Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
Below is a list of frequently asked questions about the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
1. What is the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project?
It is a new a 500-kilovolt transmission line that would possibly extend approximately 70 miles from a new substation near Castle Rock, Wash., to a new substation near BPA's existing Troutdale Substation in Troutdale, Ore.
2. Why is this reinforcement needed?
The project is needed to improve BPA system reliability, to fulfill new and existing requests for transmission services from power generators and to meet continued growth in demand for electricity.
3. Why is it needed now?
BPA identified the need for this project several years ago. Rather than building new substations and new transmission lines, we developed alternatives, such as operational procedures and less expensive facility upgrades and additions, to get all the available capacity out of the existing lines. We have exhausted those alternatives.
Federal rules now require BPA to study and attempt to provide transmission service when it is requested by eligible customers. In the 2008 process of evaluating requests for service across our transmission system, this project was one of four that emerged as needed to meet those requests for service.
4. Can't the problem be solved by adding more capacity to the existing lines in the southwest Washington/northwest Oregon area?
We studied making system upgrades to the existing 115- and 230-kV transmission lines in this area, but these upgrades would not provide the added reliability, stability and flexibility that a new 500-kV line would. Adding additional 115- and 230-kV transmission lines and substations would add more total miles of transmission line upgrades than are being proposed with the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project.
5. Couldn't conservation eliminate the need for the project?
BPA is a strong advocate for conservation. BPA, the Northwest electric utilities and the four states together have achieved 3,700 average megawatts of electricity savings through energy efficiency in the last thirty years. This is enough electricity to power all of Idaho and western Montana. BPA and regional utilities are designing programs to capture over 5,000 average megawatts of energy efficiency in the next 20 years. BPA has committed to work with our public power customers to acquire public power's share of all the cost-effective conservation in the Pacific Northwest.
Conservation can slow down the demand for new generation and the resulting need for transmission, but it cannot stop it. We're outgrowing the existing transmission system. BPA's aging transmission system is stressed with its existing use and has valid requests for access that will further stress it. That need cannot be eliminated by conservation. As we run out of capacity, it limits our ability to operate the system efficiently, which leads to higher costs, fewer choices, and lower reliability for our customers. We need to add this new line to continue to serve the electrical needs of the region.
6. Will this project help the region integrate more renewable power?
Yes. Many of the requests for new transmission service are from wind projects.
Planning studies have shown that building the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project, together with other BPA projects being proposed to remove bottlenecks on the system, would significantly increase the transmission system's ability to deliver more wind power to the homes and businesses that want to use it. Being able to move renewable power across the system would also help utilities meet state mandates for the amount of renewable energy they must supply.
7. When would the proposed new transmission line be built?
The I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project will undergo public and environmental review beginning in fall 2009. If BPA decides to proceed with the construction of a new line after the environmental review process is complete, construction could begin in 2012-2013 with completion as early as 2015.
8. Where would the new line be built?
At this time, BPA is studying the best place to locate the proposed line. We have identified a large number of route segments between the new and existing substations. They vary in length and are composed of both existing and new right-of-way. Some segments are parallel to existing right-of-way. Route segments cross urban and rural, private and public land. Any number of identified route segments can be combined to form a reasonable transmission line alternative. BPA will use comments received during the scoping period (explained below), continuing discussions with various interested parties and further transmission line design work to develop route segments into transmission line alternatives. These alternatives will be studied in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS). BPA will also consider not building the transmission line and substations.
Before BPA proposes a project like the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project, we consider other solutions. Line location alternatives that were considered but already have been eliminated from further consideration will also be described in the draft EIS along with the reasons they were eliminated.
9. How does BPA determine where a new transmission line or substation might go?
Once the need for a transmission project is established, specific requirements for enhancing or expanding the existing transmission system are developed, including where a new line would start and end and the locations of new substations.
Once these factors are established, BPA engineers and other professionals develop preliminary routes for the new line. Line location is influenced by the existing terrain and by an attempt to keep the new line short, thereby less expensive, and easily accessible for maintenance. At the same time, siting engineers look for ways to avoid homes, schools, businesses, other structures and environmentally sensitive and protected areas.
After this initial siting process, the public and all potentially interested parties will be invited to offer their comments and suggestions on the proposed routes or route segments and on factors we should consider in further refining the routes.
