BLM sets meetings for Gateway West sage grouse analysis

BLM sets meetings for Gateway West sage grouse analysis

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning two informational meetings in February to present information and answer questions about the sage grouse habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) for the proposed Gateway West Transmission Line Project.

The HEA serves as one part of the Framework for Sage-Grouse Analysis for Interstate Transmission Lines, developed by the BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The Gateway West Transmission Line project is jointly proposed by Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power. The project, if completed, would include the construction of nearly 1,100 miles of high voltage transmission lines across southern Wyoming and southern Idaho. The project applicants have applied to the BLM and U.S. Forest Service for right of way grants to construct, operate and maintain these transmission lines from the proposed Windstar substation near Glenrock, Wyo. to the proposed Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho, approximately 20 miles southwest of Boise.

The informational meetings will be held in Wyoming and Idaho, as follows:

Cheyenne, Wyoming
Wednesday, Feb. 15
Noon – 4 p.m.
BLM Wyoming State Office
First Floor Conference Room
5353 Yellowstone Road

Boise, Idaho
Friday, Feb. 17
Noon – 4 p.m.
Red Lion Boise Hotel
Cottonwood Room
1800 Fairview Ave.

For more information, contact Walt George, BLM project manager, at 307-775-6116, or wgeorge@blm.gov.