultural Land Trust will grant easements necessary to construct part of TransWest's 732-mile project, which will stretch from Carbon, Wyo., to Clark, Nev. The pact also grants easements for part of a roughly 400-mile section of PacifiCorp's Gateway South project that will extend from southeastern Wyoming to near Mona, Utah.

Among the key conditions in the agreement are that the easements can only be granted if the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service approves applications to waive interest in the easements. TransWest and PacifiCorp expect to file those applications by Feb. 1, 2022, according to the Dec. 23 court motion.

As a result, parties in the case asked that the matter be closed administratively until the end of 2023, to ensure that settlement conditions are resolved before the case is dismissed. However, the parties "are hopeful that all contingencies will be resolved in 2022," the filing stated.

"PacifiCorp is proceeding as planned with Gateway South and finishing final permitting requirements, regulatory approvals and right-of-way agreements," company spokesperson David Eskelsen said. "We plan to start construction in June of 2022 and finish construction in 2024."

Pacificorp is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

In a Dec. 29 email, TransWest spokesperson Kara Choquette confirmed the project "continues to move forward."

TransWest, which is owned by The Anschutz Corp., has estimated that construction will last from 2022 to 2026. The project has completed all state and county permitting, and a notice to proceed from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is expected in early 2022, according to the company's website.

The projects could play a key role in slashing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production. U.S. President Joe Biden has called for decarbonizing the country's power grid by 2035, and many western states have set ambitious goals to lower or eliminate emissions from the electric sector.

But industry experts have said Biden's goal cannot be reached without a major build-out in transmission capacity that would link renewable energy-rich parts of the country with more populated areas.