We understand that property owners often do not want their property used for public infrastructure; the environmental process is designed to help us identify these concerns and to work to help avoid or minimize impacts on the manmade and natural environment as much as possible while maintaining the ability to provide low cost, reliable power to the region and BPA rate payers.
10. Is BPA required to evaluate the environmental impact of building a new transmission line before a decision is made to build it?
Yes. We are required to follow procedures established in the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is a federal law that requires all federal agencies to consider the potential environmental impacts of their proposed actions. NEPA promotes better agency decisions by ensuring that high quality environmental information is available to agency officials and the public before the agency decides whether and how to undertake a federal action.
Through the NEPA process, all interested parties have an opportunity to learn about BPA's proposed actions and to provide timely information and comments to the agency.
To implement NEPA, all federal agencies follow procedures issued by the President's Council on Environmental Quality in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508). BPA is an agency of the Department of Energy and follows DOE's implementing procedures (found in 10 CFR Part 1021) online at http://www.gc.energy.gov/NEPA/documents/nepa1021_rev.pdf.
You can read more about the NEPA process and the opportunities to participate in it in BPA's NEPA brochure, which is available at http://www.bpa.gov/go/i5.
11. What are some of the concerns NEPA addresses?
People are typically concerned about impacts on land uses, aesthetics, health and safety, air quality and transportation. In addition, concerns include impacts to plants and animals, natural habitats and water resources. Through the NEPA process, BPA works with the public to identify and study these and other concerns. BPA will identify impacts to the natural, economic and social environment and identify ways to minimize impacts where possible.
12. How is the public involved when BPA proposes a new project?
The public has many opportunities to make suggestions and comments about a new transmission line or other facility. Our environmental analyses include opportunities for member of the public to let us know about concerns they may have and the issues they want addressed in our analyses. The public can suggest new routes, ask questions and interact with project staff. We encourage public participation. The information we receive helps us make well-informed decisions.
13. What environmental resources does BPA take into account when siting and designing new transmission lines?
BPA considers the potential impacts to the natural, economic and social environment, including plants, animals, wetlands, floodplains, land use, recreation, water bodies, fish, groundwater, cultural resources, public health and safety, air quality, transportation, socioeconomics and aesthetics.
The study area for a project is identified based on the end points for the line. BPA studies the terrain and the existing natural and manmade constraints and then develops preliminary, or proposed, routes. As potential routes are studied and adjusted and further comments are received from the public, more in-depth analyses are performed on each route
14. Will BPA consider input from outside the agency when making the decision whether to build the new line?
Yes. Any tribe; group; local, state or federal government agency; or individual with rights on or adjacent to the proposed alternatives or with an interest in the proposed project in general is invited to participate in the decision-making process. This involvement by all stakeholders ultimately provides the information necessary for BPA to make the best-informed decision about whether and where to build a new line and substation.
15. Will BPA work with environmental agencies on this project?
Yes. We will work with many local, state and federal agencies to comply with all applicable regulations. We will work with several federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We will also work with Oregon and Washington state agencies and with county and city land use planning and environmental agencies.
16. Would BPA consider placing transmission lines underground?
Yes. Underground transmission lines will be considered. However, placing high-voltage transmission lines underground has many constraints. It is generally cost prohibitive, often 10 times the cost of overhead lines. In addition, underground lines require continuous trenches for construction and continuous access for maintenance and repairs. Buried lines also pose added reliability concerns as it takes much longer to locate a problem and reach a buried line for repairs than it does for overhead lines.
17. How much will the project cost?
A cost estimate for the project alternatives will be prepared during the EIS process after the environmental analyses are completed.
18. Will potentially affected landowners be notified about the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project?
Yes. Initial and subsequent notifications about the project will be sent in letters and/or by e-mail. Depending on the location of the route segments, landowners within 500 feet of either side of a route segment that is an existing right-of-way and within a mile-wide corridor for new right-of-way will be contacted. BPA identifies landowners by using county public records. In addition, project information will be posted continuously on the project Web site at http://www.bpa.gov/go/i5. Any interested person or organization may ask to be added to our mail list and is invited to participate in the NEPA process.
