PR 49 05
BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TUESDAY, May 10, 2005
Towers to be lifted by helicopter on Schultz-Wautoma power line
Press invited to viewing site near Kittitas on Thursday
YAKIMA, Wash. -
Helicopters will lift transmission tower sections into place as steelworkers scramble up the 140-foot structures to bolt them together. It happens Thursday near Kittitas, part of the final phase of construction on BPA's Schultz-Wautoma 500-kilovolt transmission line.
"Use of helicopters enables us to work faster and with far less impact on the environment," said Lou Driessen, BPA project manager. "We hope to get this 64-mile-long line into operation by early December, in time to help serve heavy winter demand for power."
Schultz-Wautoma line construction began in March 2004 and is scheduled to be complete in November 2005. It is one of the largest projects undertaken by BPA in recent years. This is one of several projects under the BPA infrastructure program developed in 2001 to improve reliability and shore up the Pacific Northwest region's transmission system. Primarily a north-south line, it crosses the Columbia River twice and parts of the Hanford Reach National Monument and the U.S. Army's Yakima Firing Range.
Driessen said the line provides greater reliability for power moving from eastern generating plants to loads west of the Cascades. It also offers more carrying capacity to the heart of BPA's electric grid in central Washington and more flexibility in providing spilled water for juvenile salmon migration at Columbia River dams.
The viewing and a short ceremony will be from 10 to 11 a.m. To attend, take I-90 to Kittitas exit and go one mile north. On Main Street in Kitittas find on the west side Maslonka & Associates' field office, 301 S. Main Street, Kitittas, WA. Assemble there at 9:30 a.m. for rides out to the site.
Submitted for distribution on 05-10-2005 at 4:45 PM
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