BPA announces any open houses or meetings through advertisements in local newspapers, through press releases to area media outlets and through use of the project Web site.
19. Will BPA have to buy property for the new line and substation?
If BPA were to decide to build this project, BPA would need to purchase the property for the substations and to purchase easements for the transmission line right-of-way.
An easement is the right granted by a property owner for BPA to use a limited portion of a tract of land for its facilities. BPA does not actually own the property, but the property owner grants BPA (1) the right to install and operate its facilities and (2) the right to access the easement area. An easement is also sometimes referred to as a right-of-way. Property owners are allowed continued use of their property so long as the use does not interfere with BPA's easement uses.
20. How wide are BPA easements?
Easement widths vary for different projects and typically range from 100 to 150 feet wide for a single line. For the I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project, a 150-foot-wide easement would be needed for a new 500-kV line and up to a 60-foot-wide easement would be needed for any new access roads.
21. What is the process for defining or describing an easement for this transmission line?
Once BPA selects a route, the agency would contact the property owners directly affected and request permission to conduct land surveys on the property to establish the boundaries of the easement. Easement areas would be defined and described by a registered professional land surveyor. The land surveys, referred to as "metes and bounds" surveys, are specific descriptions of the exact measurements of the land needed for the new facilities.
22. Would BPA negotiate with property owners to acquire easements?
Yes. BPA would negotiate with property owners to acquire each easement. Although negotiations might take place at any time, BPA would formally contact property owners after project approval, some time after the metes and bounds surveys have been obtained and appraisal reports have been prepared.
23. How is the value of an easement established?
BPA selects an independent appraiser to conduct a professional appraisal to establish the value of the easement or property. A copy of the appraisal report is provided to the property owner at the time a formal offer is made.
24. Would BPA remove all trees along transmission line routes?
We normally remove all trees on our transmission line and access road easements when constructing a new transmission line. We also remove "danger trees" outside the transmission easement. Danger trees are trees that could grow into or fall into a transmission line. Removal is done to ensure the reliability of the line.
25. Does BPA compensate landowners for items that are removed from an easement?
Yes. BPA pays for damages to property and crops during both construction and maintenance of the transmission line, consistent with the easement language. Current easement agreements also include a one-time payment for removing danger trees outside an easement.
26. What land uses are allowed on an easement?
BPA rights-of-way can sometimes be available for other compatible uses. You can work with BPA to determine safe and compatible uses by calling 800-836-6619 before you dig, plant or construct on the right-of-way. We will ask you to fill out a Land Use Application and will work with you before determining whether to issue a permit for a project.
You can read more in BPA's Landowner's Guide to Compatible Use of BPA Rights-of-Way. It is available on BPA's Web site under Publications and Landowner Use and Safety Information.
27. Would the new line be built on an existing right-of-way?
Some proposed route segments are on existing BPA rights-of-way. These segments are being considered for the proposed line.
28. What would the transmission towers look like?
Transmission towers hold the bare wire, or conductor, high enough off the ground so it won't interfere with people walking or driving under the lines. There are several types of towers. The most common is the lattice steel tower, which is made up of many pieces of steel bolted together.
29. How tall would the proposed transmission towers be?
Terrain and other factors can affect the size of the transmission towers. Typically, transmission towers are 80 to 150 feet tall but can be much taller when needed, such as when crossing a large canyon or body of water such as the Columbia River.
30. Would new access roads be needed for the proposed project?
Yes. We would use existing access roads wherever possible but would need to develop new access roads to provide access to each tower. BPA normally acquires access road easements and develops and maintains permanent road access to each of its transmission line towers. Access roads are designed to be used by cranes, excavators, supply trucks, boom trucks, log trucks and line trucks for construction and maintenance of the transmission line.
31. How big is a 500-kV substation?
A 500-kV substation is about 1,000 feet by 1,500 feet.
32. Would fiber optic cable be included with the transmission line?
Yes. BPA continues to replace its microwave communication system with fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable is designed to meet BPA's long-term communication needs. For this project, we would build the towers to include the fiber optic cable but the cable wouldn't be installed until it is needed.
Additional Questions
If your question is not on this list, you can submit questions online using the Public Comment Form and by mail, fax or phone.
|
I-5 Corridor Reinforcement Project
